The Center for Italian Culture (CIC) at Fitchburg State University will present a free screening of Academy Award winner Spike Lee’s classic film “Do the Right Thing” in November as part of its year-long exploration of the Italian immigrant experience.
The series, “Nuovo Mondo: A Century of Migrations from and to Italy,” will present “Do the Right Thing” (1989) at 5:30 p.m. Thursday, Nov. 30, in Ellis White Lecture Hall in Hammond Hall. Lee’s acclaimed comedy-drama explores the simmering racial tensions in a Brooklyn neighborhood between African-American residents and the Italian-American owners of a local pizzeria, culminating in violence and tragedy on a hot summer day. Admission to the screening is free and open to the public.
In addition, the Fitchburg State University Archives and Special Collections, the CIC, and the Fitchburg Historical Society have collaborated to present a digital exhibit on Fitchburg's Italian-American neighborhood, the Patch. All materials were sourced from the Amelia V. Gallucci-Cirio Library, the Center for Italian Culture Archives, and the Fitchburg Historical Society.
This digital exhibit was created by Ross Caputi, archival assistant at the Center for Italian Culture Archives, and Asher Jackson, archivist at Fitchburg State University, in collaboration with the Fitchburg Historical Society. It can be viewed online.
Additional information on the CIC’s series can be found online at fitchburgstate.edu/nuovo-mondo.