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Unchained Memories

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Director
  
Thomas Lennon, Ed Bell

Narrated by
  
Whoopi Goldberg

Writer
  
Mark Jonathan Harris

Language
  
English

8/10
IMDb

Genre
  
Documentary

Duration
  

Country
  
United States

Unchained Memories movie poster

Release date
  
2003

Cast
  
Roscoe Lee Browne
,
Ruby Dee
,
LaTanya Richardson
,
Courtney B. Vance
,
Angela Bassett

Similar movies
  
Into the Arms of Strangers: Stories of the Kindertransport (2000)

Tagline
  
In their words, our shared history.

Unchained Memories is a 2003 documentary film about the stories of former slaves interviewed during the 1930s as part of the Federal Writers' Project and preserved in the WPA Slave Narrative Collection. This HBO film interpretation directed by Ed Bell and Thomas Lennon is a compilation of slave narratives, narrated by actors, emulating the original conversation with the interviewer. The slave narratives may be the most accurate in terms of the everyday activities of the enslaved, serving as personal memoirs of more than two thousand former slaves. The documentary depicts the emotions of the slaves and what they endured. The "Master" had the opportunity to sell, trade, or kill the enslaved, for retribution should one slave not obey.

Contents

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History

The largest collection of slave narratives emerged from the Federal Writers Project. Created by the Federal Government under the WPA to reduce unemployment during the 1930s, one component of the Federal Writers' Project involved interviews with thousands of former slaves in 17 states. The oral history interview project yielded an extraordinary set of 2,300 autobiographical documents known as the Slave Narrative Collection. What emerges from these documents are pictures of living standards, the daily chores, and long days, were brought to light along with the stories of the good and bad "Master." The brutality, torture, and abuse under slavery are themes in the interviews.

After the Civil War ended in 1865, more than four million slaves were set free. The main objectives were to inform the public, and describe the history and life of the former slaves. More than 2,000 slave narratives, along with 500 photos are available online at the Library of Congress as part of the "Born in Slavery" project.

Slaves and readers

  • Narrated by: Whoopi Goldberg
  • Sarah Gudger, North Carolina (Vol. 11)— read by LaTanya Richardson
  • Charley Williams, Oklahoma (Vol. 13) – read by Ruben Santiago-Hudson
  • Martin Jackson, Texas (Vol. 16) - read by Robert Guillaume
  • Henry Coleman, South Carolina (Vol. 14) – read by Roscoe Lee Browne
  • Jennie Proctor, Texas (Vol. 16) – read by Oprah Winfrey
  • Elizabeth Sparks, Virginia (Vol. 17) – read by Angela Bassett
  • Rosa Starke, South Carolina (Vol. 14) --
  • Cato Carter, Texas (Vol. 16) – read by Roger Guenveur Smith
  • Mary Reynolds, Texas (Vol. 16) – read by Angela Bassett
  • Rev. Ishrael Massie, Virginia –
  • Fannie Berry, Virginia – read by CCH Pounder
  • Mary Estes Peters, Arkansas (Vol. 2) – read by Jasmine Guy
  • Sarah Ashley, Texas (Vol. 16) – read by LaTanya Richardson
  • Charles Grandy, Virginia — read by Ruben Santiago-Hudson
  • Marshall Butler, Georgia (Vol. 4) - read by Samuel L. Jackson
  • William Colbert, Alabama (Vol. 1) – read by Courtney B. Vance
  • Katie Darling, Texas (Vol. 16) – read by Jasmine Guy Jasmine Guy
  • Vinnie Brunson, Texas (Vol. 3) – read by Vanessa L. Williams
  • Fannie Berry, read by CCH Pounder
  • Jack & Rosa Maddox, Texas (Vol. 7) – read by Ossie Davis and Ruby Dee
  • Mary Reynolds, Texas (Vol. 16) – read by Angela Bassett
  • Louisa Adams, North Carolina (Vol. 11) – read by LaTanya Richardson

    • Production

    All that follow beneath are from the credits in Unchained Memories

  • Produced by: Jacqueline Glover, Thomas Lennon
  • Co-Produced and edited by: Juliet Weber
  • Executive Producer: Donna Brown Guillaume
  • Directed by: Ed Bell, Thomas Lennon
  • Written by: Mark Jonathan Harris
  • Historical Advisors:
  • Ira Berlin (Senior Advisor)
  • Henry Louis Gates, Jr.
  • James Oliver Horton
  • Charles L. Perdue
  • Margaret Washington

    • Music and sound

    All that follow beneath are from the Internet Movie Database

  • Music Engineer: Corey Folta
  • Music Composer: William "Spaceman" Patterson
  • Sound Editors: Ira Spiegel, Marlena Grzaslewicz
  • Assistant Sound Editor: Mariusz Glabinski
  • Music Editor: John M. Davis
  • Sound Mixers: Peter Waggoner, Sound One
  • Sound: Doug Donald, Charles Hunt, Jim Mansen, Bruce Perlman, Michael Riley, Sasumo Tokunaw, Anna Delanzo
  • People in total who were in charge of the sound of Unchained Memories were Doug Donald, Charles Hunt, Jim Mansen, Bruce Perlman, Michael Riley, Sasumo Tokunaw, Anna Delanzo
  • Harpo Productions Audio Director- JR Chappell, Audio Assistant- Stacey Hempel
  • Choral Performers- Sound- Jim Hawkins, Steve Smith, Dennis Towns

    • Musical selections used in Unchained Memories

    All that follow beneath are from the credits in Unchained Memories

  • "No More" - performed by The Blind Boys of Alabama. Real World Records
  • "O Day" - performed by Bessie Jones and Alan Lomax. Rounder Records
  • "Early in The Mornin" - arranged by "22" and Alan Lomax. Performed by Prisoners 22, Little Red, Tangle Eye, and Hard Hair, Rounder Records
  • "Im Goin' Up North". Traditional, performed by the Children of East York School Folkways Recordings
  • "Hard Times in Ol' Virginia". Arranged by John Davis and Alan Lomax, performed by John Davis. Rounder Records
  • "Enter Mozelle's House", "Another Dead Snake", "Mozelle", "In The Mirror", "Mozelle's Theme", "Carriage House", Original musical score from Eve's Bayou composed and performed by Terence Blanchard. Courtesy of Lions Gate Entertainment Group
  • "Adam & Eve", "Wade The Water To My Knee", "Move Daniel", "Blow Gabriel"
  • Traditional African-American ring shouts, performed and arranged by The McIntosh County Shouters

    • Photography

    All that follow beneath are from the credits in Unchained Memories

  • Photo Animation: Cort Tramontin
  • Design/Art Direction: Clive Helfet
  • Camera: Wes Dorman, Chris Hall, Richard Mort, Joe Pausabeck

    • References

    Unchained Memories Wikipedia
    (Text) CC BY-SA

    Unchained Memories IMDb Unchained Memories themoviedb.org