HBO Max Watch Party: T. Thomas Fortune Hits the Big Screen


By: Community Magazine | January 11, 2022 Entertainment Red Bank


FEATURED PHOTO: Actor Sullivan Jones will play T. Thomas Fortune in an upcoming HBO Max series – The Gilded Age.

On January 24, HBO Max will start streaming a new series, The Gilded Age.

The show will feature the character of T. Thomas Fortune, played by actor Sullivan Jones. Fortune and his family resided in Red Bank from 1901 to 1915 in what was then called Maple Hall and is now an historic home. Born into slavery in 1856, T. Thomas Fortune became an advocate for social justice and emerged as one of the most influential journalists and newspaper publishers of the 19th and 20th centuries. Fortune was a dynamic orator who spoke truth to power and someone many politicians feared. He started the first successful black political organization in 1887, The National Afro-American League, a pre-cursor to the NAACP.

After accepting the role, Jones visited the T. Thomas Fortune Cultural Center in Red Bank last spring to learn the rich history of the trailblazing giant. The T. Thomas Fortune House in Red Bank is considered to be one of the most historically significant properties in our country because of its role in African American history. The information Jones gained that day from his visit was assuring to the actor, as he steps into this role. The series takes place in New York in 1882 during the American Gilded Age, a time of economic change and conflict between the old world and the new world. Jones has big shoes to fill in his portrayal of Fortune during the Gilded Age in New York, a time when Fortune published his newspapers, the New York Globe, Freeman and the New York Age.

The actor spoke with Lynn Humphrey, the Cultural Center’s archivist, who provided a wealth of information on Fortune and his family. Most people have never heard of T. Thomas Fortune, however, this highly anticipated series with Jones appearing in almost every episode, will introduce viewers to the force of nature that was Fortune. The show will also feature The Good Fight’s Christine Baranski, And Just Like That’s Cynthia Nixon, and Meryl Streep’s youngest daughter making her series debut.

The T. Thomas Fortune Cultural Center will be hosting a watch party January 24 at 8:00 p.m. on Zoom with actor Sullivan Jones. This will be an exciting virtual event celebrating Fortune on the big screen, the watch party will end before The Gilded Age begins at 9:00 p.m. For more information and to register for free, visit here.

 


 

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