Atlanta Cyclorama hosts free screening about author Margaret Walker on May 28

Margaret Walker: For My People will be screened on Thursday, May 28 at 7 pm at the Atlanta Cyclorama. This is a FREE film screening in partnership with Urban Film Review.

Best known for her novel Jubilee, Margaret Walker’s masterpiece tells the story of a Civil War and Reconstruction-era enslaved African American family, and is based on her great-grandmother’s life. Less known, is that Dr. Walker was the first African American woman to win a national writing prize—the Yale Young Poets Award—for her 1942 collection of poetry entitled For My People.

Encouraged by Langston Hughes to attend college in the north, Walker completed her B.A. at Northwestern University and her M.A. and Ph.D. at the University of Iowa. Dr. Walker retired from Jackson State University in 1979, after a 30-year career.

This documentary tells her amazing story. Here’s a sneak peak at the film: http://bit.ly/1JBOwaU. After the screening there will be dramatic readings from Jubilee and For My People, and an audience conversation led by a local scholar.

The Atlanta Cyclorama & Civil War Museum opened in 1921 and contains the world’s largest oil painting. The circular painting, known as a “cyclorama,” is 42 feet high X 358 feet long, and depicts the series of conflicts which encompass the Battle of Atlanta. Tours of the Cyclorama take place Tuesday through Saturday throughout the day, and include stadium seating for patrons on a revolving platform which affords a 360° view while they listen to details of the exciting events in the painting. The centerpiece of the two story museum is the Texas, the locomotive that won the Civil War adventure called “The Great Locomotive Chase.” The museum also features uniforms, guns & artillery, soldiers’ personal items, maps and other artifacts.

The Atlanta Cyclorama is conveniently located near downtown Atlanta, in Historic Grant Park, at 800 Cherokee Avenue SE, Atlanta, GA 30315. For more information visit our web site: www.atlantacyclorama.org.