Founding director of YSU’s Black Studies and renowned artist, Al Bright featured in major motion picture

Al Bright, professor emeritus of Art and founding director of Black Studies (Africana Studies) at YSU has undoubtedly left a permanent impact on campus after his influence of curricular diversity and mentorship through his teachings of art.

Though Bright’s everlasting affect on YSU’s student population continues on, it expands beyond the Mahoning Valley through his art with pieces on display in museums across the country in states like Virginia, Texas and Massachusetts.

Pieces of Bright’s life story are featured in Ava DuVernay, American filmmaker, screenwriter, film and television producer’s Origin, a major motion picture in theaters now, based on Isabel Wilkerson, American journalist and Pulitzer Prize Winning author’s, Caste: The Origins of Our Discontents.

Wilkerson’s Caste describes racism in the United States, as an aspect of a caste system, or a society-wide system of social stratification characterized by notions such as hierarchy, inclusion and exclusion, and purity.

Bright’s feature in DuVernay’s film can be found as the final thread in the series of true stories of trauma experienced by people around the world.