What a life they have gone through! Who would you go to? [8][9][10][11], In 2003, Mae and all six of her siblings joined a class action lawsuit seeking reparations to descendants of enslaved people from several private companies with lawyer Deadria Farmer-Paellmann. One woman in particular, Mae Louise Walls Miller did not get her freedom from enslavement until 1963, one hundred years after the proclamation was issued. Elements of the film's background are loosely based on the narrative of Mae Louise Walls Miller, who escaped from slavery in 1963. The elder Smith said talking about the documentary and pre-showings of the film revealed that a significant number of people know firsthand, based on having family members still on the plantations, or themselves growing up in slavery but choose to remain silent. Whatever it was, that's what you did for no money at all." Instead, they took him right back to the farm, where he was brutally beaten in front of his family. She admitted that she feels very proud of the past, of my ancestors, what they did, and how Im here the fact were still standing and that were not extinct as a culture and as a people. ), the trick to appreciating this one is to skip the first 30 mins (trust me!) We had to go drink water out of the creek. [21][19] Mae recounted that she was threatened with violence to keep this abuse secret from her father: "They told me, 'If you go down there and tell [your father, Cain Wall Sr.], we will kill him before the morning.' I truly enjoyed this movie. His plan was to register for the army and get stationed far away. Ron Walters, a political scientist who's an advocate for slavery reparations, also believes the Miller sisters' story. Badass. Photo Source: Antionette Harrell. The family didnt have TV, so Mae just assumed everyone lived the same way her brothers and sisters did. He cited his colleagues in the media industry who choose to focus on partying and frivolity, fearful of taking on a serious issue such as slavery in modern America. We couldn't have that. They were the parents of at least 2 sons and 3 daughters. Mae was 18. ABCNEWS' John Donvan contributed to this report. 4/10 - I love Keke Palmer, but I'm unfortuantely afraid that this one turned out to be a rather huge miss in that it just was not in any way developed enough to be a full feature film and the arc just felt so lackluster. Now she not only believes the story, she has become something of a guardian angel in Mae Miller's life. Alice is an upcoming revenge thriller film starring Keke Palmer as an enslaved woman who escapes and finds out shes transported to the year 1973. SO WHAT!!! But Mae and I became good friends and would lecture together. 515 views |. It was something that was in the past so there was never a reason to bring it up. "Why would you want to tell anybody that you was raped over and all that kind of mess? [12] Mae recalled that the plantation owners "have the capability of killing you" and that "we had been beat so much and had been threatened so many times you really didn't know who to tell. Nearly five years after the Waterford meeting, however, Mae Louise Walls Miller of Mississippi told Harrell that she didn't get her freedom until 1963. Every passing year, the workers fell deeper and deeper in debt. They didnt feed us. And the retro vibe revisiting the 70s (which honestly may be lost on current filmgoers) actually works more often than it fails. Reading some of the reviews here after watching this movie I followed someone's comment suggesting people look into Mae Louise Miller if they wanted proof that this could have happened and I was shocked. Elements of the film's background are loosely based on the narrative of Mae Louise Walls Miller, who escaped from slavery in 1963. "[3] Mae recounted harvesting cotton, corn, peas, butter beans, string beans, potatoes. Anyone else wonder how they explained airplanes to the slaves? Antoinette Harrell unearthed the stories of slaves in the south, well over 100 years after Emancipation. As well as Millers story, Harrell has unearthed multiple other shocking stories of enslaved people in Americas southern states like Louisiana, Mississippi, Arkansas and Florida. Keke Palmer, who looks and talks a lot like the current lead in Star Trek Discovery, goes above and beyond the call of duty here, trying to sell a story with plot holes big enough to absorb a Dwarf Star. Miller told her about how she and her mother were raped and beaten when they went to the main house to work. "It was very terrible. It does not get more dramatic than the story the Miller sisters told about life as slaves in Mississippi. Still takes nothing from the film and is well worth the watch. But the people told my brothers, they go, 'You better go get her.' Start a discussion about improving the Mae Louise Miller page Talk pages are where people discuss how to make content on Wikipedia the best that it can be. In 2008, she unearthed the story of Mae Louise Walls Miller, who was kept in modern-day slavery until 1963although the Emancipation Proclamation of 1863 should have freed her family. Mae's father was tricked into. ", Second Consolidated and Amended Complaint and Jury Demand, "Black People in the US Were Enslaved Well into the 1960s", "Some Black Americans Were Still Living in Chattel Slavery 100 Years After Emancipation Proclamation, Historian Discovers", "The enslaved black people of the 1960s who did not know slavery had ended", "Research shows slaves remained on Killona plantation until 1970s", "Black People Were Enslaved in the US Until as Recently as 1963", "Is Anyone Shocked That Slavery Continued a Century After Emancipation? They trade you off, they come back and get you, from one day to the next. Yes, slavery still exists in 2010 in Mississippi and Louisiana, says Timothy Arden Smith, who captured the story in a soon to be released documentary called The Cotton Pickin' Truth Still on the Plantation, which will premiere Sept. 23 at the Charles H. Wright Museum of African-American History in Detroit. Youd be forgiven for thinking the movie is set before the Emancipation Proclamation of 1863 but actually, thats part of the intrigue of this trailer. He said, 'Baby, don't run away. "[4] In early 1961, an aunt of Mae's from northern Alabama "sneaked us away" on a "horse and wagon" and helped them to relocate. Where did they go? He was 107 years old, but his mind was still incredibly sharp. I am glad her brother Arthur is continuing to tell the Walls family story. Mae's father Cain Wall lost his land by signing a contract he couldn't read that had sealed his entire family's fate. There were also Polish, Hungarian, and Italian immigrants, as well other nationalities, who got caught up in these situations in the American South. "We didn't know everybody wasn't living the same life that we were living. Photo Credit: Antionette Harrell How would they have functioned without THE BLACK WOMEN?? At the end of the harvest, when they tried to settle up with the owner, they were always told they didn't make it into the black and to try again next year. Miller and her family didnt know what was happening around them as they had no TV or access to the outside world something thats also explored throughout Alice. The property goes from can't see to to can't see. So, I reckon it had to be slavery for it to be as bad as it were. Carrie and her child Thomas had been appraised at $1,100. By ABC News Dec. 20, 2003 -- As Mae Miller tells it, she spent her youth in Mississippi as a slave, "picking cotton, pulling corn, picking peas, picking butter beans, picking string beans, digging potatoes. But the vast majority of 20th-century slaves were of African descent. Whatever it was, that's what you did for no money at all.". To begin kudos to everyone who saw the vision to bring this film to life. Each time she repeated a story, I felt like she was trying to give me a message. From there, Harrell tracked down freedman contracts on her fathers side of the family that verified they were sharecroppers, and word spread around New Orleans leading to a number of speaking engagements. When Mae Louise Miller was born on 4 May 1881, in Alton, Madison, Illinois, United States, her father, George J Miller, was 25 and her mother, Mary Louise Schuck, was 25. There were several times when I returned to the property where Mae and her family were held. We couldnt have that.. The only fact that seemed certain was that slavery ended with the passing of the Emancipation Proclamation in 1863. When asked about the possibility of running away, she admitted that she didnt because, What could you run to? [2]Mae Louise Miller (born Mae Louise Wall; August 24, 1943 2014) was an American woman who was kept in modern-day slavery, known as peonage, near Gillsburg, Mississippi and Kentwood, Louisiana until her family achieved freedom in early 1961. As a young girl, Mae didnt know that her familys situation was different from anyone elses. We thought everybody was in the same predicament. You can get all of our newest stories and updates on BYP research According to a series of interviews published by. Their story, which ABCNEWS has not confirmed independently, is not unheard of. This movie got me fired up in the best way. It's because racial classification has always mattered for the sake of societal hierarchy. Our babies are dying, where are our friends? Then the filmmakers were taken to Glendora, Miss., and Webb, Miss., where they said they saw and documented the existence of plantations. This was the film's inspiration. Krystin Ver Linden, Writer/Director needs unlimited budgets from now on! "[4] Harrell noted that "people are afraid to share their stories" because "many of the same white families who owned these plantations are still running local government and big businesses". We had to go drink water out of the creek. Over a series of interviews, she told Justin Fornal about how she became an expert of modern slavery in the United States. "I remember thinking they're just going to have to kill me today, because I'm not doing this anymore. Start a discussion Categories: B-Class AfC articles [4] In her 30s, Mae returned to school and learned to read and write. Timothy Smith pointed out that the film gives meaning to the human experience and how most people are yet enslaved on one level or another. 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