watch lupita nyong’o in ava duvernay’s ‘august 28’ short film

August 28th is an important day in Black and African American history, owing to the prominent events that took place on the day over the course of time. Ava DuVernay was tapped by the Smithsonian’s National Museum of African-American History and Culture in Washington D.C., to create a project that reflected on the historically significant date.

DuVernay created a short film called ‘August 28: A Day in the Life of a People’ to commemorate events like the abolition of slavery in the U.K on August 28, 1833; the lynching of Emmett Till on August 28, 1955; Martin Luther King Jr’s “I Have A Dream” speech on August 28, 1963; the tragic landfall of Hurricane Katrina on August 28, 2005; and Barack Obama’s acceptance of the Democratic nomination for President on August 28, 2008.

Academy Award winner Lupita Nyong’o stars in the film, alongside other Black Hollywood royalty like Angela Basset, Regina King, Don Cheadle, David Oyelowo, Gugu Mbatha-Raw, Andre Holland and Michael Ealy. The film was previously only available for viewing inside the National Museum as a cinematic installation but the film also made a television debut yesterday on August 28th, on OWN.