Join us for a reception and discussion featuring Keith Beauchamp, Producer of the upcoming film, Till.

Award-winning filmmaker Keith A. Beauchamp attended Southern University in Baton Rouge, Louisiane where he studied criminal justice with the intention of becoming a civil rights attorney. As a young boy in Baton Rouge, Beauchamp had his share of run-ins with racism but it wasn’t until an incident where he was assaulted by an undercover police officer after dancing with a white classmate at a party that he felt compelled to fight racism and move to New York. It was here he could pursue a dream in becoming filmmaker. And through this feat, he’d attempt to remedy some of the past and present injustices that plague communities abroad.

In 1999, Beauchamp founded Till Freedom Come Productions, a company devoted to socially significant projects that both educate and entertain. He has devoted the past nine years of his life to pursuing justice for Emmett Till. In connection with this cause, Beauchamp traveled extensively between New York and Mississippi to reinvestigate the murder and subsequent trial. Throughout his journey, he located witnesses who had never before spoken about the case, befriended Till's mother, and worked with such influential figures as Muhammad Ali and Rev. Al Sharpton.

Beauchamp's newest project is the television documentary series Murder in Black and White, hosted by Reverend Al Sharpton. A collaboration between Beauchamp's Till Freedom Come Productions and the FBIs Cold Case Unit, it reveals the FBIs attempt to bring justice to unsolved civil rights cold cases of the 1940s and 50s. The compelling series draws first-hand information from eyewitnesses, FBI case agents as well as the people who knew the victims -- their children, siblings, family members and friends, most of whom have yet to speak publicly.

Beauchamp has been featured on 60 Minutes, ABC World New Tonight, Court TV, MSNBC, CNN, and BBC, as well as in hundreds of publications around the world including The New York Times, The Washington Post, USA Today, Associated Press, and The Chicago Sun Times