Ashes to Ashes

Ashes to Ashes is an evening of film, music, poetry, and conversation that confronts America’s history of racial violence while honoring resilience, memory, and creative witness. Hosted by Shirley Jackson Whitaker, the program centers on a screening of the award-winning short documentary Ashes to Ashes, directed by Taylor Rees. The 25-minute film follows artist Winfred Rembert, a survivor of a lynching attempt, and his friendship with Whitaker as they embark on a mission to memorialize more than 3,000 documented lynchings in America between 1877 and 1950—names and lives too often erased from public memory.

Following the screening, the evening expands into live performance with the Avery Sharpe Quintet, led by legendary bassist Avery Sharpe. The set includes a deeply personal composition written by Sharpe in memory of an uncle who was lynched, connecting the film’s themes to the living language of jazz. Through sound and improvisation, the music becomes both elegy and testimony—an emotional bridge between history and the present moment.

The program also features a special reading by Robert Meeropol, who will read a poem by his father and participate in a Q&A with the audience. Together, film, music, and spoken word create a space for reflection and dialogue about racial terror, remembrance, and the enduring power of art to reckon with painful truths. Ashes to Ashes has screened at major festivals including the Cleveland International Film Festival, Telluride Mountain Film Festival, and the Big Sky Documentary Film Festival, and this special program brings its message into a shared, live community experience.

You may also like the following events from HOPE Center for the Arts:

• This month, 28th February, 07:00 pm, Young@Heart at HOPE Center for the Arts in Springfield
• This April, 29th April, 07:00 pm, Madeleine Peyroux at HOPE Center for the Arts in Springfield