By Parties Unknown
“…ain’t the truth good?"
-Michael Morrow
By Parties Unknown tells the story of the violent lynching of four black men in Russellville, Kentucky in 1908. The project highlights the events and the cultural climate surrounding the lynching through the perspective of a community scholar who seeks to chronicle and share the story for present and future generations.
In 2018 my co-producer Neil and I met with community scholar Michael Morrow of the SEEK museum (Struggles for Emancipation and Equality in Kentucky). There he shared the story of Rufus Browder and the four men who were lynched on August 1st, 1908. The result of that meeting was a collaboration on a documentary telling the story of the lynching and why it’s important for this and other stories like it to be told and heard.
Michael Morrow and Gran Clark of the SEEK museum during our first meeting.
Photo by Neil Purcell
As a part of our research for the documentary Neil and I went to the National Memorial for Peace and Justice in Montgomery Alabama with Michael. Our goal was to not only gather a better understanding of lynchings and their effect on our culture and history, but also to become more acquainted with Michael and his own story. It has always been important for us to see this story from his perspective.
Michael Morrow goes into detail about several Lynchings in the state of Kentucky at the National Memorial for Peace and Justice.
Photo by Neil Purcell
As we began to go through our research and start writing a preliminary script it was (and still is) important for us to have input from Michael. We had several meetings with him over the period of six months to discuss the content of the documentary, get his take on our approach, and identify and correct any inaccuracies or errors.
Michael discusses some of the needed information corrections in our grant proposal narrative.
Photo by Neil Purcell.
We officially began production in the fall of 2019 (which was later temporarily halted due to COVID-19). Because of the station’s affiliation with the university, we were able to include students in the production process. This has allowed Neil and I to present ethnographic methods and augment their already impressive academic and experience based education.
Photos by Josh Niedwick