Ava DuVernay Launches ‘When They See Us’ Initiative

Ava DuVernay’s When They See Us educated many people on the story of the Exonerated Five, the young men wrongly convicted in the attack on a Central Park jogger in 1989.

Now, the award-winning director and writer is using the groundbreaking miniseries for a new online education initiative.

Via ARRAY, her multi platform media company and arts collective, DuVernay is launching ARRAY 101.

On May 28, the Oscar nominee revealed on Instagram, “Today, I’m so, so proud to launch a project that my comrades at @ARRAYNow and I have been working on for over a year. Today, we launch #ARRAY101: dynamic learning companions for all our film/TV projects. We begin with WHEN THEY SEE US. And trust me, this ain’t your grandma’s study guide. Fresh ways to broaden our knowledge and challenge our thinking. Download for free at array101.org. Because we can never stop learning.”

ARRAY 101 will produce learning companions for her films and it’s tailored for students in grades nine and up. The When They See Us Learning Companion is available now. 

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When They See Us earned critical acclaim for the story of the Exonerated Five in which a group of Black and brown teenagers — Antron McCray, Kevin Richardson, Yusef Salaam, Raymond Santana, and Korey Wise — were accused of the rape of a young woman, Trisha Meili, in New York.

They were each incarcerated in juvenile facilities (except for Wise, who was sent to an adult prison), but were later exonerated when evidence of their innocence emerged in 2002. The city of New York settled with the men for $41 million in 2014.