A Must See Film: Banished
by Guest Contributor Tami, originally published at What Tami Said
(In the video above, “Banished” filmmaker Marco Williams talks about the documentary.)
A hundred years ago, in communities across the U.S., white residents forced thousands of black families to flee their homes. Even a century later, these towns remain almost entirely white. BANISHED tells the story of three of these communities and their black descendants, who return to learn their shocking histories.
In Forsyth County, Georgia, where a thousand black residents were expelled, the film explores the question of land fraudulently taken, and follows some descendants in their quest to uncover the real story of their family’s land. In Pierce City, Missouri, a man has designed his own creative form of reparation—he wishes to disinter the remains of his great-grandfather, who was buried there before the banishment. And in Harrison, Arkansas, home to the headquarters of the Ku Klux Klan, a white community struggles with their town’s legacy of hate.
By investigating this little-known chapter in American history, BANISHED also takes a contemporary look at the legacy of racial cleansing. Through conversations with current residents and the descendants of those who were driven out, the film contemplates questions of privilege, responsibility, denial, healing, reparations and identity.
What can be done to redress past injustices? What is the ongoing impact of the expulsions on families and communities today? In the stories of black families whose land and livelihood were stolen, the film illustrates the limits of the American legal system and the need for creative forms of repair. By introducing these families and the white communities who forced them out, BANISHED raises the question of responsibility for past wrongs and what is involved in righting them. (SOURCE: PBS Independent Lens Web Site)
Thank God for DVR. I missed “Banished” when it ran on PBS’ Independent Lens during Black History Month this year, but I recorded it and finally watched this weekend.
EVERYONE should see this documentary that investigates a little-known period of ethnic cleansing in the United States: Roughly 1860 to 1920, when several counties and cities across the United States, including Forsyth County, Georgia, Pierce City, Missouri, and Washington County, Indiana, purged their black residents through violence and intimidation (See a “banishment” map here.).
This is not just a film about racism. Underneath the searing past and present racism uncovered by the film, is the reality of property ownership in America. While the ethnic purges left psychic scars on the black victims and the towns they left, most of which remain all-white to this day, it also robbed black families of their wealth–wealth that could have been passed on for generations. It is telling to watch one family stand in the middle of land once owned by their black ancestors in Forsyth County, Georgia, surrounded by McMansions and pricey development.
As I watched “Banished,” a story recently told to me by my mother remained in the back of my mind. In the early 1900s, my mother’s paternal grandfather Jake (my great-grandfather) wanted very much to acquire land for his family in Talladega County, Alabama. It was very difficult for blacks to buy land, particularly where he desired–many acres not far from the only highway. Jake saved his money and entrusted it to a kind white man who went to purchase the land for him. It was quite an accomplishment, but the family continued to live in fear of being banished from their home. My grandfather and his siblings recall their father often sitting up all night on the front porch with his shotgun to protect his family and his livelihood. Most of my great-grandfather’s land remained in the family for nearly a century. Some of it is still in the family. On my father’s side, my aunt’s family still farms the 300+ acres that my great-great-grandfather, born a slave, was able to purchase. In fact, the family has been on the land so long that the road that runs past the farmland, once a dusty rural route, now bears our name. Land and property mean something. In this society, they are symbols of work and life achievement, and they are wealth and power.
Watching “Banished” changed my position on reparations. I have long been ambivalent on the issue of “reparations for slavery,” thinking of reparations as just checks in the mail to all black people to make things whole. But now I understand more fully. There are many methods of reparations, as you will hear “Banished” filmmaker Marco Williams say in the clip below. There are public apologies, monuments and money, for instance. In the case of descendants of banished families, there is a clear way to quantify what was lost and who lost it. The victims of this documented terror and thievery should be compensated. Hear what the descendants of banished families and current residents think of reparations here.
Hopefully, PBS will re-air this wonderful film. In the meantime, “Banished” is available on Netflix, but appears to be out-of-stock on Amazon.
UPDATE: A great link on sundown towns from reader Black Women Blow the Trumpet.
Carmen Van Kerckhove is co-founder and president of
Ali wrote:
Independent Lens has featured some amazing films in the past and I’m sure this doc is no different. I was anti-reparations for many years. I thought that it meant being paid for work that my ancestors did but I wasn’t acknowledging the passing down of wealth. Families like the Stricklands were robbed of this right due to intimidation and racial violence and it’s only just that they be duly compensated. I agree that no dollar amount can be assigned to a person’s pain and suffering but the idea is to at least attempt to compensate for the wrongs that were done. It’s not like the ancestors of the people who committed these crimes are being asked to pay anyone directly. The US government would have to facilitate any monetary settlements but I do think the descendants of people who committed these crimes should at least admit to the privilege it has afforded them. Getting free land (or years of free labor) would give any family a considerable head start and to pretend that you are completely divorced from the actions of your ancestors is disrespectful in my eyes. Even the most seemingly unrelated things can have a profound effect on the future. To this day I can still see a very real difference in achievement between the side of my family that was literate 100 years ago (despite the fact that it was illegal for them to learn to read) and the side that wasn’t.
I think I will try to contact Marco Williams’ production company, Two Tone Productions, to find out if there are plans to release the film on dvd. I would love to see it.
Posted 22 Apr 2008 at 9:12 am ¶
cosmicsistren wrote:
I saw the film and it was very good. It made me angry at the injustice that happened to the people that purchased their land and it was taken from them.
Posted 22 Apr 2008 at 9:37 am ¶
Linda wrote:
WOW! What is the next step? Are dependents seeking legal advise for compensation?
Posted 22 Apr 2008 at 10:37 am ¶
atlasien wrote:
I ran across another interesting Loewen link here. Someone comments that there were sundown laws on the books in their Pennsylvania town up into the 1980s.
Posted 22 Apr 2008 at 10:55 am ¶
NancyP wrote:
Concur. This was a terrific film, and of interest also as semi-local history (I live in Missouri, but in the Big City – Pierce City is just a spot on the map between St.Louis and KC). The documentary works so well because it focuses on individual families.
Loewen’s work on sundown towns is also very interesting, and the site linked above has data on sundown towns all over the country.
We recently had the effects of sundowning come to roost in the St. Louis suburb of Kirkwood, which had been a sundown town that then took over the neighboring poor (bankrupt) black village of Meacham Park when Kirkwood anticipated future development involving some Meacham Park land. A black Meacham Park contractor who had been harassed by Kirkwood years before in an attempt to run him out of business finally went nuts and shot up Kirkwood City Hall, killing about 5 people and himself.
Posted 22 Apr 2008 at 12:25 pm ¶
lunanoire wrote:
There is a law professor in the Chicago area who is researching living people who experienced this type of banishment (and maybe their descendants) to help them get their property back. Experiences like this is why many US born blacks have less hope for their future compared to many immigrants to the US.
Posted 22 Apr 2008 at 12:31 pm ¶
Lisa Vazquez wrote:
http://blackwomenblowthetrumpet.blogspot.com
Thanks for giving my blog a shout-out! {smiles}
I grew up in a former sundown town – no black people. We were the first black family to move in. Sundown towns are VERRRRY common in the Northern states.
Lisa
Posted 22 Apr 2008 at 1:22 pm ¶
stankerbell wrote:
Since I don’t have cable, I ‘ve been searching for the DVD since Amazon is out of stock. It seems as if you would be able to purchase it from: http://www.newsreel.org
Posted 22 Apr 2008 at 2:09 pm ¶
deb wrote:
I saw it at the Film Forum as soon as I heard about it. But, I guess I was expecting more. I’d read James Loewen’s “Sundown Towns: A Hidden Dimension of American Racism” and perhaps I wanted it to cover the same territory. I wanted to know more about the people who were banished. But, it seemed that Marco Williams wanted to focus on reparations.
I mean, that whole thing about the descendant wanting the city to pay for re-burial was a from of reparations. But it was a bit awkward because, initially the relative made no mention of seeking financial assistance.
The other awkward moment was when a white woman seemed to struggle with a polite way to refer to black people.
When it aired recently, I didn’t view it again.
Posted 22 Apr 2008 at 3:23 pm ¶
NancyP wrote:
“The other awkward moment was when a white woman seemed to struggle with a polite way to refer to black people.”
Welcome to rural Missouri!
Posted 22 Apr 2008 at 8:55 pm ¶
Ginny wrote:
Greetings, all, Washington County, Indiana? I was reading (listening via Jaws) to this post while eating dinner. I was interested in this topic anyway, but when I came upon the phase “washington County, Indiana”, I literally stopped in mid chew, my fork hanging in the air. A good portion of my family is from there, and many still live there today, in Salem mostly, and I vaguely remember my aunts and mtoher talking about “how they hang a black man off the bridge”, though I don’t know the whole story, and the only thing I remember was that they discussed it when I was in bed, and I’m sure they thought I was sleeping. But I heard that and I was horrified, and I remember it gave me nightmares! I used to lay in bed and listen to the bits of conversation from the other room, and I heard that and it just left me unsettled, left me feeling frightened, and ashamed as a white person, and leaving me with the impression that Salem was just a town of racists. I still feel funny going there, especially now as a hijabi Muslim. And married to a West African husband. I’m almost afraid to take him there to meet my family members. Salem’s still one of those towns where everyone knows everyone else, and people still talk. And I’m not sure how much the town’s changed, and I’m sure not everyone there is racist of course, but I still get a strange feeling when visiting there. I’ll have to ask my mom what she knows, and see if she’ll tell me.
Posted 24 Apr 2008 at 6:23 pm ¶
Cindy Schuler wrote:
Is there any way I can purchase the film “Banished?” I am the racial justice facilitator at Williamsburg Unitarian Universaist and would like to add it to my DVD collection. It was highly recommended. Let me know.
In peace, Cindy Schuler
Posted 25 Jun 2009 at 9:15 am ¶