Documentary to focus on civil rights in Grand Rapids

A company in western Michigan is producing a documentary that will focus on the struggle for civil rights in Grand Rapids.

The documentary is based on the book “A City Within a City: The Black Freedom Struggle in Grand Rapids, Michigan” and is in the final stages of production, WXMI-TV reported Wednesday.

It is scheduled for release in August. “There’s so much when you’re documenting a community that hasn’t been documented,” filmmaker Victor Williams told the television station.

Grand Stand Pictures says the book articulates the Black experience in the city, but the documentary allows more people to understand and learn the ways in which it impacts their present lives.