1963: Year of Hope & Hostility

1963: Year of Hope and Hostility is a feature-length documentary from theologian and author Byron Williams that presents 1963 as one of the most compelling years in the history of our nation as we approach its 50th Anniversary and reflect back on a year that changed everything and forced the nation to reconcile the notion that hope and hostility live in close proximity.

1963 was the year America lost the illusion of innocence. It was a year that began with George Wallace declaring "segregation today, segregation tomorrow, and segregation forever," and concluded with Martin Luther King being named Time Magazine's Man of the Year. It was a year that cemented our current Cuban policy and shaped the events in Vietnam. It was a year that demonstrated to the world America's incongruence between the Jeffersonian ideal that "all men are created equal" and the everlasting threads of segregation and slavery to which the streets of Birmingham bore witness. Finally, 1963 was the year America was forced to acknowledge the fact that presidential assassinations were a reality as it witnessed the death of President Kennedy.