Yes, and Cafe - Episode 12: History Speaks: Unsung Heroes of the Civil Rights Movement Visual History Project

On this week’s episode we learn about a collaborative project to document untold stories of the Civil Rights Movement, the Unsung Heroes Project. We speak with Matthew Barr, a filmmaker and professor of media studies, who obtained funding for the project through the Carnegie Mellon Foundation. Also joining us are assistant professor Torren Gatson, who lends his expertise to the project as a historian and mentor, and Antigre Farmer, a recent UNCG graduate who conducted many of the interviews. About the project, Gatson says, “Those that held onto these stories for so long are given an opportunity to share … with a generation that may be completely unaware of them.” Farmer represents this generation, and participating in the project has sparked her interest in screen writing and given her a sense of being grounded in Greensboro’s history. Farmer was particularly moved by the story of Willena Cannon, who witnessed the Greensboro Massacre in 1979.  “How strong she stayed throughout the entire process was inspiring to hear,” says Farmer. To access the interviews collected as part of the Unsung Heroes Project, go to http://libresearch.uncg.edu/unsung_heroes/.