Ever since its release in 1962, the film version of To Kill a Mockingbird has captivated viewers with its representation of childhood, justice, and race relations in an Alabama small town during the 1930s. James Deutsch is a curator and editor at the Smithsonian Center for Folklife and Cultural Heritage, where he has helped plan and develop programs and exhibitions on the Peace Corps, Hungary, Apollo Theater, National Aeronautics and Space Administration, Mekong River, U.S. Forest Service, World War II, Silk Road, and White House workers. In addition, he serves as an adjunct professor—teaching courses on American film history and folklore—in the American Studies Department at George Washington University. Deutsch has also taught American Studies classes at universities in Armenia, Belarus, Bulgaria, Germany, Kyrgyzstan, Norway, Poland, and Turkey. The lecture will be followed by screening of To Kill a Mockingbird. In English.
