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JOIN US ON TUESDAY, APRIL 28, 2026, AT 7:15 P.M. (Pacific Time)
FOR A PRESENTATION ON
"THE MAKING OF THE FILM: OWEN BROWN'S BODY"
WITH Michele Zack, Author/Historian and Pablo Miralles, Historian/Filmmaker
Remember your California 11th grade history class? Opening the standard textbook whose chapter on the Civil War barely mentioned California or the west… or connected to any place you'd actually been or could easily visit?
Join filmmaker Pablo Miralles and Michele Zack of Altadena’ s Owen Brown Gravesite Committee at our April 28 meeting to see the film that will be changing that classroom experience for PUSD and other San Gabriel Valley students.
Miralles worked with the Committee and eminent historians such as William Deverell to produce “Owen Brown’s Body,” a film that anchors an ambitious new teacher professional development program. It uses the local story and a new LA County Landmark, 19th Century gravesite of the famed abolitionist son of John Brown, to bring alive for today’s students our nation’s most serious breach and “second revolution.” (Maybe it will gain our CWRT some young new members!)
Miralles will introduce the 20-minute film. Following it, Miralles and Zack will discuss how it came to be, recent exciting national developments in the work of the Owen Brown Committee, and take your questions.
Michele Zack is a writer, historian, and activist interested in the intersection of history and ideas. Both of Zack’s histories, Altadena: Between Wilderness and City (2004), and Southern California Story (2009), were honored by the American Association of State and Local History. In partnership with the Huntington-USC Institute on the West (2004-2012), Michele wrote and programmed three national Teaching American History grants, a professional development initiative to fold California into the national narrative and make history relevant to students.
She is currently chair of LA County’s Owen Brown Gravesite Committee. Michele has led a years-long effort to designate the Altadena foothills site an LA County Landmark, which was achieved in 2024, along with protecting the land within the Santa Monica Mountains Conservancy. Last year the Committee also produced a film about the Brown Family for local classrooms, and the site was nominated to the National Park Service’s Network to Freedom Program.
Zack was the 1922 recipient of the Alan Jutzi Huntington Fellowship. This allowed her to research her present project, an historical novel based on Benjamin Eaton and the Civil War set in Los Angeles.
Michele was recently elected as one of the newest members of the Pasadena Civil War Round Table Board of Directors.
Pablo Miralles is an award-winning filmmaker with over 35 years of film and video production experience as a director, writer and producer. His most recent project, the educational short film “Owen Brown's Body” (2025) tells the story of a famed 19th Century abolitionist buried in the foothills of Altadena. Pablo’s renowned documentary “Can We All Get Along? The Segregation of John Muir High School” (2022) earned him many accolades including the 2019 IndieFEST Humanitarian Award, two LA Press Awards and an Emmy nomination; it can be streamed on PBS. Pablo also served as Production Coordinator on Cedar Grove Productions’ Academy Award winning short film “Visas and Virtue” (1997) and as Co-Producer on their Emmy nominated short film, “Day of Independence” (2002). His most recent feature documentary "Compton to College," is slated for release in 2027.
Thanks to the volunteer efforts and expertise of our Pasadena CWRT members, Tina Miller and Monika Skerbelis, we are now able to record our monthly meetings and post the videos to our YouTube Channel for your enjoyment and edification if you are unable to join us for our live meetings. We invite you to check out the videos from our two years of virtual meetings, as well as our most recent presentations, at our YouTube Channel:
CLICK HERE
We are indebted to Tina and Monika for helping us to bring this wonderful added benefit to allow our non-local members and guests to enjoy the presentations of our distinguished roster of speakers.
PLEASE JOIN US FOR OUR IN-PERSON MEETING:
Pasadena CWRT - TUESDAY, APRIL 28, 2026 - 7:15 PM (Pacific Time)
The Blinn House - 160 North Oakland Avenue - Pasadena
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