Southern Culture on the Skids
September 23, 2008
Midway Plantation, circa 1900
Raleigh native, Godfrey Cheshire, premiered his new documentary “Moving Midway” this weekend at The Rialto. Pressured by modern sprawl, the Hinton family plantation was moved in 2005 and Godfrey was inspired to film this monumental family event. He may have imagined what ghosts lied beneath but never could have foreseen the synchrony that expiates their demons.
Midway under-way, circa 2005
For me, you can hardly get more local. It was an easy stroll from my house, a short drive from my ancestral farm and a subject that continues to divide the country we live. With multi-racial presidential candidates, new books giving voice to founding mothers and a slave history married to the untenable conflict of ‘All men created equal’, I can not imagine a more timely film.
The twain shall meet
Unlike Godfrey, I am no film critic, so I will leave that to my betters but I will say, “you should see this movie!”. Regarless of your origins, yet, you seek better self-awareness through history, find the world torn by a legacy of polarization or think that it is time to call the chickens home to roost, “Moving Midway” is a movie that might rattle your skeleton’d closet.
Stumble it!
Tags: , Culture-Nightlife-Music-Restaurants, documentary, film, history, Raleigh & Beyond, slavery
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September 23rd, 2008 at 5:02 pm
I have not seen Midway. But I did check out Meeting David Wilson. Similar story – past slave owner meets a bonafide relative of the “owned” side of the equation. Oddly both are named David Wilson.
I know one of the Dave Wilsons well. Good doc. MSNBC showed the doc and tried a forum after the film. They hired a bunch of talking heads that returned the dialogue back to the political familiar. David Wilson the film maker was very upset. Neither Wilson participated in the forum after the film.
http://www.meetingdavidwilson.com
Paul
September 25th, 2008 at 8:18 am
Paul,
I have heard of this movie and would love a chance to see it.
If most of us had a documentary done of our lives we would likely find this common thread. Slave or slave master, almost all human cultures have this blight.
You should try to get to one of the showings with Godfrey and Dr. Hinton present. Take David
with and you will find the conversation you seek. After this film, I have come to understand that all of us of the ‘South’ are African Americans. This feels like a beginning, to realize this is a family relationship to heal. Not a black rage or white guilt to suppress.
Ty
March 20th, 2009 at 11:04 am
My wife got Moving Midway from Netflix, and to be honest, I wasn’t excited about watching another boring documentary. But, that was only because my wife had provided me only a light synopsis of the subject matter.
I found Moving Midway to be funny and also unsettling. I know of my family’s slave-owning past, and I feel a lot of guilt about it (even though my wife says I have no responsibility for the sins of my ancestors). When Mr Cheshire discussed the horrors of slavery, I found myself squirming in my chair as I wondered about what abuse MY people inflicted upon slaves.
But, then I found myself laughing as Cheshire’s relatives assured him that THEIR forefathers were compassionate slave owners. Yeah, right. Whatever get your through the night. It reminded me of when my fifth grade teacher told us that “many slave owners were very good to their slaves.”
MESSAGE TO MY SOUTHERN BRETHREN WITH SLAVE-OWNING ANCESTORS: We ALL want to think that OUR people were the good ones, but you can’t make a man or woman pick a hundred pounds of cotton each day for FREE unless you are employing a pretty big stick as your means of coercion. Your family beat people. Accept the truth.
I also laughed when the matriarch of Cheshire’s family spoke of how the Civil War was fought over “state rights.” That’s another lie we in the South tell each other. Of course, the “right” we’re talking about is the right to own slaves. And, doesn’t “State Rights” sound like such a noble cause? It certainly sounds more noble than the right to own another person. I especially loved the way Dr. Hinton tilted his head and smiled in skepticism when Cheshire used the term State’s Rights. It was the best moment of the movie.
My family came over with the Jamestown settlement, and we’ve been here a really long time. I can’t begin to imagine how many slaves my ancestors owned prior to the Civil War, but a few old will have provided some clues. Watching Midway brought all that back to the surface for me.
The actual moving of the house was o.k., but only because it provided a few moments of suspense. Cheshire’s story of discovering his “other” family is really what the movie is about.