The Gerontology Institute’s recent 35th anniversary symposium honored the contributions of elder rights activist Frank J. Manning, who began organizing older adults in the later 1960s to help lead a powerful political movement in Massachusetts and beyond.

During the symposium, Institute Director Len Fishman introduced an eight-minute clip from “Old warrior: Frank Manning and the senior power movement,” a documentary produced in 1994. The video recounts the beginnings of the grassroots movement Manning helped create, including a dramatic rally at Suffolk Downs that brought tens of thousands of older adults together to demand better treatment.

The video captures an important time in the history of elder affairs that contributed to many age-friendly developments, including the creation of the gerontology program at UMass Boston’s McCormack Graduate School.