''Deacons for Defense'' is a 2003 American

television Television, sometimes shortened to TV, is a telecommunication medium for transmitting moving images and sound. The term can refer to a television set, or the medium of television transmission. Television is a mass medium for advertisin ...

drama film In film and television, drama is a category or genre of narrative fiction (or semi-fiction) intended to be more serious than humorous in tone. Drama of this kind is usually qualified with additional terms that specify its particular super-g ...

directed by

Bill Duke William Henry Duke Jr. (born February 26, 1943) is an American actor and film director. Known for his physically imposing frame, Duke works primarily in the action and crime drama genres often as a character related to law enforcement. Frequently ...

. The television film stars

Forest Whitaker Forest Steven Whitaker (born July 15, 1961) is an American actor. He is the recipient of List of awards and nominations received by Forest Whitaker, various accolades, including an Academy Award, a Golden Globe Award, a British Academy Film Award ...

, Christopher Britton,

Ossie Davis Raiford Chatman "Ossie" Davis (December 18, 1917 – February 4, 2005) was an American actor, director, writer, and activist. He was married to Ruby Dee, with whom he frequently performed, until his death. He and his wife were named to the NAACP ...

Jonathan Silverman Jonathan Elihu Silverman (born August 5, 1966) is an American actor, known for his roles in the comedy films ''Brighton Beach Memoirs'', ''Weekend at Bernie's'', and its sequel ''Weekend at Bernie's II''. Early life and education Silverman was ...

, Adam Weiner, and Marcus Johnson. Based on a story by Michael D'Antonio, the teleplay was written by

Richard Wesley Richard Wesley (born July 11, 1945) is an American playwright and screenwriter. He is an associate professor at New York University's Tisch School of the Arts in the Rita and Burton Goldberg Department of Dramatic Writing. Early life Wesley w ...

and Frank Military. The film is loosely based on the activities of the

Deacons for Defense and Justice The Deacons for Defense and Justice was an armed African-American self-defense group founded in November 1964, during the civil rights era in the United States, in the mill town of Jonesboro, Louisiana. On February 21, 1965—the day of Malcolm X' ...

in 1965 in

Bogalusa, Louisiana Bogalusa is a city in Washington Parish, Louisiana, United States. The population was 12,232 at the 2010 United States Census, 2010 census. In th2020 censusthe city, town, place equivalent reported a population of 10,659. It is the principal city ...

. The African-American self-defense organization was founded in February 1965 as an affiliate of the founding chapter in

Jonesboro, Louisiana Jonesboro is a town in, and the parish seat of, Jackson Parish in the northern portion of the U.S. state of Louisiana. The population was 4,106 in 2020. History Founded on January 10, 1860, by Joseph Jones and his wife, Sarah Pankey Jones ...

, to protect activists working with the

Congress for Racial Equality The Congress of Racial Equality (CORE) is an African-American civil rights organization in the United States that played a pivotal role for African Americans in the civil rights movement. Founded in 1942, its stated mission is "to bring about ...

(CORE), others advancing the

Civil Rights Movement The civil rights movement was a nonviolent social and political movement and campaign from 1954 to 1968 in the United States to abolish legalized institutional Racial segregation in the United States, racial segregation, Racial discrimination ...

, and their families. Bogalusa was a company town, developed in 1906–1907 around a sawmill and paper mill operations. In the 1960s, the area was dominated by the

Ku Klux Klan The Ku Klux Klan (), commonly shortened to the KKK or the Klan, is an American white supremacist, right-wing terrorist, and hate group whose primary targets are African Americans, Jews, Latinos, Asian Americans, Native Americans, and ...

. During the summer of 1965, there were frequent conflicts between the Deacons and the Klan.Seth Hague, " 'Niggers Ain’t Gonna Run This Town': Militancy, Conflict and the Sustenance of the Hegemony in Bogalusa, Louisiana"
Outstanding History Paper (1997–1998), Loyola University-New Orleans; accessed 11 May 2017

Plot

Marcus Clay (modeled on Bob Hicks) organizes an all-black group dedicated to patrolling the black section of town and protecting residents from "white backlash" in 1965. Activists continue the struggle to gain social justice after passage of the

Civil Rights Act of 1964 The Civil Rights Act of 1964 () is a landmark civil rights and United States labor law, labor law in the United States that outlaws discrimination based on Race (human categorization), race, Person of color, color, religion, sex, and nationa ...

ending legal racial segregation.

Main cast

as Marcus Clay *

as Reverend Gregory * Christopher Britton as William Chase *

as Michael Deane *

Tyrone Benskin Tyrone Benskin (born 29 December 1958) is an English-Canadian actor, theatre director and politician. He was elected Member of Parliament in the Jeanne-Le Ber riding, in Montreal, Quebec, in the 2011 Canadian federal election and served as an M ...

as Archie *

Paul Benjamin Paul Benjamin (February 4, 1938 – June 28, 2019) was an American actor whose career spanned six decades. Benjamin appeared in dozens of films and television shows beginning in the late 1960s. Biography Born to Fair, a Baptist preacher (1890– ...

as Otis *

Melanie Nicholls-King Melanie Nicholls-King is a Canadian actress, perhaps best known for playing Cheryl in the drama series ''The Wire'', and for her portrayal of Officer Noelle Williams in the drama series ''Rookie Blue''. Personal life Nicholls-King is from Toron ...

as Rose Clay * Adam Weiner as Charles Hillibrand * Gene Mack as TJ *

Mpho Koaho Mpho Koaho () is a Canadian actor. He portrayed List of Falling Skies characters#Anthony, Anthony on the TNT (American TV network), TNT science fiction series ''Falling Skies'' (2011–2015) and was also a series regular on the Teletoon action ...

as Baily * Rufus Crawford as Deacon *

Brian Paul Brian E. Paul is a computer programmer who originally wrote and maintained the source code for the open source Mesa graphics library until 2012, and is still active in the project. He began writing its source code in August 1993. Mesa is a free ...

as Holden * Timothy Burd as Lester Conley * David Black as Alphin * Marcus Johnson as Young Marcus * Joe Bostick as City Attorney *

Francis X. McCarthy Francis Xavier McCarthy (born February 15, 1942) is an American actor who has appeared in films such as '' Interstellar'' (2014) and '' Deep Impact'' (1998). Filmography References External links * 1942 births Living people American ...

as Judge Christenberry * Shawn Corbett as Federal Agent * Matt Birman as Rioter * Craig Eldridge as US Attorney * Patricia Shirley as Church Singer * Sharon Riley as Church Singer * Quancetia Hamilton as Woman

References

External links

* 2003 drama films 2003 television films 2003 films English-language Canadian films Canadian drama television films American drama television films Civil rights movement in film Films directed by Bill Duke Films about the Ku Klux Klan Films set in 1965 Films set in Louisiana African-American films Black Canadian films African-American drama films 2000s American films 2000s Canadian films {{civil-rights-movement-stub