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This film, directed and produced by Marco Williams, follows three families affected by African-American racial cleansing in three post-emancipation American towns. After the screening, there was an interesting dialogue during the question and answer session, which lasted for over an hour.
Between 1864 and 1920, several towns in Arkansas, Georgia, Indiana, Kentucky, Missouri, Texas, and Tennessee banished their black citizens. Williams shares the haunting stories of three families in Pierce City, Missouri, Harrison, Arkansas, and Forsyth County, Georgia, who are direct descendants of the black citizens purged from their homes in these towns.
The families knew about the events, but often not the full stories. As details of the injustices are illuminated, the families learn of land, property, and other rights that the respective townspeople stole from their families. The audience watches as the three families seek reconciliation, redress, and in one case, reparations.
The eerie thing about these three towns today is that they remain mostly white with very few black citizens. Here are some of the questions asked after the film.
- If not because of continued racial intimidation, why are these towns still reflecting post-banishment populations?
- Do the descendants of the banished citizens deserve reparations?
- Are the current towns people, specifically officials, to be held responsible for redress, reconciliation, and perhaps reparations?
For more information on the screening this week and all future screenings, please visit the Center for Social Media events page.