From Martin Luther King Jr. and Thurgood Marshall to Spike Lee and Toni Morrison, the roll of alumni from the nation’s historically black colleges and universities is long and illustrious, underscoring the pivotal role they have played in American history, culture, and national identity.

The 2017 documentary Tell Them We Are Rising charts their history from the post-Civil War South – when they were African-Americans’ only avenue to higher education – and how they became a haven for black intellectuals, artists, and revolutionaries. The Library and KCPT–Kansas City PBS screen the film as part of the Indie Lens Pop-Up community cinema initiative. A subsequent discussion, featuring local HBCU alumni, delves further into the importance of having institutions of higher learning that are black majority, and into their future.