Aurora Gold Award 2001
A society that wants to build the future must know its past, its real past, as it was.” But what if that past had been lost, forgotten, hidden, or denied?
“Black Indians: An American Story,” explores the issue of racial
identity among Native and African Americans. This in-depth documentary examines
the coalescence of these two groups in American history. Discounted, and often
ignored by mainstream America, these minority peoples have often shared a
common past. However, with their heritage ignored and their contributions
denied they are all but invisible at the dawn of the new millennium.
It was a black and white world in the early days of the Republic and
little or no thought was given to people of mixed race, especially if they
looked "black.” “We were told ‘if you could pass for white,
that's who you'd be; if not, it was usually better to be identified as black
than Indian,’" recalls Executive Producer Steven Heape. "It was
this kind of thinking that later led to ‘pencil genocide’--changing
one’s race on a birth certificate to fit the skin color of the child.” DVD - Running Time 60 minutes
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