HU Journalism School, WHRO to Premiere "Banished"

Assistant professor, WHRO alum VanDora Williams served as associate producer

Hampton, VA - Hampton University's Scripps Howard School of Journalism and Communications and WHRO public television will host the Virginia premiere screening of "Banished" by Marco Williams, on Feb. 13 at 5:30 p.m. in the Scripps Howard Auditorium. With HU writer-in-residence Earl Caldwell serving as moderator, a question and answer session with Williams will follow the screening. The event is free and open to the public.

Both WHRO and Hampton University have a special connection to the film: HU Assistant Professor VanDora Williams, a former WHRO staffer, served as associate producer on the film.

click to enlarge

In honor of Black History Month, "Banished" raises the question of responsibility for past wrongs and what is involved in righting them. The 2007 Sundance Film Festival documentary examines a little-known side of early 20th Century American history where communities throughout the nation forcibly expelled their entire African American populations overnight. The film returns to three towns - Pierce City, Mo.; Harrison, Ark.; and Forsyth County, Ga. - only to discover that the echoes of racial injustice over the past century still reverberate today.

In Pierce City, Mo., a man has designed his own creative form of reparation - he wishes to disinter the remains of his great-grandfather, who was buried there before the banishment. In Harrison, Ark., home to the headquarters of the Ku Klux Klan, a white community struggles with their town's legacy of hate. And in Forsyth County, Ga., where a thousand black residents were expelled, the film explores the question of land fraudulently taken, and follows some descendants in their quest to uncover the real story of their family's land.

By investigating this little-known chapter in American history, "Banished" also takes a contemporary look at the legacy of racial cleansing. Through conversations with current residents and the descendants of those who were driven out, the film contemplates questions of privilege, responsibility, denial, healing, reparations and identity.

Director Marco Williams is an associate arts professor at New York University's Kanbar Institute of Film and Television. He is the co-director and co-producer of the award-winning and nationally acclaimed documentary "Two Towns of Jasper." He also wrote, directed and produced the internationally acclaimed documentary "In Search of Our Fathers."

Associate producer VanDora Williams is an Emmy award-winning producer and writer with more than 20 years of journalism experience in television, print, radio and web. While at WHRO, she produced several documentaries, including "Noble Desire," about the reconciliation conference in Benin, West Africa, distributed in fall 2001. She was awarded a PBS fellowship in 2002, which took her to New York.

"Banished" will air on WHRO TV15 on Feb. 19 at 10:00 p.m.