A revered “Mother” to many in her community, Lena Mae Perry, 82, has lifted countless spirits with her booming voice as part of The Branchettes, a renowned North Carolina gospel trio. The Branchettes have recorded several studio albums and performed as far aways as Ireland over their 45 year history, but have never recorded a …
Category Archives: History & Biography
Tracing the Hairstons
Killer Miller
There Ain’t No Grave Gonna Hold My Body Down
This film explores the legacy of Harry Caudill, who spent his life advocating for the people of Appalachia by illuminating the ways they became impoverished at the hands of the callousness of a capitalist coal industry. The story focuses on Caudill’s dark turn away from standing up for the poor to blaming them for their …
Continue reading “There Ain’t No Grave Gonna Hold My Body Down”
Devil Town
Devil Town examines the sordid history of a now sleepy small town in the American South, Phenix City, Alabama. It was here that local officials once allowed violent murders and a criminal network of drugs, gambling, prostitution and black-market adoptions to flourish, leading to the town earning the moniker of “Sin City, U.S.A.” Director | …
You’re Muslim?
YOU’RE MUSLIM? is about Najma’s upbringing, identity, and community. This story will be told from an honest, raw and reflective space. Archival footage will visualize the African American Muslim experience. Animation will be used to retell key moments in her childhood. And interviews with her parents will be conducted intimately while they move about their …
Living Off the Line: Stories from The Clothesline Muse
Living Off the Line: Stories from The Clothesline Muse is a feature-length documentary about the making of a play, and the wealth of cultural experiences and wisdom generated by centuries of African-American women who made a living by taking in the wash. It will capture what may be the only testimony from washerwomen who are currently …
Continue reading “Living Off the Line: Stories from The Clothesline Muse”
Raising Bertie
Bertie County, North Carolina is like many rural counties struggling economically due to the closures of manufacturing plants. Bertie’s second largest employer, Wrangler, closed in 2003. The largest employers now are Perdue Chicken and Bertie County Public Schools. For many youth who choose to stay in their community, factory work, farming and the military are …
Summer Headstones
Abandoned and repurposed public pools litter the Southern landscape, silent monuments to a time when white officials abruptly closed pools down, instead of allowing African Americans to swim in them. Summer Headstones explores the urban decay of municipal swimming pools in the Southern United States, due to their closure and abandonment by white officials after …
Not Your Model Minority! Asian Activists in the South
Queer, Rad, Asian: three southern activists organize with the intersectional resistance against white supremacy and the cis-hetero-patriarchy. Asian Pacific Americans are the fastest growing ethnic group in the South, with the ability to affect voting blocs in predominantly red states. This is a critical period for the formation of Asian-American identity in the South. We …
Continue reading “Not Your Model Minority! Asian Activists in the South”
