Freedom Hill / Film School Radio interview with Director Resita Cox

KUCI: Film School

After the Civil War, freed African Americans settled in the floodplains along North Carolina's Tar River. This land becomes Princeville, the first town chartered by Blacks in America. FREEDOM HILL is an immersive tour of this historic site that chronicles the ongoing legacy of this community. Guided by Princeville native Marquetta Dickens, the camera captures what makes the town so special: a car caravan to celebrate the106th birthday of a beloved resident, aunties who love to tell stories, and a classic North Carolina barbecue.The town of Princeville sits atop wet, swampy land along the Tar River in North Carolina. In the 1800s this land was disregarded and deemed uninhabitable by white people. After the Civil War, this indifference left it available for newly freed enslaved Africans to settle. Before its incorporation, residents called it ‘Freedom Hill,’ gradually establishing a self-sufficient, all Black town. Resting along the floodplain of the river, Princeville and its residents are not strangers to adversity. The historical town has been inundated with flooding over the centuries. With each flood, a little more of the small town erodes. Yet these moments in Princeville are haunted by the specter of the floods that regularly brutalize the town, forcing people to rebuild their homes time and time again. Filmmaker Resita Cox exposes a history of environmental racism and why ultimately, "Black towns always exist within this larger white governance regime." By sharing the spiritual, ancestral, and political landscapes of Princeville, Freedom Hill pushes against America's historical and present legacy of racist displacement. For more go to: thefreedomhilldoc.com Watch at: worldchannel.org/afropop-freedom-hill