Dr. Margaret Baker’s film “Seeing the South: Racism, Reclamation and Memory Making in the Upstate” was shown at Colgate University’s Golden Auditorium on Jan. 30. The film played for just 40 minutes and concluded with a Q&A session with Baker, the director, where audience members asked questions about the experience of the film. Assistant Professor of Film and Media Studies and African and Latin American Studies Aaron Dial shared thoughts on Baker’s background.
“[Baker] is a filmmaker, scholar and someone I can call a friend. She graduated from North Carolina State University and her experience is in race, memory, rhetoric and media production,” Dial said.
When introducing her film, Baker explained the importance of film and documentary in spreading awareness on the issues that matter to you.
“Digital platforms can help us raise marginalized perspectives into the spotlight,” Baker said. “Social change can be emphasized by the active participation of the audience.”
Throughout the screening, Baker encouraged the audience to pay attention to what was being discussed in the documentary, inviting discussion of issues across many communities.
Baker was inspired to create “Seeing the South” by a visit to the Rose Hill Plantation State Historic Site, which provoked her to explore further into the legacy of slavery and racism in South Carolina, specifically in Union County.
“This film is about community for community,” Baker said.
“Seeing the South” explores the community of upstate Union County, highlighting their experiences of grappling with the legacy of Jim Crow-era racism. The film contrasts several local Union County perspectives, from the descendants of lynching victims to presidents and vice presidents of the Union County Historical Society who deny the impact of Jim Crow-era racism. Also shown are local individuals trying to get involved in improving the community.
Timika Michelle Wilson, a woman from Union County interviewed in the film, commented on how to properly remember the victims of this community.
“[It’s important] to honor not what happened to them, but the people they were,” Wilson said.
Another woman interviewed for the documentary, Stephanie Cohen, explained the importance of discussing the uncomfortable past.
“If something is buried, then there’s almost a festering wound,” Cohen said. “You need to peel it and uncover it to heal it. The individuals who are alive today [were] maybe descendants to people who were lynched or perpetrated this violence.”
The central event covered in the documentary was Union County’s Juneteenth celebration and the local historical society’s refusal to attend. Baker commented on the importance of highlighting these community dynamics in documentary form.
“Film affects how we feel about the world around us, […] there is power in naming our positionalities and identities,” Baker said. “Documentaries speak directly to the power of community.”
