Then the filmmakers were taken to Glendora, Miss., and Webb, Miss., where they said they saw and documented the existence of plantations. What a life they have gone through! Do Not Sell or Share My Personal Information. It does not deserve its current 4.4 rating. We knew our family had once been slaves in Louisiana. Harrell recounts a woman who came up to her after one of her talks and told her that she personally knew a group of people who didnt get their freedom until the 1950s. Whatever it was, that's what you did for no money at all." We thought everybody was in the same predicament. Mae was 18. Her father, Cain, couldnt take the suffering anymore and tried to flee the property by himself in the middle of the night. Durwood also denied Miller's claims of rape: "No way, knowing my uncle the way I do. Photo Source: Antionette Harrell. 2023 Black Youth Project. [4] The Wall family was not paid in money or in kind with food: "They beat us. Relatives & Associates. Harrell first began her work over twenty years ago; in 1994 she began to look into public and historical records and discovered that her ancestors belonged to Benjamin and Cecilia Bankston Richardson in 1853. The Miller sisters and their father, hospitalized for the past several months after suffering a heart attack have joined a class action lawsuit in Chicago seeking reparations for the 35 million African-Americans who are descendants of slaves. The younger Smith said they reached out to Ms. Miller with their intentions, and decided doing the film was not economic-driven but was a mission.. "She said, 'I have to tell you my story. In a 2006 ABC News investigation, Miller revealed that her childhood was full of picking cotton, pulling corn, picking peas, picking butter beans, picking string beans, digging potatoes. They beat us, Mae Miller said. Where did they go? The Smiths said the areas are isolated, deep inland from main roads and far away from civilization, where plantation owners do what they want. I don't want to tell you. She only knew so many stories, so oftentimes she would tell the same ones over and over again. Which makes no sense. We ate like hogs.. You can get all of our newest stories and updates on BYP research Others express disbelief and denial because of the perception of racial progress in America, such as having a Black president. This situation had them living their lives as 20th-century slaves. There were also Polish, Hungarian, and Italian immigrants, as well other nationalities, who got caught up in these situations in the American South. Here she would be raped by whatever men were present. Ignore these jive talkin' reviewers, man; Alice is all-right. Still On The Plantation is a documentary film that calls for the re-writing of American history as we know it. Also, great history message for the next generation. Ms. Miller was enslaved until 1961 and there is evidence of slavery today in different parts of America's South. Harrell describes the case of Mae Louise Walls Miller, who did not get her freedom until 1963, when she was about 14. "[12][19] The Wall family ate wild animals and leftovers[4] that were "raked all up in a dishpan", "like slop". He's still living. Alice was fine. Then 18, Mae refused to do housework for another family in Kentwood, LA, and ran away after the owner threatened to kill her. It is out of sight and out of mind for those who know slavery exists, he added. [4] In her 30s, Mae returned to school and learned to read and write. Krystin Ver Linden, Writer/Director needs unlimited budgets from now on! One evening, though, Miller ran into the woods and hid in the bushes until another family found her, took her in and rescued the rest of Millers family later that night. The school to prison pipeline and private penitentiaries are just a few of the new ways to guarantee that black people provide free labor for the system at large. Do I believe Maes family was the last to be freed? When Mae Louise Miller was born on 4 May 1881, in Alton, Madison, Illinois, United States, her father, George J Miller, was 25 and her mother, Mary Louise Schuck, was 25. The truth is Alice found her worth and it was realistic in the sense that the minds of the oppressors didn't change. Keke Palmer was always such a great actress (fun fact, she's four days younger than me). "You know, I told him, said, 'I'm gonna run away again.' I knew him to be good people, good folks, Christian. I knew there wasn't anyone who could help me. -- minus three stars. Alice (Keke Palmer)is a slave on a plantation in Georgia. It's trying to fix it so race truly no longer matters. Ill never forget the look in their eyes when one would speak about a horror they endured. No. As we stood together looking into the water Maes words were forever seared into my soul. User Ratings The way he looked must have reminded Cain of someone from the farm. The school to prison pipeline and private penitentiaries are just a few of the new ways to guarantee that black people provide free labor for the system at large. Whatever it was, that's what you did for no money at all.". 1. Mae calls Kentwood, LA, home. They came [and] got me and they brought me back. It became a chance to find out who we were and where we came from as descendants of enslaved people. By signing up, you agree to the Terms of Use and Privacy Policy & to receive electronic communications from Vice Media Group, which may include marketing promotions, advertisements and sponsored content. Instead, Mae adopted four children. [21][19] Mae recounted that she was threatened with violence to keep this abuse secret from her father: "They told me, 'If you go down there and tell [your father, Cain Wall Sr.], we will kill him before the morning.' Antoinette Harrell | All Rights Reserved. The most prominent example of this, on which the movie is based, is the life of Mae Louise Walls Miller. To anyone that thinks this is an "alternate reality" piece though, this kind of thing happened. It also set forth the direction of my life. [4] Peon owners used the violent coercion akin to that of slavery to force black people to work off imagined debts with unpaid labor. Who would you want to tell? Mae Louise Walls Miller and Deacon Can Walls, Sr.: funeral programs, obituaries and meeting agenda, 2008 Scope and Contents From the Series: The Genealogy Research files consist of primary documents pertaining to Harrell's research on family history as well as collected research resources. Dec. 20, 2003 -- As Mae Miller tells it, she spent her youth in Mississippi as a slave, "picking cotton, pulling corn, picking peas, picking butter beans, picking string beans, digging potatoes. So, I reckon it had to be slavery for it to be as bad as it were. | I'm not sure you can call it good because it either needed more time to develop or less time spent developing. These stories are more common than you think. 8.3 1 h 34 min 2020 18+. It all came together perfectly. When asked about the possibility of running away, she admitted that she didnt because, What could you run to? Yes, slavery still exists in 2010 in Mississippi and Louisiana, says Timothy Arden. Our babies are dying, where are our friends? They feel this is not going on we have a Black president.' I ran to a place even worse than where I were. "I remember thinking they're just going to have to kill me today, because I'm not doing this anymore. We want to make people aware about what's going on so we can stop what's going on, Tobias Smith said. But the vast majority of 20th-century slaves were of African descent. Historian and genealogist Antoinette Harrell has uncovered cases of African Americans still living as slaves 100 years after the signing of the Emancipation Proclamation. A trailer for the film can be viewed at http://www.theprofitmusic.com. Yes, slavery still exists in 2010 in Mississippi and Louisiana, says Timothy Arden Smith, who captured the story in a soon to be released documentary called The Cotton Pickin' Truth Still on the Plantation, which will premiere Sept. 23 at the Charles H. Wright Museum of African-American History in Detroit. [4], Annie Wall suggested that shame prevented former peons from coming forward: "Why would you want to tell anybody that you was raped over and all that kind of mess? I tracked down Freedmen contracts of the Harrell side of my family that proved that they were sharecroppers. But that particular Continue Reading, I went to Progress, Mississippi every summer to plant and pick cotton and other produce on the place Continue Reading, Mae Louise Wall Miller, by ABC NEWS 515 views |. My dad is 104. The lady on the cart saw the bush moving. The ominous (and rather empowering) trailer reveals that Alice cant write and moves around almost like a ghost. I didn't have any expectations, so the switch about a third of the way in was a stun and it got better- way better than M. Night's story (his all have disappointing endings), which had similarities but wasn't the same. I am glad her brother Arthur is continuing to tell the Walls family story. The nuances of Maes PTSD from growing up as a slave gave me a look into what life must have been like for many of our ancestors who were held under such inhumane conditions. One way or another, they had become indebted to the plantations owner and were not allowed to leave the property. A few times we sat together with Mae and the other siblings. How would they have functioned without THE BLACK WOMEN?? Their story, which ABCNEWS has not confirmed independently, is not unheard of. The 57-year-old Louisiana native has dedicated more than 20 years to peonage research. After the show I prayed a lot and my dad had been wanting to do a documentary and God told me this is the documentary he ought to do, said Tobias Smith, who is also an independent hip hop recording artist. The website Movie Insider unnecessarily credited this movie twice, even though the first could've just changed the release date without making another movie profile. The upper class Blacks look at it and they are shocked, said Timothy Smith. Mae Wall, the five-year-old girl did not lose her hunger to be free. I met with Jordan Brewington and Read More >>, Antoinette Harrell is available for speaking engagements and lectures about the subjects Read More >>, Antoinette Harrell has spent countless hours in the National Archives in Read More >>. Superb! "[4], Mae said she didn't run for a long time because, "What could you run to? They feel this is not going on we have a Black president.' However, I also believe there are still African families who are tied to Southern farms in the most antebellum sense of speaking. It's just not a good movie. At another speaking engagement, Harrell was confronted after a talk in Amite, Louisiana by a woman named Mae Louise Walls Miller who told her that she didn't get her freedom until 1962, which was two years before the Civil Rights Act of 1964 was passed granting Black people a host of legal rights and protections. Instead, American Justice Department records reveal a more sinister tale of prosecutions throughout the 20th century against white people who continued to keep Black people in involuntary servitude. "[12] Mae suggested that they don't want to relive their experiences, and "they don't wanna carry they minds back there. They were born in the 1930s and '40s into a world where their father, Cain Wall, now believed to be 105 years old, had already been forced into slave labor. Then at some point the transaction between what this movie is and what the movie poster told me it is happens and I'm blown away. She and her family were unaware that things had changed, as they had no TV or other access to the outside world; they just assumed their situation was like that for all black people. Badass. Timothy Smith pointed out that the film gives meaning to the human experience and how most people are yet enslaved on one level or another. The 70s were characterized perfectly, the acting was great, it was an interesting storyline, and it felt like a movie made in the 70s. And the retro vibe revisiting the 70s (which honestly may be lost on current filmgoers) actually works more often than it fails. Mae Louise Walls Miller was a slave in southern Mississippi. Harrell talked "to many [people] throughout Louisiana that was afraid for their lives, so they wouldn't talk about being held in slavery. But he was picked up by some folks claiming they would help him. Alice is inspired by the very real-life history of Black Americans who remained enslaved after the Emancipation Proclamation. What can any living person do to me? The National Guard was deployed in Atlanta, what does this mean as shootings, violence plague other American cities? Trivia. We couldnt have that.. | Worrying that Mae would be killed by the owners, Cain beat his own daughter bloody in hopes of saving her. I could never imagine going through something like that. Sometimes, when we would be at an event where there was free food, she couldnt stop eating. All Rights Reserved. While the original article is unavailable to read, Collider breaks down what happened to Mae. Copyright, 2019 The Final Call, FCN Publishing, Activists charge environmental poisoning and silent homicide in San Francisco, President spews more incendiary rhetoric as election draws closer, Covid-19 and the divine chastisement of Florida. Miller, who grew up poor, said her family didn't have a TV at the. "[7] Ron Walters, a scholar of African-American politics, noted that letters archived by the NAACP "tell us that in a lot of these places, that [people] were kept in bondage or semi-bondage conditions in the 20th century [in] out-of-the way places, certainly where the law authorities didn't pay much attention to what was going on. [4][12][13] Mae stated to NPR that "maybe I wasn't free, but maybe it can free somebody else. Others express disbelief and denial because of the perception of racial progress in America, such as having a Black president. The 57-year-old Louisiana native has dedicated more than 20 years to peonage research. It was like she was trying to tell me that if I wanted to know more about who we were, I would have to dig deeper. We ate like hogs. People were lynched, I was thirteen years old when I saw my first lynching." As Mae Miller tells it, she spent her youth in Mississippi as a slave, "picking cotton, pulling corn, picking peas, picking butter beans, picking string beans, digging potatoes. Reading some of the reviews here after watching this movie I followed someone's comment suggesting people look into Mae Louise Miller if they wanted proof that this could have happened and I was shocked. "They said, 'You better not tell because we'll kill 'em, kill all of you, you n----rs,'" Annie Miller said. Mae's father, Cain Wall, lost his land by signing a contract he could not read. The most prominent example of this, on which the movie is based, is the life of Mae Louise Walls Miller. In 1994, I started to look into historical records and public records. We thought this was just for the black folks. If we dont investigate and bring to light how slavery quietly continued, it could happen again. It is very unfortunate that most people still live in the past with jealousy, greed and control over others but I do have hope that someday it will change once we all do the much needed work to evolve. Allegedly "inspired" by a true story (? The story is based on the very real history of black Americans still being enslaved even after the Emancipation Proclamation. Antoinette Harrell uncovered the story of Miller, By entering my email I agree to Stylists. ), the trick to appreciating this one is to skip the first 30 mins (trust me!) The story is based on the very real history of black Americans still being enslaved even after the Emancipation Proclamation. We had to go drink water out of the creek. That filthy patch of water where the cows pissed and shit was the same water that Mae and her family drank and bathed in. Its time travel at its most hopeful, something Palmer recently commented on in an interview with The Hollywood Reporter. If we dont investigate and bring to light how slavery quietly continued, it could happen again. [12][15][17] They were repeatedly beaten by plantation owners,[18] often including whips or chains. Driving down to the deltas of Mississippi, looking at the house that they lived in, it was hard to believe that people would live in houses like that.". So, I didn't try it no more.". Sign up for our newsletter to get the best of VICE delivered to your inbox daily. Whatever it was, thats what you did for no money at all.. "It was so bad, I ran away" at age 9, Annie Miller told ABCNEWS' Nightline. Most shocking of all was their fear. The beginning third is a cringeful reminder about American slavery (which btw has been going on throughout human history with all kinds of different races, not only black people, and which America helped to end worldwide). The elder Smith said talking about the documentary and pre-showings of the film revealed that a significant number of people know firsthand, based on having family members still on the plantations, or themselves growing up in slavery but choose to remain silent. She was held as a slave in Gillsburg, Miss., and escaped to Kentwood, La. The acting in the movie was really good and the story was very interesting. [23] Harrell argued that "it just isn't worth the risk" to most former peons, so "most situations of this sort go unreported". Court Records. The family didnt have TV, so Mae just assumed everyone lived the same way her brothers and sisters did. In the 1970s, she became a glass-cutter. These plantations are a country unto themselves. This was a chance to learn a history we were never taught in school. It grows on you. I can't believe there were people who got away with slavery until my mothers generation here in America. It was clear they had never shared their individual stories with one another. More than 100 years after the Emancipation Proclamation, there were black people in the Deep South who had no idea they were free. This movie got me fired up in the best way. As a result of the film's exposure to many dedicated Mississippians, the state of Mississippi ratified the 13th . The family kept me away for a while after that. 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