Witness a vital piece of Cleveland’s Black Freedom movement history with a screening of the 1968 classic Uptight!. Filmed on location in Cleveland’s Hough and Glenville neighborhoods, this film captures a pivotal moment in the struggle for Black liberation and community sovereignty. Following the screening, we’ll hold a deep-dive discussion at the ThirdSpace Reading Room to analyze the film’s lasting impact on our local geography and its relevance to our current work in community development and racial equity.

Historical note/Fun Fact: The film was shot on location in the Hough neighborhood in Cleveland, Ohio.[2] In 1969, Variety reported that the Federal Bureau of Investigation "closely monitored the making of Uptight right up to the eve of its premiere."[3] The FBI was first alerted to the subject matter of the film by employees at Paramount Pictures in May 1968. During its production, crew members and studio workers acted as informants to agents at the FBI's Cleveland office, who directly reported details of the set to bureau director J. Edgar Hoover.[3] (Source: Wikipedia)