"Blood Done Sign My Name" tells the story of a group of people in Oxford, N.C., who were determined to see justice prevail after the killing of a black Vietnam war veteran in 1970.

Black History Month is usually ushered in with several ceremonial activities aimed at highlighting the achievements of iconoclastic persons who, in some way big or small, have contributed to the advancement of black folk.

This perfunctory exercise is often done by recycling stories of the Civil Rights Movement, the Harlem Renaissance and sometimes the Black Power era. These partisan accounts are often told exclusively, and rarely do we see both the radical and civil rights tactics coalescing in a way that is both complimentary and is legitimatized among both leaders and followers.

The recently released movie “Blood Done Signed My Name” breaks this mold by telling a story of both civil disobedience and insurrection.

The movie is based on the award-winning autobiographical account of professor Timothy B. Tyson and centers on the murder of a black Vietnam veteran named Henry Marrow in Oxford, N.C. Marrow’s death occurred on the heels of the Civil Rights Era and right in the middle of the Black Power Movement in 1970. The movie does a powerful job of capturing the zeitgeist of a group of African Americans struggling with post-civil rights racism and a newfound black consciousness.

In the aftermath of Marrow’s death, the black citizens of Oxford rioted and looted the town in rebellion. Following this act, the community embarked upon a symbolic 50-mile march from Oxford to the Raleigh state capital to confront the governor in the spirit of nonviolence. The cinematic crescendo, however, was when the two white men who were charged with Marrow’s death were tried in a court of law and acquitted by an all-white jury.

Instead of accepting this injustice, a small group of black men took it upon themselves to strike at the crux of white hegemony in the city and bombed the tobacco plant, crippling the economic white power structure. Watching these acts of liberation (nonviolent and rebellion) acting in concert was a powerful movie-watching experience.

This type of sophisticated uprising in a rural setting is rarely talked about or shown in popular culture. Many of our children (and some adults) tend to believe that the black liberation struggle in the South was docile and compromising toward the system. Somehow, we have either ignored or marginalized persons who believed in a radical or revolutionary approach, thus giving a false impression that the black Southern struggle for freedom was only nonviolent and assimilation driven.

Yet, what happened in Oxford was no anomalous event. We can look at similar efforts like Deacons for Defense in Jonesboro, La., where they acted as a security force against white terrorism for mainstream civil rights organizations like the Congress for Racial Equality (CORE) and the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC). We can also look at North Carolina native Robert F. Williams, whose group the black Armed Guard preached and practiced armed resistance, which he describes in his book “Negroes with Guns.” Even Fannie Lou Hamer proudly boasted about the guns she possessed under her bed while confronting President Lyndon B. Johnson at the Democratic National Convention in 1964, signaling the importance of armed struggle.

"Blood done sign my name” in many ways pays true homage to those brothers and sisters who decided injustice would not be tolerated and that their truculent voices would be heard, even if it meant stepping outside the law.

This is a movie that every parent, teacher and preacher should take their children, students and parishioners to see. For future Black History Months, let us make sure we make room for our brothers and sisters who refused to take the path of assimilation, because their blood, too, has signed our name on the deed of racial advancement.

Joseph L. Jones, Ph.D., is an assistant professor of political science at Johnson C. Smith University. Opinions expressed by guest columnists are their own and do not necessarily represent the opinions of Qcitymetro.com or its staff.

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