*This event is presented by the Association for the Study of African Live and History (ASALH) Hampton Roads Branch, not by Downing-Gross Cultural Arts Center. For more details and questions, please contact Aubrey Perry-Williams. (Contact information listed below)  

The Hampton Roads Branch of ASALH will be hosting a public free screening of Josiah, a documentary that traces Josiah Henson's harrowing journey from slavery in Maryland and Kentucky to freedom in Canada. 

To accompany the documentary and to be released simultaneously is the definitive biography of Josiah Henson's life, The Road to Dawn: Josiah Henson and the Story that Sparked the Civil War, by author and documentarian, Jared A. Brock. The book delivers the full narrative of a great man's great life - a life that symbolized the definitive triumph of the human spirit over the brutality of slavery. In this excellent biography, Brock chronicles Henson's 41 years in bondage, his eventual escape to freedom, and his rise as a great preacher and orator who used his freedom to uplift his fellow man for the entirety of his life.

With both the book and the film, Brock has created a comprehensive portrait that restores a hero of the abolitionist movement to his rightful place in history - a hero whose life speaks of a love of humanity and invites us to follow in his steps. 

Watch the trailer and get more information at josiahhenson.com

To schedule an interview with Jared A. Brock (director of Josiah & author of The Road to Dawn), please contact Brooke Parsons at brook.parsons@hbgusa.com or (212) 364-0683

For more information about the local Josiah screening, please contact the event organizer, Audrey Perry-Williams, President of the Hampton Roads Branch ASALH, at 757-303-6170 or via email at lvwitch1@aol.com.