“The Black Press: Soldiers without Swords” debuted at the 1999 Sundance Film Festival, where it won the Freedom of Expression Award, “decided on by the documentary jury and given to a documentary film that informs and educates the public on issues of social or political concern.”( http://www.imdb.com/event/ev0000631/overview)
The film was later broadcast on PBS. As the organization often does for its documentary features, an accompanying website was also created:
The site is a significantly deeper dive into the people, publications and topics from the film. As filmmaker Stanley Nelson said in the “Discuss and Chat” section, “Part of our struggle in making the film was to manage the enormous history of the Black Press, and to fit this history into an hour and a half. In doing this, we had to make some very difficult decisions.”
He adds that many newspapers were excluded–such as publications that were published by organizations like churches or the NAACP—simply because of space considerations. Further, the film documents the black press only through the 1960s, leaving out the significant gap in publications that has persisted since.
“I think that we need a strong advocacy press as we had in the 1920s, ‘30s and ‘40s,” says Jill Nelson, author of “Voluntary Slavery: My Authentic Negro Experience” in the “Modern Journalists” portion of the site. “It’s difficult to establish that…and one of the reasons is integration. We have forgotten that our interests are often very different from that of the dominant white culture.”
Most interesting, however, are the comments left by individual viewers. Some are academic inquiries to the filmmaker for more information or resources, showing that historians are becoming increasingly aware of the subject. The majority, though, are from those expressing—as many of us did in class—a surprise and (somewhat poignant) appreciation that this topic was being brought to light. As one person wrote:
I would like to say that I finished high school twenty five years ago. Our curriculum was not set up to embrace our self esteem. So we were not informed of The Black Press or anything important about our heritage. I was an adult before I ever heard of The Black Press. So when I became a parent, I spent time in the library and in book stores. Also, I looked for books every place. I wanted my son to know about our black history, for I knew that the schools in our country could damage our children. Please, if you have children there are certain black people that your children should know who they are and what they stood for in our society. Because after they know that our people were slaves in America, and The Underground Railroad with Harriet Tubman as the conductor, then they must know that: 1. We were freed. 2. Why we were freed? 3.What president was in office to execute? Last but not least. 4. Who were the real soldiers without swords? There are black heroes that every black child must have some knowledge of. Give them as much exposure as possible.
Viewpoints like this make me realize the importance of painting a more complete picture. But it also makes me wonder how much more is missing. What else didn’t I learn about my own nation’s history? What’s the rest of the story? It’s enough to make me dig a little deeper and find out.
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