In lieu of an abstract, here is a brief excerpt of the content:

Wide Angle 21.2 (1999) 87-99


[Access article in PDF]

The Uprising of '34:
Filmmaking as Community Engagement

Barbara Abrash and David Whiteman

[Figure 1]   [Figure 2]   [Figure 3]   [Figure 4]   [Figure 5]   [Figure 6]   [Figure 7]   [Figure 8]  

"It was rumored there was a union, somewhere back in the '30s. But nobody will talk about it. Only to say: 'I will not be part of this union. Because of what happened a long time ago.' But nobody tells you what happened a long time ago."

--Flora Mays Caldwell, textile worker, Kannapolis, North Carolina

The Uprising of '34 film project began in 1988, when sociologist Vera Rony asked George Stoney to make a film about the General Textile Strike of 1934, in which 400,000 workers in the South demanded improved working conditions and better wages, believing they were protected by New Deal labor legislation. Rony had organized a group of thirty scholars into the Consortium of the South-Wide Textile Strike of 1934 to study this tragic episode, which ended in defeat and humiliation for the strikers (and death for some), and set back the union cause in the South for decades. Those who lived through the event, and paid a high price for their participation, found little reason to remember or recount their experiences. The story had disappeared both from public memory and official histories.

In 1990, Stoney invited Judith Helfand to join the project, and they set out in search of archival materials and living witnesses. They intended to bring to [End Page 87] light the suppressed history of the strike and to tell the story in the voices of those who had lived though it. In the process, they would generate a few controversies as well as considerable media attention and create venues and platforms for discussion, education, and coalition building.

The production and circulation of The Uprising of '34 encapsulates George Stoney's vision of how films should be made and shown. For Stoney, each step of the process provides an opportunity to engage community interest, shape the story, change one's perspective, and act for social betterment. It is about making sense of your world and participating in it.

The Uprising of '34 was nationally broadcast on June 17, 1995, a presentation of the Independent Television Service (ITVS) in the PBS documentary series, P.O.V. The film was the culmination of a significant process of historical reclamation in which eyewitnesses, historians, community activists, newspaper reporters, and others had been intrinsically involved. At the same time, the broadcast was part of a carefully strategized program of community screenings, designed to spark discussion and stimulate action.

The filmmakers had elaborated a "coalition model" of screenings and workshops that placed production and circulation within a larger framework of community organizing and social change. By 1996, the project had spun many webs of connection: between past and present; between generations; and among educational, faith-based, and advocacy groups. In addition to being a prize-winning film, Uprising is a model for grassroots organizing. This essay traces the web of social connections spun by Uprising, from the initial search for oral histories to the meeting at the Highlander Center that resulted in two ongoing projects, Link the Classroom to the Community (LCC) and Working Films. 1 We will consider both the process and its impact. [End Page 88]

Reclaiming Memory

"I took a man's hat off his head and fanned him 'til he died, 'til the breath left him. But I ain't got no more to say into it. I've been trying to forget about all of that, and this is just bringing it all back up."

--Mrs. Atkins, elderly millworker

For a film that was to be based on personal testimony, Helfand and Stoney faced a basic problem: the determined silence of people to whom remembering seemed painful and perhaps dangerous. It was, says Stoney, a kind of "forced amnesia." How, with full respect, to break the silence? Helfand and Stoney got their first opportunity in 1990, when they visited the Charlotte (N.C.) Observer, a...

pdf

Share