Augusta, Georgia's historic Imperial Theater will premiere a new and
socially impactful documentary called Two Classes of 1968 at a private
screening on Saturday Oct. 2nd. The special screening will be held for cast
& crew, as well as a small group of local leaders, historians, class alumni,
and other special guests.  

The film is about a group of idyllic African-American Catholic School
students shocked by the abrupt closure of their beloved Immaculate
Conception Academy High School, which was nestled inside a Black working
class & professional neighborhood, called The Golden Blocks, in the Savannah
River port of Augusta, Georgia.  

Feeling abandoned by the school & separated from the nuns that had taught &
nurtured them, this senior class became agents of social change when they
accepted a history-making opportunity to integrate the esteemed Aquinas High
on the hill. Two Classes of 1968 is a coming-of-age story set under the
bright lights of the Civil Rights Movement.

The film is narrated by Hill Harper (The Good Doctor, Get On The Bus) and
has brief appearances by former Ambassador to the United Nations and mayor
of Atlanta The Honorable Andrew Young, former principal ballerina with the
Dance Theatre of Harlem Karen Brown, as well as Broadway and Lion King star
Russell Joel Brown (both Augusta natives). Main Title art is by Augusta
native Salonika Rhyne (www.srdgallery.com/).
After the film's premiere in Augusta, it will be submitted to select film
festivals. For more information and to follow the film's journey, visit  
https://www.facebook.com/TwoClassesof1968.

Two Classes of 1968 was produced & directed by Nichelle Protho (World Wide
Nate: African Adventures, Undercover Brother); written by Monice Mitchell
Simms (2019 PGA Power of Diversity Workshop Alumna and BET+'s Redeemed) &
Nichelle Protho; and executive produced by Aquinas High School 1968 alumni
Terrye Thompson and Joseph Floyd. Reflecting on the project, Protho said, "I
made this film to serve as a love letter from the Class of 1968 to their old
neighborhood, to generations of ICA alumni who came before & after them, and
to the spirited Franciscan Nuns who taught them well. They were kids who
ventured out of their beautiful Black bubble, became accidental activists,
and handled their unexpected assignment with dignity and grace." Terrye
Thompson aptly summed up her experience as a member of the Class of 1968,
"Sometimes learning is disguised, reveals itself maybe fifty years later."

Additional film producers also include Robert Lester Lowry, Darryl
Wharton-Rigby (Stay, Detention), and Monice Mitchell Simms. The film was
financed with support of alumni, historians, activists and friends.  

"I'm passionate about being historically literate and intensely personal,
and Two Classes of 1968 is a  critical contribution to the cultural
preservation of the Black community of 20th century  Augusta, GA," said
Protho, "and I knew this was the right film to start making my
contribution."  

Joseph Floyd said, "I hope this film would depict an aspirational community
with thriving businesses and social components and highlight one of the
significant forces who stepped in to fill the void in public education; and
how this preparation equipped a group of students for the next step in
revolutionary change in a small southern town."