Dirt & Deeds in Mississippi

Narrated by Danny Glover, filmmaker David Shulman's documentary focuses on a long-overlooked chapter of the Civil Rights movement: the role played by Mississippi landowner farmers in helping to bring voting rights to their Jim Crow-dominated state. Despite sociopolitical restrictions, many black families were able to successfully acquire and run agricultural operations during the New Deal years, and by the 1950s, one million acres of Mississippi farmland was under black ownership. This resulted in financial rewards that were not common for African Americans in the South during this period (the state government recognized this with a propaganda film that extolled the good fortune of Mississippi's “colored farmers”). During the turbulent years of the early 1960s, these farmers and their families provided safe haven for many of the volunteers who came to Mississippi to organize voter registration efforts and agitate against discriminatory local laws. The farmers also provided financial assistance and some used their property as collateral for jail bonds when civil rights workers were arrested. The film mixes insightful interviews with rarely seen newsreel footage and still photographs to detail the quiet yet indefatigable courage displayed by these brave men and women during a harrowing era. A provocative and deeply moving documentary, this is highly recommended. Aud: C, P. (P. Hall)