To commemorate Black History Month 2025, the Appell Center has collaborated with three prominent York County community members to curate an exclusive film series. Each feature portrays the struggles, triumphs and challenges faced by these historical individuals and in significant periods of time. They are stories that simply must be told and retold… stories that continue to influence those that experience them.

Admission to all four movies in the series is free for the community.

• The Piano Lesson (Sun, 2/2) – York Alumnae Chapter of Delta Sigma Theta Inc. Arts & Letters Committee
• Red Tails (Sun, 2/16) – selected by Samantha Dorm
• Poetic Justice (Fri, 2/21) – selected by Mica Wallace

Each film screening will open with remarks by its curator, detailing why they think the movie should be shared with the York community, and how it has significantly impacted their lives.

The Piano Lesson (2024)
Set in 1936 Pittsburgh during the aftermath of the Great Depression, this drama based on August Wilson’s Pulitzer Prize-winning play follows the lives of the Charles family in the Doaker Charles household and an heirloom– the family piano– that documents the family history through carvings made by their enslaved ancestor. The film brings each viewer into the brewing battle over the fate of the piano which threatens to tear the family apart.

The 2024 film stars John David Washington, Danielle Deadwyler, Ray Fisher, Erykah Badu, Samuel L. Jackson, and many others.

Please join the curators for a brief discussion about the film following the movie.