LEGACY COMES HOME: Houdini II: A Beautiful Day to Die Screens at Scarritt Bennett
Sometimes history has a way of coming home.
As Scarritt Bennett Center welcomes the International Black Film Festival (IBFF), September 30–October 4, one screening carries a particularly meaningful connection to Scarritt’s history.
Houdini II: A Beautiful Day to Die tells the story of Houdini II, an African American magician and escape artist and the son of DeLaris Johnson Risher, one of the two courageous Black women who integrated Scarritt College in 1952.
Along with Lelia Robinson Dabbs, Risher crossed a racial barrier when the two women were admitted to Scarritt College, making Scarritt the first private, predominantly white college in Tennessee to integrate. Their presence on this campus became part of Scarritt’s continuing legacy of challenging racial injustice and creating space for change.
Her son would forge a groundbreaking path of his own. As Houdini II, he built a remarkable career in magic and escape artistry, carrying forward a family story of courage, determination, and breaking barriers. The documentary reframes the familiar Houdini story through the experiences of a African American performer who claimed the Houdini name while forging his own path in the world of magic and escape artistry. Through a first-person account, the film explores a life shaped by performance, risk, racial barriers, perseverance, and extraordinary escapes.
Now, more than seven decades after his mother helped integrate Scarritt, her son’s story comes home to the very campus where a significant chapter of his family’s history was written.
Join us Thursday, October 1, in Harambee Auditorium for the IBFF screening of Houdini II: A Beautiful Day to Die.
This is more than a film screening. It is legacy coming full circle.
Scarritt Bennett Center — Creating Space for a More Just World.
No Comments