News Article


RSS Subscribe to Gonzaga University's News Service RSS Feed

Dateline: 11/13/2007

GONZAGA UNIVERSITY NEWS RELEASE
Dale Goodwin, Director
Peter Tormey, Associate Director

Documentary to Feature GU Law Alumnus Carl Maxey

 

‘Carl Maxey: From Black Scratch’
( SPOKANE, Wash. ) — InFocus Productions, a Spokane-based independent film company, says its documentary “Carl Maxey: From Black Scratch” is in post-production and is expected to be finished by mid-2008. 

 

Carl Maxey   Photo from the Lou Maxey Collection
The documentary portrays the life of the late Spokane  attorney Carl Maxey and his tireless work advocating for civil rights in Spokane and nationwide. Maxey, who marched with Martin Luther King,  Jr., graduated from the Gonzaga University  School of Law to become Spokane’s  first African-American attorney. He challenged racial policies in education,  real estate and social organizations in a career that lasted until his death in  1997 at age 73.
   Maxey, an orphan under the tutelage of Jesuit priest Rev. Cornelius Byrne,  from Desmet, Idaho, opened doors for black teachers and  made it illegal for social clubs to refuse to serve African Americans in their  establishments. According to a 1998 story by The New York Times, a fellow lawyer referred to Maxey as a “Type-A  Ghandi.”
   The National Education Telecommunications  Association will distribute the film nationally through  the Public Broadcasting Service, said Marshall. Actor Danny  Glover, having heard of Maxey, agreed to lend his voice to the documentary. The  producer for the documentary is Denise M. Thomas who worked in collaboration  with Spokane PBS affiliate KSPS-TV.
   To view the trailer from the film, visit the following link.
   For  more information, contact Tammy Marshall at InFocus at (509) 251-0070 or via  e-mail.