Screening

About The Killing Floor

Year Released:

1984

Genres:

Drama

Metadata:

Directed by Bill Duke

The Killing Floor explores the conflicting loyalties of African-American stockyards workers in Chicago during the First World War. Starring Damon Leake and Moses Gunn, the story pits a black worker who joins an interracial union against his rival who believes that blacks must look after themselves. Based on impeccable historical research into the lives of actual stockyard workers, this powerful docudrama won the Sundance Film Festival Special Jury Award and was invited to Cannes. This screening is presented as part of the Working Class Studies Association 2017 Conference “Class Struggle: Race, Gender, and Revolution,” which seeks to take stock of the legacy, present, and future possibilities of the idea of “class struggle.” For more information, please visit: https://wcstudiesassociation.wordpress.com. (Digital Presentation)