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Panel discussion will follow BBC’s documentary ‘The Mood of America’ from 1968 at Marin Center’s Showcase Theater.

Marin County, CA – A rare opportunity is coming up to view a recently rediscovered documentary film about the mid-1960s desegregation of Sausalito schools. 

The fifth public screening of the rediscovered 1968 BBC movie, “The Mood of America,” will be shown Thursday, September 17, at the Showcase Theater in San Rafael. The free event begins with a reception at 5 PM and follows with the 6 PM screening and a community discussion with an impressive list of panelists, some of whom lived in Marin City through that volatile era.

The event is presented by the Marin County Free Library, RIZE MARIN, (formerly Performing Stars), and the League of Women Voters of Marin County. Showcase Theater, part of the Marin County Fairgrounds, is at 20 Avenue of the Flags, San Rafael. 

Produced as part of the BBC’s Man Alive investigative series, “The Mood of America” documents the aftermath of a 1965 voluntary desegregation effort in the Sausalito Marin City School District. The film was rediscovered by David Duncan, Ph.D., a historian whose dissertation research and current book project examine the district’s desegregation history — a subject he pursued in part because his own relatives attended school in Sausalito during that period.

The documentary features interviews with Black and white students, parents, school board members, and Sidney F. Walton, the district’s Black principal whose motto, “Education for humanization and social responsibility,” reshaped how students at Richardson Bay School were taught about history, identity, and the world. Walton was removed from his post in 1968 after a segment of white parents and a newly elected school board majority objected to his approach.

Since its rediscovery, the film has been screened four times, for community members, educators, historians, and former students in Marin City, Sausalito, Mill Valley, San Anselmo — audiences that have consistently remarked on how closely the film’s 1968 conversations echo discussions still taking place in Marin schools today.

“Although the documentary was filmed in 1968, many of the voices and concerns we hear still resonate today,” said Felecia Gaston, Executive Director of RIZE MARIN. “For generations, families in Marin City and Sausalito carried this history with them. Showing this film today is not about looking backward or assigning blame; it is an opportunity to listen, reflect, learn from our shared history, and continue working together to create the future we want for all our children.”

For 58 years, this has been a silent message running beneath the surface of life in Marin City and Sausalito — felt by families, carried by generations, some who have been outspoken and some rarely spoken aloud in public. “The Mood of America” brings that message into the open. This documentary remains relevant in 2026 not to assign blame, but to name what has quietly persisted so that something different can finally take its place — for the children in these schools today, and for those who will come after them.

Following the screening, a panel discussion will bring together community members, educators, and historians to reflect on the film and its continuing relevance to Marin City and Sausalito families nearly 60 years later.

Panel Members

  • David Duncan, Ph.D., historian and filmmaker who rediscovered “The Mood of America”
  • Phillip Logan, Community Schools Director, Sausalito Marin City School District
  • Jazmine “Jaz” Trammell, Marin City resident, parent advocate, education technology professional, and mother of a student at Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Academy in Marin City
  • Kirsten Thomas, parent advocate, Sausalito resident, mother of two
  • Royce McLemore, Marin City community activist and educator leader
  • Lea Mixon, Co-Director, WISE Choices for Girls
  • John Carroll, Marin County Superintendent of Schools
  • Moderator: Tiffany McElroy, San Anselmo Racial Equity Committee

More event information can be found on the MCFL website.