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Logline

When Lynda’s mother dies just because the color of her skin bars her from getting a life-saving blood transfusion, Lynda and her schoolmates risk their very lives on the frontlines of Dr. King’s movement – spending more time in Alabama’s jails than classrooms.

Synopsis

One night in 1957, EVERYTHING CHANGES.

Lynda’s pregnant mother falls critically ill and urgently needs a blood transfusion.

“No White blood for you Coloreds,” the nurse said, eyes fixed on her clipboard. “Hospital policy.”

Lynda, a bright 7-year-old, didn’t get it. Blood was blood, after all. All of it red – all of it life-giving. But hospital policy was hospital policy.

When Mama’s heart stopped that awful night, Lynda heard the adults whisper, “If she wasn’t Colored, she could’ve been saved.”

Lynda’s world shatters. Segregation becomes a dagger in her broken heart. She vows to make a difference, hoping no child will ever needlessly lose a parent again.

This feature documentary is based on Lynda Lowery’s award-winning memoir as a teenage foot-soldier: Turning Fifteen On The Road To Freedom.

During 1965’s civil rights movement, Lynda and her high school pal, Khadijah, volunteered with the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee, SNCC, and were trained in “steady, loving, confrontation.” The group’s peaceful protests filled the jails until there was no room left. Lynda was jailed nine times before her fifteenth birthday. On Bloody Sunday, they were all brutally beaten alongside John Lewis on the Edmund Pettus Bridge.

But nothing short of death would halt Lynda and Khadijah’s fight for their parent’s right to vote. With 35 stitches in her skull, Lynda became the youngest marcher with Dr. King on the road from Selma to Montgomery.

This story is a testament to Lynda’s, Khadijah’s, and hundreds of heroic youths’ brave fight for Democracy – even in the Jim Crow South – even when they, themselves, were too young to vote.

Today, Lynda and Khadijah, now grandmas, are still activist protectors of the Constitution. In an election year where democracy is on the line, these SHEroes can still be found on the front lines, safeguarding the franchise.

Filming will commence during the 2024 presidential election, on location in Selma, Alabama, in November 2024.

Meet the Filmmaker

Gilda Ann Brasch — Director/Producer
An award-winning producer/director, Gilda tells tales of underdog heroes.

For Oprah Winfrey’s ABC primetime special, Building A Dream, Gilda led the team to produce and direct the acclaimed documentary on The Oprah Winfrey Leadership Academy in South Africa. For Oprah’s OWN, Gilda co-executive produced the acclaimed doc-series, Ryan & Tatum: The O’Neals.

Most recently, Gilda was show-runner and Executive Producer of five seasons of VH1’s hit docu-franchise Love & Hip Hop. The series dominated weekly cable as the #1 non-scripted program and trended on social media with #LHH.

Inspired after meeting Nelson Mandela in South Africa and filming in his prison cell of 27 years, Gilda founded VUSI Filmworks to focus on filmmaking for social change. VUSI’s award-winning documentary short, Let My People Vote, was featured by the American Film Institute, NBC’s Meet The Press, and has screened at Google with continued sponsorship support by the Levi Strauss Foundation.

Gilda volunteers on an Executive Committee of the Television Academy/Emmys, has served on the board of the International Documentary Association, and is pursuing a Master of Entrepreneurship degree at the University of Southern California.

 
Proud to be a Levi Strauss Foundation “Get Out The Vote” 2020 Grantee Partner!

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Contact

For inquiries, please contact fiscalsponsorship@filmindependent.org.