From Screen to Square Film Screening: ‘Something the Lord Made’

By Brian Laubscher
June 9, 2026

The DeLaney Center at Washington and Lee University will continue its Screen to Square film series at 5:30 p.m. on Wednesday, June 17, with a showing of the film "Something the Lord Made " in Stackhouse Theater located inside the Elrod Commons.

The film screening is the final event for the 2025-26 series focused on the theme "Racial Adversity and Southern Resilience" and will be shown as part of the Lexington and Rockbridge County celebration of the Juneteenth holiday. The screening is free and open to the public and includes drinks, pizza and dessert.

"Something the Lord Made" is a 2004 Emmy Award-winning HBO drama about the unlikely partnership between white cardiac surgeon Alfred Blalock and Vivien Thomas, a Black carpenter's son who became one of the most gifted surgical technicians in American history. The film draws on their long collaboration at the Johns Hopkins Hospital to highlight a contradiction of the era. A man who was not allowed to use the hospital's front entrance was helping develop surgical techniques that would save thousands of lives. Set against the backdrop of Jim Crow-era Baltimore, it is a story about genius, dignity and the price of recognition long deferred.

Following the screening members of the local community and W&L professors will lead the audience in a discussion touching on public health, innovation and collaboration.

The DeLaney Center is an interdisciplinary academic forum that promotes teaching and research on race and Southern identity. Visit the DeLaney Center website for updates on further Screen to Square film screenings, DeLaney Dialogues and other programming.