Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: FRIDAY, July 7, 1995 TAG: 9507070014
SECTION: CURRENT PAGE: NRV-1 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
SOURCE: RICK LINDQUIST STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: RADFORD LENGTH: Long
It was Sarah Carter's 11th-hour plea to TV documentary producer Varsylvia James that clinched a featured spot for the city in a planned production "Hope of Glory: The African-American Church."
Carter, a member of Zion Hill Baptist Church on Rock Road, learned that Radford was among the Virginia communities under consideration for the project.
James said Carter's three-page, handwritten letter convinced her that Radford - with its history and a longstanding black community - was the right place.
"This project is going where it's needed most - the communities that need it most," said James, who arrived in Radford last weekend from Brunswick, Ga., where she was taping other segments of the documentary. She's now in her second year of work on the project.
"Radford is going to be highlighted greatly."
That suits the city's economic development director, Jill Barr, who heard about the project from the Virginia Film Office and suggested that Carter respond. "I think it means a lot to the citizens of the city to be involved with it," she said.
After spending a couple of days scouting locations and lining up interview subjects, James and a crew from her production house, Vartel Communications, have begun shooting video for the six-hour production. The city and Radford University are supporting James' company while it's in town, and she's contracted with a university video team to do the actual taping.
"Absolutely fabulous" is how she summed up her experiences so far.
Interviews with Radford's black community and video of the city - and especially of the Radford area's black churches - will serve as the centerpiece for at least two of the documentary's five parts. Wednesday, the crew videotaped interviews on the Radford University campus. Thursday, taping continued in area churches. More interviews are set for today. James plans to be on the road to other cities Saturday. Future locations include Wilmington, Del., New York City and Durham, N.C.
The crew also branched out to shoot some still photographs at Christiansburg Institute and Schaeffer Memorial Baptist Church in Christiansburg.
In between shoots, James met with Mayor Tom Starnes, City Manager Robert Asbury and Radford Heritage Foundation President Lewis I. "Bud" Jeffries, whom she described as "very excited" about the documentary.
James said the documentary will chronicle the history of the black church and examine its social and economic role in the community.
The idea, James explained, is to educate blacks, primarily youths, "about history that we don't talk about, the history of the church." But she also hopes to help the white community better understand black history.
"It has been long overdue," she said.
Carter, a Radford native who said her ancestors once were slaves of the city's namesake, John Blair Radford, reports she and James hit it off on the telephone, and she was "very excited" about meeting her and being her guide to Radford's black churches, community and history. She especially wants the documentary's historical rendering to include the black community in the Rock Road vicinity. Other histories "always seem to cut that section out," she said.
One segment to prominently feature Radford, "And a Child Shall Lead Them," focuses on the role of the church and black youth, James said. Interviews in Radford will probe young people's feelings on such issues as teen pregnancy and sexuality, atheism and the anger prevalent among many black males and its causes.
"We have a generation coming up that's asking questions that we'd better be prepared to answer," said James, a mother of two. It was her own 11-year-old daughter's question about poll taxes and literacy tests - means once used to keep blacks from voting - that inspired "Hope of Glory" in the first place, she said.
James will let the participants' responses guide the production's final form. "I'm coming to Radford with an open mind," she said. "'Hope of Glory' is being written by the people because it's about the people."
Even as the production is under way, James still seeks financial backing for the project's $150,000 budget. She hopes the city might agree to support the project.
Corporate patrons include The Sprint Foundation, Giant Foods, Safeway, and C-Graphix Systems, a black-owned company that plans to put the documentary on CD-ROM and provide animation services.
Three churches also have pitched in, including Ebenezer and Reid Temple African Methodist Episcopal churches, both in Maryland, where James' company is headquartered, and First African Baptist Church in Brunswick, Ga.
"Hope of Glory" is scheduled to be done by October, James said, but it won't air until February 1996, for Black History Month. James said she has oral commitments to show the documentary on a Washington area public television station and on a local cable system.
Carter is optimistic the project will benefit the community. "I hope my people will gain a sense of pride, and be proud of where they are," she said.
by CNB