Resolved: Never Again 

Alexandria’s Social Justice Film Debut

George Washington Masonic National Memorial

101 Callahan Dr, Alexandria, VA 22301

7:00pm Sat. Sept. 21, 2024

Doors open at 6:30pm and a panel discussion will immediately follow the film.  Tickets will be available at the door.

• $5.00 - Student ticket
• $10.00 - General Admission ticket

Support the great work of ACRP by joining us at a Special Reception, with Robin Hamilton, the film maker 5:30-6:45 p.m. in the Great Hall. Your ticket will ensure this vital initiative dedicated to acknowledging and preserving the stories of Alexandria's African American community and its history of racial injustice. By supporting this project, you will help create educational programs, memorials, and events that foster healing, promote understanding, and ensure that future generations remember the past in order to build a more just and inclusive future. 

• $75.00 - Advocate: Movie ticket, with special reception with director, priority seating and signed movie poster
• $100.00 - Supporter: Movie ticket, with special reception with director, priority seating, signed movie poster, and event recognition
• $250.00 - Champion: Two movie tickets, with special reception with director, priority seating, signed movie poster. reserved parking spot, and event recognition

September 21, 2024 is the second anniversary of the day that hundreds of Alexandrians gathered to draw history from our soil and honor of Joseph McCoy and Benjamin Thomas, lynched in this city in 1897 and 1899. That evening, the Alexandria Community Remembrance Project will debut a documentary that traces our journey to explore the hard truths harbored in this Port City’s past.

Join us for the premiere of Resolved: Never Again on September 21, 2024 at the George Washington Masonic Memorial. Robin Hamilton and Round Robin Productions created the 50 minute film to document Alexandria’s dedication to telling the whole truth of this city’s history.

“Everyone is used to viewing history through a larger national lens, but our nation is built on small communities and Alexandria’s story is a reflection of the nation’s story,” said Gretchen Bulova, Director of the Office of Historic Alexandria and co-chair of ACRP. “Now, we are trying to tell everybody the story of Alexandria, the good and the bad,” she added.

Founded 275 years ago, in 1749, slavery has always been a part of Alexandria’s past, according to Audrey Davis, who heads up the Division of African American History and co-chairs ACRP. “What most people are not aware of is our role as a major hub for the domestic slave trade.” The optimized human trafficking introduced in Alexandria in 1828 continued until 1861 when Union Troops took control of the city. After the Civil War, when conservatives shut down any and all opportunities for African Americans to exercise their hard-earned civil rights, the lynchings of Joseph McCoy and Benjamin Thomas were used to terrorize Alexandria’s Black community members into submission.

In the film, Mayor Justin Wilson, former Police Chief Don Hayes and Sheriff Sean Casey talk about the importance of acknowledging and taking responsibility for past actions and inactions. While Joseph McCoy descendant Debra White shares her family’s experience learning about this history and then joining Alexandria to confront it

The film captures the impact of the Equal Justice Initiative’s Remembrance Movement on our community from exposing these uncomfortable truths, to honoring the lives and deaths of Joseph McCoy and Benjamin Thomas with historic markers, a soil collection and a pilgrimage by nearly 200 community members and high school students to Montgomery, Ala. to deliver the sacred soil to the National Memorial for Peace and Justice.

“We are all part of one human race,” said Rev. Taft Healey of Shiloh Baptist Church, “give one another the benefit of the doubt by sharing kindness before judgment.”

There are multiple ways to participate in the evening events; each are ticketed to raise funding for the ongoing work of the Remembrance Project. Join us to learn more about ACRP and our efforts to build a welcoming community bound by equity and inclusion. 

Resolved: Never Again followed by panel discussion in the auditorium, doors open at 6:30, screening begins at 7 p.m.

Learn about the Alexandria Community Remembrance Project