(Re)Discovering a Forgotten Film: Slaves and the Robert Kya-Hill Collection

Robert Kya-Hill is a powerful, intense Negro man with strange, gentle eyes and a soft, commanding voice. He smiles—easily, I think—and whatever degree of communication, a smile carries, Robert Kya-Hill fully achieves.

—Terry Kay, The Atlanta Journal, May 28, 1969

In July 2009, Sally Kya-Hill, the wife of actor Robert Kya-Hill, contacted the Black Film Center/Archive (BFC/A) at Indiana University in Bloomington wondering if we would be interested in a copy of the script for the 1969 film Slaves in which Robert costarred; she had been sorting through material documenting Robert's career and thought of the BFC/A. Over the course of the next month, Sally and I exchanged a number of e-mails, and in September 2009, she and Robert deposited, along with the script, a collection documenting Robert's forty-plus year career as a stage and screen actor. While the collection is small—one poster, one DVD, one soundtrack album, and fifteen folders—the material is a valuable resource for researchers wanting to learn about Robert's long, varied, and steady career as well as the almost forgotten film Slaves.

Robert Kya-Hill was born Robert Hill in Whitaker, North Carolina, on December 4, 1930. As a young actor, he went by his given name or as Bob Hill. Upon joining the Screen Actors Guild (SAG), he changed his name first to Robert Hill II and then to Robert Kya-Hill due to a SAG rule prohibiting two actors from using the same name. Kya is an East Indian prefix meaning "God Bless You."

The first few resumés in the collection from the early 1960s emphasize Robert's stage work along with his professional training and education, his experience as a folk singer, guitarist, and composer as well as a playwright. The resumés vary in their length and detail and highlight different aspects of his talents depending on to whom they were sent and the job for which he was auditioning. Just as the resumés reflect Robert's evolution as an actor, musician, director, and educator, the headshots included in the collection trace his transition from a young, handsome, and distinguished actor to an older, handsome, and distinguished actor—evidence that he has aged gracefully!

The DVD in the collection is the film Dark Valley. Done in 1961, the film stars Robert (who used the name Bob Hill for the film) as one of three men trapped in a mine. The other two men are the white mine owner and his son who have a contentious relationship. As they wait and hope to be rescued and face the possibility of death, each man reflects on how he has lived and the role his faith—or lack thereof—has played his life. The film was produced by Gospel Films and received several awards from the National Evangelical Film Foundation in 1962 including Best Film, Best Director for Bob O'Donnell, and Best Actor for Robert. The film is now available on DVD through Gospel Communications.

There are two folders of miscellaneous personal correspondence in the collection dating from 1969 and from 2000. The correspondence from 2000 deals with the efforts to get a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame for Ben Rinaldo who cowrote, produced, and distributed the all-black cast film Dark Manhattan in 1935. Unfortunately, the efforts to get a star for Rinaldo were not successful.

The two folders of publicity in the collection contain material from 1968, 1969, and 1971. The first folder, dating from 1969 and 1971, focuses exclusively on Robert and includes a press release relating to the film Slaves and articles that appeared in The Atlanta Journal, Boston Herald Traveler, and The Boston Globe in May and July 1969. The second folder of publicity focuses specifically on the film Slaves. While each article in the first folder mentions the film, the majority of each article is dedicated to Robert, his career, and his approach to life. Although there are only three articles, they provide a snapshot of where Robert was at...