Film Description

'this black soil' is the story of a community that fights the system, redefines the needs of poor people, and challenges all conventional ideas of community development. This documentary traces the work of Bayview, VA and the Bayview Citizens for Social Justice committee. BCSJ is a homegrown community organization which formed during their 1995 fight against the state's plans to build a maximum security prison in their front yards, and has thrived to now own the prison site land, and acquired over 7 million dollars to build a new community. Over 75% of the community's citizens live without running water, plumbing, efficient and safe heating, or transportation to the few jobs supported by the local rural economy. Under the leadership of visionary women, this extraordinary vision of a new rural village includes not only improved and affordable housing, but a sustainable economic base to earn a living wage, a community center for educating its residents, a daycare center, laundromat, and a community farm which not only provides jobs and income for the organization, but returns them to their roots, working on the land.
This video has been produced by an advanced video class at Virginia Commonwealth University that was two years in the making.