Special Screening in Honor of Black History Month

Come to Wallingford Public Library at 6:30 pm on Wednesday February 25th for a special event, co-sponsored by Wallingford Library Cinema Club and the Coalition for Unity.

In honor of Black History Month, we will be screening 'Something the Lord Made,' the story of two men - an ambitious white surgeon and a gifted black carpenter turned lab technician - who defied the racial strictures of the Jim Crow South and together pioneered the field of heart surgery.

'Something the Lord Made' is a moving tale of men who defy the rules and start a medical revolution. Their patients are known as the "blue babies" - infants suffering from a congenital heart defect that turns them blue as they slowly suffocate. Alfred Blalock (Alan Rickman) and Vivien Thomas (Mos Def) make a brilliant team. But even as they race against time to save one particular baby, the two occupy different places in society. Blalock is the white, wealthy head of surgery at Johns Hopkins Hospital. Thomas is black and poor, a skilled carpenter whose dream of going to college and becoming a doctor was ruined by the Great Depression, although he was naturally gifted with the intuition and dexterity of a great surgeon. Even as they save lives and invent a whole new field of medicine, social pressures threaten to tear them apart. Ultimately, however, Thomas finds his dreams coming true in unexpected ways.

The screening will take place in Wallingford Public Library’s newly renovated surround-sound film projection community room. Refreshments will be served. All are welcome. No tickets required. Contact Julian Aiken or Mary Heffernon for more details: (203)265-6754.