You can learn about a longstanding injustice in American history at a free screening of a short documentary this week in Rock Island.
On Thursday, Aug. 31, at 6 p.m., Azubuike African American Council for the Arts and Pulling Focus African American Film Festival of the Quad Cities will present “The Taking of Harris Neck,” a thought-provoking short documentary by director Kevin Mannens at Rock Island Public Library (Watts-Midtown Branch), 2715 30th St., Rock Island.
After the screening, David Kelly (executive director of Harris Neck Land Trust) and Wilson Moran, a direct descendant of Harris Neck, will participate in the Q&A session through Zoom.
“Their presence will significantly enhance the value of the screening by providing firsthand insights and personal connections to the subject matter,” according to a Monday release from Azubuike.
The 39-minute documentary dives deep into the heart-wrenching narratives of Georgia descendants of formerly enslaved people, the release says. “The government disenfranchised these individuals, tragically hindering their path to intergenerational prosperity through rightful land ownership.”
Through the lens of Kevin Mannens, the documentary chronicles the unwavering struggle of these people as they strive to reclaim the land unjustly seized by the US government in 1942. Their story is one of resilience, determination, and the pursuit of justice – a narrative that deserves to be heard, the release says.
Not long after America entered World War II, the U.S. Army began looking for land along the Georgia coast on which to build an Army airfield. In McIntosh County, the Army was led to Harris Neck by a few local power brokers, and the federal government took Harris Neck via eminent domain and gave the community just a few weeks to move, according to the Harris Neck Land Trust.
On July 27, 1942, everyone was evicted, some forcefully; the Army then burned and bulldozed everything in the community and began construction of its airfield. The people of Harris Neck were all left homeless, and every person’s livelihood was destroyed in a single day, the land trust website says. This taking was the first in a long series of injustices that the people of Harris Neck have endured up to the present day.
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service established Harris Neck National Wildlife Refuge on the former Army airfield in 1962.
For more information on the documentary, visit the Harris Neck Land Trust website HERE or the Harris Neck community site HERE.
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