Using Grassroots Documentary Films for Political Change
June 26, 2001
Outreach Tips for Nonprofits and Activist Organizations
By David Whiteman
The Uprising of ‘34
1. USE DOCUMENTARY AS PART OF A LARGER STRATEGY. Documentaries are most effective when they are one part of a larger plan for social change. For example, housing activists in Chapel Hill, North Carolina, made Maxcine Mitchell’s film, “Living Conditions in Public Housing,” the centerpiece of their efforts to force the city to improve the maintenance of public housing. The activists, part of a coalition of public housing community residents, used the documentary showing cockroaches and peeling paint to gain support for their actions. Initially, they showed it at the annual meeting of the local Housing Advisory Board, and then to the Town Council. The activists ultimately moved to enlarge the scope of the dispute by sending the video, along with a package of information detailing their concerns, to the federal Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), which provoked negotiations between federal and Town officials. In Wisconsin, a coalition of environmental groups organized in an attempt to gain passage of a state Mining Moratorium bill. They used Rob Danielson’s film, “From the Ground Up” as a focal point in a three-week, state-wide “speaking tour” which reached 22 communities and 1,100 people.
2. REMEMBER THAT PART OF THE IMPACT IS ON YOUR ORGANIZATION. Activist organizations are one of the most important arenas of impact for social-issue documentaries. Documentaries can educate group members and motivate them for further action. Many of the screenings of Rob Danielson’s film, “From the Ground Up” were at meetings of activist groups (such as the Sierra Club, Brown County Conservation Alliance, Clean Water Action Council, Audubon Society, Mining Task Force of the Greens) as a way to educate their members about the mining issue and increase their confidence in public settings. One organization routinely gave new members a copy of the film to get them “up to speed.” In North Carolina, housing activists found that the production and distribution of the video enhanced the stature of the resident organizations within the housing policy network and strengthened housing groups internally by giving a sense that they had an effective means to get attention. Judith Helfand’s “The Uprising of ‘34” became part of a region-wide educational process for labor activists in the southeast. Most activists had never heard of the events of 1934 until they became involved in the production of the film, and in turn they became interested in educating others in the labor movement. Union leaders (including the SEIU and UNITE) used the film internally to give union members a better sense of the long history of labor activism in the southeast. The film also provoked labor activists and historians to undertake further research into events in their own localities, and this led to greater awareness of other strikes and labor activities in the 1930s and after.
3. BE INNOVATIVE IN CREATING PUBLIC SPACES FOR VIEWING. Movie theaters and film festivals are usually not the most effective venue for reaching your target audience. Environmental activists in Wisconsin created a wide variety of public spaces in which citizens could encounter their program, including sporting groups (like meetings of Trout Unlimited), county fairs, churches, and sports shows (a major exhibition of boat manufacturers and fishing supply companies). Activists even arranged for screenings of the film in local bars, relying on word-of-mouth to generate an audience and then showing up with a portable TV/VCR. Eventually bar owners began asking for showing and would advertise the event with their patrons. Labor activists created a wide variety of public spaces in which citizens could encounter “Uprising of ‘34,” including cultural centers (the Peace Center in Greenville), malls, community meetings, libraries, national union meetings (SEIU, Conference of National Organizers Alliance), a workshop on labor history, and religious conventions (Quakers Palmetto gathering).
4. COLLABORATE WITH OTHER ACTIVIST GROUPS. Environmental activists used Rob Danielson’s “From the Ground Up” in conjunction with an extensive public education effort that also involved Native American nations, sportfishing groups, unionists, students, and others. Distribution of the film occurred primarily through the efforts of members of activist groups such as the Milwaukee-area Greens, the Mining Impact Coalition of Wisconsin, the Sierra Club, the Wisconsin Resource Protection Council. Distribution of “Uprising of ‘34” involved a wide variety of organizations, including the Carolina Alliance for Fair Employment, South Carolina United Action, Service Employees International Union, United Needletrades, Industrial and Textile Employees; and Grassroots Leadership.
5. INVOLVE EDUCATIONAL AND CULTURAL INSTITUTIONS. Environmental organizations arranged for screenings of Rob Danielson’s documentary, “From the Ground Up” in classrooms (high school, technical college, university), museums, public libraries, and environmental conferences (Association of Environmental Educators). To reach citizens who do not attend meetings, activist groups in Milwaukee also delivered copies of the film to all 34 libraries in the greater Milwaukee area, and groups in northern Wisconsin donated videos to community and high school libraries (although one library, near the site of a major mine, rejected the donation, because the film was “too controversial”). Labor activists arranged screenings of “Uprising” in similar educational settings (plus in community literacy programs) as well as in cultural centers—and many citizens in Greenville, South Carolina, were amazed when the major cultural center in that city was the host for a film about labor history. Activists also arranged for a broadcast on commercial television in Greenville, after South Carolina public television refused to carry the national broadcast on POV, the PBS documentary series. The film was also shown by museum programmers in Kannapolis and Charlotte, opening up future avenues for activist groups to work with museums and other “legitimate” community cultural institutions.
6. BE AWARE OF OPPORTUNITIES TO CHANGE PUBLIC POLICY. While none of these films were designed to further specific legislative objectives, each one became involved in campaigns that produced change in public policy. Housing activists initially simply wanted repairs to the apartments shown in the film. Once these were underway, however, other objectives emerged. Ultimately the video had clear and concrete effects on public policy in Chapel Hill. The town for the first time allocated its own funds for the maintenance of public housing and changed the procedures for inspecting and repairing apartments. Environmental activists showed “From the Ground Up” at county board meetings and in offices of state officials, administrators, and legislators. By educating activists and citizens, the film also elevated the general character of the debate over the mining issue and the way in which citizens and mining proponents interacted. The film is also regarded by some activists as contributing to the momentum toward the eventual passage of a Mining Moratorium bill in the Wisconsin State Legislature, which was one of the specific goals of the coalition of anti-mining groups. The efforts of labor activists stimulated public discussion of the long-suppressed historical events brought to life by “Uprising” and led to several changes in the small town of Honea Path, South Carolina, the scene of the most violent confrontation of the 1934 strike. One was an apology, by the grandson of the man who was mill superintendent in 1934, for the mill’s actions in 1934. Another was a small but extremely significant policy change: the authorization, by a unanimous vote of the Honea Path City Council, and construction of a memorial in a public park for the seven people killed in the strike.
7. USE THE DOCUMENTARY TO GET MEDIA ATTENTION. Activist organizations used both the production and distribution of “Uprising” to provide a “news hook” for reporters to write about labor history. Initial coverage by some newspapers in the region served to legitimate the story for other papers that historically were more resistant to the topic, such as the Greenville News. More interesting than the coverage of the film itself, however, is the way in which the film may have stimulated a more general change in the coverage of labor history. The process of covering the story about the film led reporters to seek out individuals as sources who had rarely been contacted before—local labor organizers, current and retired mill workers, and labor historians. Because so many people appeared in the film, it essentially “dumped sources into laps of reporters,” and the general respect for the historical accuracy of the film meant that these sources could not be simply dismissed as vehicles for pro-union propaganda.
8. USE THE FILM TO NETWORK FOR FUTURE ACTION. Activists and organizers can also use the production and distribution processes to encourage the networking required for future action. During the production of “Uprising,” labor historians and union activists and community members were brought together to explore events within local communities, and often these individuals had never worked together before or did not even know each other and the organizations that they represented. During distribution, representatives from activist and community groups were also brought together to offer their commentary on the film in public settings. Organizers and activists were able to share stories about use and effect of the film, and in some cases the linkages carried over into other projects. Similarly, public housing activists brought together by the film in Chapel Hill continued to organize on other aspects of housing reform.
Nonprofits! Find documentary films to further political change of the issues that are important to your organization. Search the MediaRights.org database of documentary film.
David Whiteman teaches political science and film studies at the University of South Carolina. His primary interest is the role of activist organizations in the planning, production, and distribution of film and video, and he is currently engaged in a research project funded by the MacArthur Foundation on the political impact of documentary film. He can be contacted at: Department of Government and International Studies, University of South Carolina, Columbia, SC 29208 (or email: whiteman@sc.edu).
