Claudia Stack works on her documentary film Sharecrop, and Carla Keaton works on her portraits of sharecroppers
Rocky Point, NC — Stack Stories LLC announces the world premiere of Claudia Stack’s short film Sharecrop Delta Cotton (2017), made possible by a grant from the Middle Road Foundation. The documentary will screen alongside the first exhibition of a series of portraits of sharecroppers by Carla Keaton at the 6th Annual Cotton Kingdom/Sweat Equity Investment Symposium on November 9 & 10, 2017.The event is sponsored by Kharfre, Inc. in partnership with Mississippi Valley State University. Dr. Sade Turnipseed is originator of the Symposium and the effort to create a monument to the millions of people who built American wealth by laboring in cotton fields.
She comments, “From the shared stories… [are] quieted yet still painful memories of planting, chopping and picking cotton. The main purpose of this year’s Sweat Equity Symposium is to demonstrate how through interpreted narratives historians and truth seekers may… have authentic resources to achieve the requisite knowledge for sustainable change within our communities and throughout the world.”
About the Sharecrop Delta Cotton documentary
Claudia Stack made the short film Sharecrop Delta Cotton as part of her feature documentary Sharecrop, supported by the Middle Road Foundation. Sharecrop conveys the experiences of sharecroppers during the segregation era. Sometimes called “the forgotten farmers”, sharecroppers were vital to agricultural production prior to widespread farm mechanization. Sharecrop focuses on the life of one cotton sharecroppers in the Mississippi Delta.
For more details about Stack Stories, visit www.stackstories.com
For more details about the symposium, visit www.cottonpickers.us/symposium/
About the sharecropper portraits
Carla Keaton received a 2016 Arizona Commission on the Arts grant in support of these paintings and narratives. Her work as a visual artist is dedicated to honoring the lives of African American men, women and children sharecroppers, who sacrificed their lives, education, health, dreams and passions to the cotton fields. This ultimate sacrifice resulted in a brighter future for their descendants and the global economy.
PRESS CONTACT:
Claudia Stack
claudiaabstack@gmail.com
(910) 264-4469
Carla Keaton
keatonfineart@gmail.com
(480) 228-1500