Community and Campus Outreach for PBS Film: The Mosque in Morgantown

Wall Street Journal reporter Asra Nomani encountered Islamic extremism when her friend and colleague Daniel Pearl was brutally murdered in Pakistan in 2002. Returning home to West Virginia, she is motivated into activism by the issues of segregated prayer spaces for women at her local mosque and what she regards as expressions of intolerance within the community. The Mosque in Morgantown chronicles what happens when she decides to confront these perceptions and generate media attention to bring about change, upsetting both conservative and moderate members of the mosque community in different ways. Filmmaker Brittany Huckabee reveals a complex story of competing paths to social change, American identity, and the nature of religion itself which explores the larger dilemmas facing American Muslims. Oneblue contracted with PBS flagship station in Washington DC, WETA, to conduct outreach by soliciting informed commentaries about this award-winning film, accessible in the Forum section of The Mosque in Morgantown website. The film aired nationwide on PBS in June 2009. In 2010, Oneblue and Version One Productions, Inc. won a grant from Working Films and The Fledgling Fund to engage students and community members on campuses and cities nationwide in discussing the various topics represented in the The Mosque in Morgantown film. In an effort to foster inter- and intra-faith understanding of how communities struggle with social change, gender and theological views, activism and other important challenges, Oneblue and Version One Productions have teamed with Altmuslimah to create a Tool Kit for workshops, discussion forums and focus groups surrounding these areas. Workshops have been conducted at Duke University in conjunction with the Kenan Institute for Ethics and The Duke Islamic Studies Center. Another took place at George Washington University with co-sponsors, Theater Engagement and Action or TE'A, and the GWU Muslim Student Association.