Passage at St. Augustine: The 1964 Black Lives Matter Movement That Transformed America

"The film gave me a profound education on American history, and was moving beyond words."

Victoria Marsh, Sr. Programmer

WGBH/The World Channel

Boston, MA

"Filmmaker Clennon L. King came up with an impressive list of real life characters in his film, Passage at St. Augustine."
Matt Soergel, Florida Times-Union, Jacksonville, FL

“I've watched our students on loads of occasions, and they gave your film a kind of attention that I don't often see. If someone can hold the attention of 200 teenagers on a Friday morning, it is very impressive. So, thank you for coming, and for making the film.”
Kristin Dawley, History Teacher, The Putney School, Putney, VT

"From a storytelling standpoint, Passage at St. Augustine is an amazing accomplishment. It amasses an amazing amount of archival material and first-person interviews that covers a great deal ground in an hour that never feels rushed or padded. The film does a wonderful job documenting an important piece of history."
Bob Petts, National Educational Telecommunications Association

“To think that I grew up in Florida, have taken my children to St. Augustine for the historical aspects, and had absolutely no knowledge of this historical incident. Passage at St. Augustine needs to be seen.”
Lisa Rogers, Springfield College Screening Audience Member

"Nobody knows this story ... Congratulations on making an impactful, thoughtful film about the St. Augustine Movement."
The Honorable Shirley Clarke Franklin, UT Austin Professor & Former Mayor of Atlanta

"Passage at St. Augustine is a compelling documentary about a campaign that's both important and been long-neglected."
David Harris, Managing Director
Charles Hamilton Houston Institute for Race and Justice
Harvard Law School

"The emotion and artistry of the documentary is extraordinary—truly a gift to all who experience it."

Allen White

Boston, Massachusetts

"Thank you so much for the gift of your superb film --it was truly mesmerizing. The conversation afterwards was compelling, illuminating, and inspiring."
Diane Simpson, Cathedral Church of St. Paul & St. John the Evangelist, Boston, MA
"A superb journalistic triumph! Passage at St. Augustine is quite an example of that.”
Professor Martin Dobrow, Springfield College, Springfield, MA 

"Excellent retro-reporting! I'd run across this incident from time to time in Civil Rights Movement material, but you've done yeoman's work in bringing it before the general public. Swimming pool photo is really chilling."

JKie, Reader

Boston Globe

Audience

FEEDBACK

St. Augustine Foot Soldiers Monument, by Brian R. Owens

St. Augustine, FL audience listens to post-screening discussion. ©Ekua Holmes

"Let me say how moved I was as I watched your powerful documentary. One of the things I learned in recent years as I have travelled the country is that our young people are not being taught our history. That is partially because 85 per cent of the teachers in this country are white, and don’t themselves know the history. But I have also found that many of our Black teachers don’t know that history either. Your documentary would help fill that void, and help also facilitate a much needed conversation, again our young people need armor to face the challenges ahead. And your documentary is a layer of that armor."
Charlayne Hunter-Gault
Journalist & Former NPR & PBS Correspondent

"Unglossed, well-documented, vividly shocking and very poignant, Passage at St. Augustine captures an inhumane part of American history commonly untold. It was sobering unlike any other documentary I have seen before about "the Movement".
Na'eema Stanton, Brooklyn, NY

"With artful use of archival materials, exclusive original interviews, newsreel footage and narration, filmmaker Clennon L. King condenses multiple storylines into a compelling narrative. His strong, authoritative voice helps tie together disparate narratives involving real-life heroes and villains of American race relations."
Roberto Mighty, Award-winning Boston-based Filmmaker

“This film is one of the most moving and accurate documentaries I’ve seen on the St. Augustine Movement. It brought back memories of what turned out to be one of the most violent and dangerous experiences of the entire Civil Rights Movement.”
Rev. C.T. Vivian, Atlanta, GA

"It's quite powerful to see this story about the St. Augustine Civil Rights Movement stand on its own."

Callie Crossley,

Oscar-Nominated Producer, "Eyes on the Prize: America's Civil Rights Years 1954-1965"

“The film’s use of first-person on-camera interviews was amazing. Hearing directly from frontline veterans was powerful, and gave us emotion you would never get from a book.”

Douglas Altshuler, 8th Grader,

Shady Hill School

"I was at the program at University of North Florida when you showed the film and introduced some of the activists who are still alive. It was an awesome program. I am so glad I saw the documentary. I did not know how important St. Augustine was in the fight for civil rights. I thought it was very well done and impeccably researched. Very emotional. It has motivated me to be an active participant in the ongoing fight against bigotry."

Lynn M. Shapiro

Jacksonville, Florida

"Taking his camera to St. Augustine to interview people on both sides of the 50-year-old conflict, King crafts a stirring, thought-provoking portrait of a town whose racial divide finally exploded in one bloody summer - and continues to this day."

Dennis Perkins

Portland Press Herald

"The result is an hourlong film that uses talking-head interviews and historical media to tell how local activists ignited a campaign that ultimately attracted international attention, prompting President Lyndon B. Johnson once to worry: “Our whole foreign policy and everything else will go to hell over this.”

Malcolm Gay

Boston Globe

Passage at St. Augustine, c/o AugustineMonica Films, P.O. Box 200321, Boston, MA 02120 US +1.207.450.3585

Eighth-graders at Shady Hill School in Cambridge, MA listen to the post-screening discussion on race.