Charles Reagan Wilson, Overview: Religion in the American South

AMERC: Experiencing spirit and place
Appalachian Ministries Educational Resource Center. Promotional film commenting on the experience of ministering in Appalachia. 1990s, VHS tape. OCLC # 48050846

And They All Said Amen
This documentary, winner of a Certificate of Merit from SECA in 1991, examines religious customs that are passing away in Alabama. Vacation Bible School in a small country church near Thomaston, a week-long camp meeting in Unity Grove, a rustic gathering place for more than a century, a food-washing ceremony in Thomaston, and a river baptism are all featured. University of Alabama Television, 1990.

“Are You Walkin’ with Me?” Sister Thea Bowman, William Faulkner, and African American Culture
Overview of the programs Sister Thea presented at the annual Faulkner Conference from 1980 through 1989. Produced by Lisa N. Howorth, Center for the Study of Southern Culture, 1990.

At Home on the Range: Jewish Life in Texas
For over one hundred and fifty years the Jewish people have played a vital role in the development of Texas. Their impact has been felt not only in larger cities, but also in the small communities that dot the state. The early Jewish pioneers went where there was economic opportunity. This usually meant in rural towns which were just beginning to develop. In many of these places the Jews built thriving communities. They established cemeteries, synagogues and religious schools. They interacted with the non-Jewish community on almost every level and were seen as an integral part of the community. As economic opportunity shifted toward the larger cities, however, these communities lost much of their Jewish population. Without a strong core of people, they were unable to maintain the institutions which they had struggled so hard to develop. The story of these small communities is a fundamental part of Texas history. The great perseverance these people have shown in establishing and maintaining a Jewish presence in these small towns is remarkable. This is a story which celebrates the Jewish people’s ability to overcome adversity and to establish, in the most unlikely of places, communities of great achievement. 1996. 52 minutes. Produced by Brian Cohen.

Being a Joines
John E. “Frail” Joines, a master traditional tale teller, passed his life in Wilkes County, North Carolina, on the eastern slope of the Blue Ridge. In this film portrait his tall tales, his comic local anecdotes, his stories of World War II, and his religious narratives mirror changes that have swept away the mountain folk community in a single generation. The tales and other reminiscences by Frail Jones and his wife Blanche show the character and values with which one family met these circumstances, and what it has meant, in this time and place, to be a Joines. Being a Joines is a production of Davenport Films and the Curriculum i n Folklore at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Directed by Tom Davenport with Dan Patterson and Allen Tullos. Davenport Film and Video, Color, 55 mins.

Black Delta Religion
A jubilant baptismal procession through Delta cotton fields and a sanctified urban service where a woman is seized by the spirit and performs a religious dance highlight this unforgettable documentary. The film dramatically presents a wide range of religious experiences moving from a small Baptist church in Rose Hill, Mississippi, with its unaccompanied singing of Dr. Watts’s slow, moaning hymns to a service in Clarksdale, Mississippi, where guitars and tambourines provide strongly rhythmic background for the sermon. “The singing and preaching is among the finest of its kind,” said American Anthropologist. Black Delta Religion is a remarkable teaching tool that should make viewers want to learn more about black religious practices and music. Screenings: Robert Flaherty Film Seminar, American Anthropological Association, Margaret Mead Film Festival, Not Sync Sound. Produced by Judy Peiser and Bill Ferris/Center for Southern Folklore, 1974. B & W, 15 mins.

Emmanuel Church -- Remembering
Remembering is an oral history of Emmanuel Episcopal Church in Fauquier County, Virginia. It was inspired by The Spoon River Anthology, a collection of poems by Edgar Lee Masters that was standard fare in high school American literature classes in the 1950s. The storytellers are masters—all of them members of the congregation from the old farming community tradition of Fauquier County. The stories, funny, sad, and scandalous, are memories of friends and family who are dead and buried in the churchyard. The film was made to bridge the gap between the newcomers and the older rural roots of the congregation. In many churches there is a chasm of time and change between the new commuter economy and the older agricultural society, and in some congregations there is no longer living memory of any of the previous members who sustained the church that now nourishes them. The code word now for this type of work is "intergenerational reconciliation." It puts faces on the gravestones. The Remembering project was done with Hi-8 consumer equipment and demonstrates how easy it is technically to make this sort of film with computer-based editing systems. It is meant to encourage others to do the same in their churches and in their families. Directed by Tom Davenport. (36 minutes) www.davenportfilms.com

Fannie Bell Chapman: Gospel Singer
“My hands cut sickness as fine as cat’s hair,” claims Fannie Bell Chapman, gospel singer, faith healer, and family leader from Centerville, Mississippi. This intimate study offers valuable insights into both her faith and the psychology of religious experience. Mrs. Chapman describes how her devotion began with a “pillar of cloud” and how her original songs come to her during “visions,” when her mouth “flies open just like a mockingbird.” Gospel singing and her personal testimony are interspersed with comments on her music, faith, and healing power by three generations of her family. The film concludes with a meeting of her missionary praying band where members sing, speak in tongues, and perform the Holy Ghost dance. “Dramatic, unforgettable footage,” said the New York Times. Awards and screenings: Museum of Modern Art, Chicago International Film Festival. Produced by Judy Peiser and Bill Ferris/Center for Southern Folklore, 1975. Color, 42 mins.

Hush Hoggies Hush: Tom Johnson’s Praying Pigs
A witty film about Tom Johnson’s remarkable trick: teaching his pigs to pray before they eat. “Most everybody I know,” Johnson says, “is amazed to see this.” And you’ll be amazed, too. A popular film and the perfect special feature for your next club meeting or conference. Awards and screenings: CINE/Golden Eagle, Sinking Creek Film Celebration, New York Filmmakers Exposition, Robert Flaherty Film Seminar. Produced by Judy Peiser and William Ferris/Center for Southern Folklore, 1978. Color, 4 minutes.

In the Good Old-Fashioned Way
The Old Regular Baptist Church is one of the oldest denominations in the mountains and for most of its members it provides both a spiritual and a social context, based on traditional practices and fundamental beliefs. This film is a fresh and straightforward record of the church, its meetings, interviews with members, and the hymns and ceremonies that have remained largely unchanged for centuries. Directed by Herb E. Smith/Appalshop, 1973. Color, 29 minutes.

In Jesus’ Name
This video documents the worship services of two “Jesus Names” churches in the American South whose practices include taking up serpents, laying on hands, healing the sick, speaking in tongues, and drinking deadly potions. The church members discuss their feelings and religious practices. By Al Clayton. B & W, 48 minutes.

J.B. Murry: Writing in an Unknown Tongue; Reading Through the Water
J.B. Murry is a self-educated African American visionary from Georgia who celebrates ritual “writing in the Spirit” and water divination. These traditional expressions, derived from African influences, occur throughout the Caribbean, South America, and the American South. The video shows Murry performing the rituals and includes shots of some of the painting for which he has gained national recognition. This short documentary raises issues about the relationship between the spiritual and the aesthetic in the art of religious visionaries. By Judith McWillie/University of Georgia, 1986. Color, 15 minutes.

The Jolo Serpent Handlers
A documentary focusing on a small snake-handling church in rural West Virginia. Includes two serpent-handling services, a prayer vigil for the victim of a rattlesnake bite and interviews with the people themselves. Answers many of the questions viewers may have about the religion and the people who practice it. Kramer Films, color, 16 mm. 40 minutes. OCLC#: 3981989

Let Justice Roll Down Like Waters: CORA, Churches & Communities at work in Appalachia
Produced by Bingham Graves Pope. VHS tape. Knoxville: TN – The Commission on Religion in Appalachia. 1990s. OCLC#: 24883144

Living the Life We Sing About
This profile of the Cross Family, a noncommercial African-American music group from Southern Kentucky, provides an opportunity to study the interplay of religious, familial and musical traditions in community settings Narrated by family members, the program includes performances in two churches as well as scenes recorded at the family’s home, workplaces and school. The film concludes with a highly charged “falling out” during a church performance. Produced by W. Bryce Combs and Burt Fundic. 29 minutes.

Lord and Father
Lord and Father is a document of the conflicting viewpoints of father and son over profitability and morality in the operation of a Kentucky tobacco farm. Integrated into this portrait of filmmaker Joe Gray’s father, and the tenant family that works his land, is an overview of the economic history of tobacco growing in the U.S. and of sharecropping, the social system allied with it. Particularly moving is this film’s depiction of the bonds of duty, love, guilt and economic interdependence that tie these two families together. The contradiction between the Christian convictions of this farming community and the health effects of its primary commodity is poignantly underlined as a cancer death strikes the family of sharecroppers. Directed by Joe Gray, Jr. Appalshop, 1983. Color, 45 minutes.

May the Light Shine Forever
The story of the Jewish community in the South is one of significant contribution to Southern economic and cultural life, strong family ties and traditions, assimilation, growth and decline. This story and the changing experience of Jews in the South today are documented in this introduction to the Museum of the Southern Jewish Experience, founded in 1989. Beginning with a review of the early history of Jews in the South, the video examines the cultural deterioration of Jewish life that has resulted from the decline of small Southern towns and discusses ways in which the museum is working to preserve and document the Jewish past and present-day experience. Produced by Laura Strickland/Communication Arts, 1990. Color, 13 minutes.

Move of God
This film uses excerpts from a charismatic healing service at an African American storefront church pastured by Mother Doris Lewis of Monroe, Georgia, The sequences included raise questions about possible African retentions in details of the church ritual. By Judith c Willie/University of Georgia, 1985. Color, 15 minutes.

New Orleans Voodoo – From the Inside
This documentary surveys the history and present status in New Orleans of one of the world’s oldest religions through archival footage and interviews. It features voodoo priestess Ava Kay Jones; Karen Livers, narrator. DMJ Productions, New Orleans, Louisiana. 60 minutes.

The Performed World
This is an important, ground-breaking film and one of the first to view black religion in its cultural context. From teens on skates to bluesmen in clubs, the film examines a wide variety of performance situations and then skillfully relates them to forms of African American religious expressions. The film concludes with a dazzling display of sermon music contrasting the preaching style of Berkley, California’s Bishop E.E. Cleveland with that of his daughter, Pastor Ernestine Cleveland Reems. Bishop Cleveland composes his sermons in a symbol system shared by his congregation but not by non-African Americans while his daughter’s sermons are designed to include other cultures The film dramatically captures the power of this performed word and the congregations’ strong response to it. Produced by Gerald L. Davis, 1981. Color, 58 minutes.

Powerhouse for God
Powerhouse for God, a one-hour color documentary, focuses on the pastor of the Fellowship Independent Baptist Church in Virginia’s northern Blue Ridge Mountains and on his family and church congregation. Following the chronology of the worship service, Powerhouse for God portrays Pastor John Sherfey and his church family through their powerful singing, praying, testifying, and religious action. Through this compelling look at the life of John Sherfey and his church, the film demonstrates how story, history, belief, and religious practice work to integrate the lives of the church members. Produced and directed by Barry Dornfield, Tom Rankin and Jeff Titon. 58 minutes. 1989.

Pushcarts and Plantations
This one-hour documentary explores the 300 year history of Louisiana Jewry. From its beginnings in the French colony to its emergence into the 21st century, this community has played an invaluable part in the development of the state. Using a grant from the Louisiana Endowment for the Humanities, a camera crew traveled throughout Louisiana and collected interviews, oral histories and archival material in communities from Shreveport to Lake Charles to New Orleans. In each community, both young and old come together to tell the story of their struggles and triumphs as a minority group trying to find their place in Louisiana. By tracing the lives of both the early settlers and those who today call Louisiana home, the incredible history and diversity of these communities are brought to life. 1997. 54 minutes. Produced by Brian Cohen.

Saga of the Serpent Handlers
Charleston, WV: WVLC/TV Video Services. OCLC # 16517393. Produced in 1981. VHS tape 3 videocassettes.

Sermons in Wood
This film examines the life and art of Elijah Pierce, a master craftsman who carves intricate relief sculpture in wood. Born in Mississippi in 1982, Pierce lived and worked in Columbus, Ohio, from the early 1920s until his death in 1984, preserving episodes from his life and the Bible in expressive, brightly painted sculptures. The film reveals the wide range of Pierce’s genius, from the little elephant whittled from a block of wood to the elaborate Noah’s Ark scene carved out of his wife’s biscuit board. A sensitive study of an art, an artist, and the strong faith that guides him. Awards and screenings: CINE Golden Eagle, Sinking Creek Film Celebration. Produced by Carolyn Jones Allport, 1980. Color, 27 minutes.

The Shakers
The Shakers are engaged in one of America’s longest and most successful experiments in communal living. A century ago nearly 6,000 Shaker brothers and sisters lived together in 19 communities scattered from Maine to Kentucky. Their meeting houses sounded with devotional songs and ecstatic dancing, and their communal farms and workshops poured out products and inventions that made their name synonymous with quality and ingenuity. This film traces the growth and decline of this remarkable religious sect through the memories and songs of the surviving Shakers themselves. The Shakers is a production of Davenport Films and the Curriculum in Folklore at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Directed by Tom Davenport with Dan Patterson/Davenport Film & Video, 1974. Color, 30 minutes.

A Singing Stream
A Singing Stream is the story of a remarkable black family from the rural South. With interviews and stories, scenes from daily life, reunions, gospel concerts, and church services, the film traces the history of the Landis family of Granville Country, North Carolina, over the lifetime of its oldest surviving member, 86-year-old Bertha M. Landis. The film shows how Mrs. Landis used the musical gifts of her family, religious faith, and black cultural traditions to unite, discipline, and motivate her children, equipping them to rise above the difficult circumstances of black life in the South during the last half century. The musical performances in the film span almost a century of black religious song styles from unaccompanied shape-note singing to contemporary gospel. A Singing Stream is a production of Davenport Films and the Curriculum in Folklore at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Directed by Tom Davenport with Dan Patterson and Allen Tullos. Davenport Film & Video, 1981-88. Color, 57 minutes.

Sounds of Faith
In the black belt of Alabama, the sounds of faith are shaped notes. This documentary studies sacred harp singing, a distinctive style of traditional music that may be lost with the passing of this generation. Producer, Dwight Cammeron. University of Alabama Television, 1990. Color, 30 minutes. Southern Culture Catalog.

They Sing of Heaven
This film presents sacred harp singing, a unique form of Southern folk culture. The music has grown out of a 200-year-old singing movement that still survives. This motion picture shows actual singing in black and white rural churches with commentary by the participants. Producer, Robert D. Osterling, University of Mississippi Center for Public Service and Consulting Studies, 1972. Color, 15 minutes.

Two Black Churches
This film focuses on religious expression in Rose Hill, Mississippi, and New Haven, Connecticut. The film opens in Mississippi with a baptism and proceeds to a church service that includes a sermon by Reverend Isaac Thomas, the singing of Dr. Watts’ hymns, interviews with members of the congregation, and a performance by the McGowan Family Gospel Singers. The service in New Haven features a gospel processional by the choir, religious dance, and a sermon and testament by Bishop A. Cowad, who closes the film with a healing ceremony. Produced by Bill Ferris/Yale University Media Design Studio, 1977. Color, 20 minutes.

Well Known Stranger: Howard Finster's Workout
Well-Known Stranger is a documentary of 72-year-old folk artist Howard Finster of Summerville, Georgia. A dynamic and outgoing man, Finster took up painting at the age of 60, after being a minister and “small motor repairman” for 45 years. In 1984 his work represented the United States in the prestigious Venice Biennale. In this video Finster describes the visionary experiences that led him to become a painter of “sacred art.” In a tour de force of “talking art,” he recounts some of those prophetic visions and dreams. He also sings and picks a mean banjo. Well-Known Stranger takes an intimate look at the artist as he conducts a workshop (or “workout,” as he calls it) on his various methods of art making. Produced by Elizabeth Fine and Robert Walker. Directed by Robert Walker, 1988. Color, 28 minutes.