Waking in Mississippi, a new documentary exploring the recent history of Canton, Mississippi, was screened on Saturday, September 20, 1997, at 7:30 p.m. at the Center. Over 100 people attended the Mississippi premiere of a movie that the weekly Oxford Town called "a rare journalistic accomplishment." Lively discussion lead by John T. Edge, a graduate student at the Center, followed the screening. Many hailed the movie for its lack of stereotypical Southern images and its frankness concerning race relations today.
Directed by 1996 Duke University graduate Christie Herring and Duke University graduate student Andre Robinson, the one-hour video chronicles a two-year period in the central Mississippi town of 11,000. Their debut collaboration examines Warner Brothers' use of Canton citizens in a Hollywood race riot scene just one year after threats of actual rioting drew armed national guardsmen from across Mississippi to Canton's town square. In 1994 the predominantly African American but radically segregated community witnessed a violently controversial election that placed in office the town's first black and first female mayor. Then, in 1995, 1,000 local extras were hired to stage a race riot during the five-month, on-location shoot of the John Grisham blockbuster A Time to Kill. The television program 48 Hours featured the making of the movie and the racial tension it spotlighted on both 1995 and 1996 episodes.
The creators of Waking in Mississippi interview community leaders, residents, high school students, and elected officials from Canton, as well as Hollywood personalities including actor Samuel L. Jackson, director Joel Schumacher, and author/publicist Michael Singer. Interwoven with revealing and thoughtfully shot footage of the town/movie set, these interviews create a cinematic dialogue between residents who, often very candidly, describe an estranged coexistence of Canton's black and white communities.
Waking in Mississippi is a project of Gone South Productions. It received generous support from the Duke University Program in Film + Video, the Ivanhoe/Duke Documentary Project, the Edward H. Benenson Award in the Arts, and the Duke University Center for Campus and Community Development. The video is currently available for classroom or private viewing through the Center's Southern Culture Catalog; telephone 601-232-5577 or 800-390-3527; fax 601-232-7842.
Caroline Herring
