Briars in the Cottonpatch: The Story of Koinonia Farm

This eye-opening PBS-aired 2003 documentary—presented here in a 10th anniversary edition—sheds light on an extraordinary American story: the history of Koinonia Farm in Americus, GA. Once a symbol of a much-derided ideal of racial equality—both before and during the Civil Rights movement—the community survived years of violence and hatred from segregationists, ultimately giving rise to the nonprofit organization Habitat for Humanity. Filmmaker Faith Fuller begins the story with Clarence Jordan—a student of agriculture, and a minister—who decided in 1942 to create a collective farm on which black and white families would live and work together, sharing the profits. For years, the white establishment of Americus, one of the most dangerous cities for African-Americans in the South and a Ku Klux Klan stronghold, tolerated what they considered an eccentric experiment. But with gains being made in American courts by blacks during the 1950s and '60s, racism in both its institutionalized and freewheeling forms sought new targets, among them Koinonia, which suffered harassment, violence, boycotts, and more. Narrated by former Atlanta mayor and civil rights leader Andrew Young, Briars in the Cottonpatch combines archival footage/stills with interviews of participants, historians, and other notables (including former U.S. president and Georgia governor Jimmy Carter) to trace those years of survival against all odds. DVD extras include an update on Koinonia and related featurettes. Highly recommended. Editor's Choice. Aud: H, C, P. (T. Keogh)