|
Sept. 14, 2006
African-American Student Filmmakers to Present
Video on History and Future of Douglass Center Drum Corps
A group of six young African-American male filmmakers from
Urbana High School, participants in WILL’s Youth Media
Workshop, will present their new video about the Douglass
Center Drum Corps at a screening and discussion at noon
Saturday, Sept. 23, at Boardman’s Art Theatre, 126 W. Church
St., Champaign. The public is invited to the free event.
Three student producers, Nick Green, Brian Mitchell and Jay
Walker, will talk about making the video about the history
and future of the drum corps. The video, And the Beat Goes
On: The Spirit in the Legacy of the Douglass Center Drum
Corps, tells the story of the drum corps during its heyday
in the late 1960s and asks the question, “Who will carry on
the tradition and provide this important social outlet for
young black men and women today?”
Mitchell said the students hope the video will help efforts
to revive the drum corps. “It’s about small town living.
It’s about the history of drumming itself, the egos and
pride of the drummers, the personalities of the drummers and
the future of drumming,” Mitchell said.
The 25-minute video includes recollections of former drum
corps leaders Jesse Ratliffe and Bud Johnson, along with
former drum corps member Terry Townsend and drill team
member Linda Turnbull. The video looks at recent efforts by
Ratliffe and 17-year-old Lee Duncan to revive the drum
corps, which in 1968 won first place in the national Elks
Club competition in New York City. Townsend recalls the
sense of community pride people felt in the victory. Walter
Cronkite announced it on the CBS Evening News and when their
bus pulled into town on their return, drum corps members
discovered they were heroes, Townsend said. “When we got to
Douglass Center, there was just a sea of people,” he said.
The Youth Media Workshop is a collaboration of WILL AM-FM-TV
and William M. Patterson, associate director of the
University of Illinois African American Studies and Research
Program. The after-school program teaches African-American
youth how to make radio and television documentaries that
link the hip-hop generation to the civil rights and black
power generations.
“I’m very proud of the students who worked on the drum corps
video,” said Kimberlie Kranich, co-director of the workshop.
“They understand their special role in documenting this
history and helping preserve and keeping the legacy moving
forward.” Other Urbana High students who worked on the
project were Coreyawn Donald, Kwan Cobbs and Mike Jones.
Patterson said he hopes the film encourages other young
people to learn about the drum corps and community history.
“They can become a part of recapturing the heartbeat of a
community that has a rich legacy of great music, culture and
identity,” he said.
The workshop received a grant from the Illinois Humanities
Council to develop a pilot video about the history of
Champaign’s Douglass Park area.
###
Contact:
Kimberlie Kranich
WILL AM-FM-TV
(217) 333-1070
Back to Press Room
|
