The only other review on the IMDb for "Booker's Place: A Mississippi Story", gave this documentary a bad review. That review is wrong. While this might not have been the best documentary I've ever seen it is a must-see film for its content, which is brutal and eye opening.
In 1965 Frank de Felitta, who made films for NBC, went to Greenwood, MS to see if the Civil Rights movement had had any impact on the deep South. In the original film Booker Wright is shown discussing how he makes it through his day, and how he had hope for his children but not for himself. It was broadcast once or twice in 1965, then never shown again. The granddaughter of Booker Wright, Yvette Johnson, went looking for the original film, and some answers on her grandfather and his activism. Raymond de Felitta, Frank's son, contacted her. They worked on this documentary to bring Booker's story to a wider audience.
A lot of that original film makes its way into this new documentary. The footage of KKK members talking to crowds of whites in Greenwood in the early 1960s, all about how they're being subjugated and put down by all the other races, are disgusting and disturbing. The footage of Greenwood, MS town leaders, and of course they're all white, talking about how much they love their black people and are not racist, is chilling. Every one of the guys around the table, including the mayor, look like they just came from the KKK rally, and act like it. They all have dead eyes with no feeling in them.
What this film does is show how hard it was to be a black person in Mississippi after slavery was abolished and keep your dignity and your life. It showed in a lot of ways black people were still kept in slavery. And, that while things have changed a bit, they didn't change nearly enough in the South and elsewhere. Black men here talk about their lives being of value, yet there is no evidence that the whites in the town, beyond a few, thought that. This is is still a problem 50 years later in the US.
The man of the title, Booker Wright, was a hero who lived his life under this regime. He was a successful business owner who went on- camera for the 1965 NBC film to talk about his life and how he lived it. He was targeted for that, harassed, pistol-whipped, and eventually murdered in a shady fashion by another black who might have been ordered to kill Booker by local police.
What you get at the end is that to the whites of Greenwood, MS, and probably in a lot of other towns, black life had no value to them unless they could control it. Again, a lot of things haven't changed. We must all work to get them changed. Demand transparency from your local police department; organize a peaceful protest of any act of brutality by them and keep protesting until you're successful in changing their actions. And watch this documentary.
In 1965 Frank de Felitta, who made films for NBC, went to Greenwood, MS to see if the Civil Rights movement had had any impact on the deep South. In the original film Booker Wright is shown discussing how he makes it through his day, and how he had hope for his children but not for himself. It was broadcast once or twice in 1965, then never shown again. The granddaughter of Booker Wright, Yvette Johnson, went looking for the original film, and some answers on her grandfather and his activism. Raymond de Felitta, Frank's son, contacted her. They worked on this documentary to bring Booker's story to a wider audience.
A lot of that original film makes its way into this new documentary. The footage of KKK members talking to crowds of whites in Greenwood in the early 1960s, all about how they're being subjugated and put down by all the other races, are disgusting and disturbing. The footage of Greenwood, MS town leaders, and of course they're all white, talking about how much they love their black people and are not racist, is chilling. Every one of the guys around the table, including the mayor, look like they just came from the KKK rally, and act like it. They all have dead eyes with no feeling in them.
What this film does is show how hard it was to be a black person in Mississippi after slavery was abolished and keep your dignity and your life. It showed in a lot of ways black people were still kept in slavery. And, that while things have changed a bit, they didn't change nearly enough in the South and elsewhere. Black men here talk about their lives being of value, yet there is no evidence that the whites in the town, beyond a few, thought that. This is is still a problem 50 years later in the US.
The man of the title, Booker Wright, was a hero who lived his life under this regime. He was a successful business owner who went on- camera for the 1965 NBC film to talk about his life and how he lived it. He was targeted for that, harassed, pistol-whipped, and eventually murdered in a shady fashion by another black who might have been ordered to kill Booker by local police.
What you get at the end is that to the whites of Greenwood, MS, and probably in a lot of other towns, black life had no value to them unless they could control it. Again, a lot of things haven't changed. We must all work to get them changed. Demand transparency from your local police department; organize a peaceful protest of any act of brutality by them and keep protesting until you're successful in changing their actions. And watch this documentary.