history

Keeping the Faith

Producer of the Work / Filmmaker: 

The Islamic Cultural Preservation and Information Council with Scribe Video Center

Year released: 
2007
Length: 
9 min 10 seconds
Price: 

This video is available for purchase as part of the Precious Places Community History Project Vol. 3 compilation DVD

West Philadelphia’s African-American Muslim heritage stretches back at least to 1949, with the establishment of the International Muslim Brotherhood. Founded by a North Carolina-born Baptist preacher who converted to Islam and, in turn, converted his entire congregation, the Brotherhood has long been a pillar for Muslims in the neighborhood. Keeping the Faith portrays the deep historical roots of the African-American Muslim community on Lancaster Avenue. It emphasizes the voices of the people who remember its beginnings and those who continue the work of preserving its legacy.

Bridging Yesterday with Tomorrow

Producer of the Work / Filmmaker: 

Tacony Civic Association with Scribe Video Center

Year released: 
2005
Length: 
9 min 38 seconds
Price: 

This video is available for purchase as part of a Precious Places Community History Project Vol.2 compilation DVD.

Tacony sits picturesquely on the Delaware River in Philadelphia's North East section. Like much of Philadelphia, this historically rich community is deeply rooted in the industrial boom of over a century ago. One man figures prominently in the town's history: Henry Disston, the famous industrialist and owner of Disston Saw Works, once the world's largest saw producer.

Putting the "Nice" Back in "the Town."

Producer of the Work / Filmmaker: 

Nicetown Community Development Corporation with Scribe Video Center

Year released: 
2005
Length: 
10 min 29 seconds
Price: 

This video is available for purchase as part of a Precious Places Community History Project Vol.2 compilation DVD.

The Nicetown neighborhood in North Philadelphia has been known to suffer from an undeserved joke: that there is nothing "nice" here. However, many residents are quick to differ, pointing to the neighborhood's community life and historic attractions. The Nicetown Community Development Corporation, for example, offers a wealth of neighborhood programs including housing counseling, adult basic education, computer literacy, and social service referrals.

Unhushed!

Producer of the Work / Filmmaker: 

The Still Standing Project with Scribe Video Center

Filmmaker Facilitator: 

Production Facilitator - Iain Conliffe; Humanities Consultant - Biko Agonzino; Post Production - Brain Cook

Year released: 
2006
Length: 
11 min 34 seconds
Price: 

This video is available for purchase as part of a Precious Places Community History Project Vol.1 compilation DVD.

Before artist and community historian Beverly Collins-Roberts set to work researching the topic, few living people knew that Pomona Hall in Camden, New Jersey, now the headquarters of the Camden Historical Society, had been the "big house" of an 18th century slave plantation. Owned by Marmaduke Cooper, Camden's founder, the plantation spanned 400 acres and covered much of what is now the Parkside neighborhood of Camden. Unhushed!

An Elder’s Story

Producer of the Work / Filmmaker: 

Chester Consortium for Creative Community with Scribe Video Center

Filmmaker Facilitator: 

Videomaking and Humanities Consultant and Post Production - Manuel Diaz-Barriga

Year released: 
2005
Length: 
9 min 21 seconds
Price: 

This video is available for purchase as part of a Precious Places Community History Project Vol.1 compilation DVD.

A huge electric sign in the neighborhood once proclaimed "What Chester Makes Makes Chester." These words begin the story of the former glory of a great industrial and cultural center on the Delaware River, a few miles south of Philadelphia. The documentary features the reminiscences of elderly residents who fondly recall the streets lined with shops and theaters, the factories and shipping docks by the river, and a large religious community of neighborhood churches. A sense of security and prosperity pervaded in those times, before the post-industrial economic and social changes of the 1960s.

Traveling the Avenue: A Story of History, Faith, Culture and Civic Action

Producer of the Work / Filmmaker: 

Germantown Historical Society with Scribe Video Center

Filmmaker Facilitator: 

Videomaking Consultant - Marlene Patterson and Carter Baker, Humanities Consultant - Richard Green, Post Production - Carter Baker

Year released: 
2005
Length: 
10 min 3 seconds
Price: 

This video is available for purchase as part of a Precious Places Community History Project Vol.1 compilation DVD.

Germantown, originally known as German Township during its colonial days, is rich with history. The area has numerous historic sites, places of worship, and cultural institutions, making this area one of Philadelphia's great treasures. Through it runs Germantown Avenue. In Traveling the Avenue: A Story of History, Faith, Culture and Civic Action, the Germantown Historical Society takes the viewer on a mini-tour of six diverse points of interest along the avenue. Included are Mt. Zion Baptist Church, founded in 1871, and St.

Buried Stones, Buried Dreams

Producer of the Work / Filmmaker: 

Mt. Moriah Preservation Society with Scribe Video Center

Filmmaker Facilitator: 

Videomaking Consultant - Peter Halperin, Humanities Consultant - Rebekah Buchanan, Post Production - Sara Leavitt

Year released: 
2005
Length: 
10 min 53 seconds

Mount Moriah Cemetery occupies a broad expanse of gently rolling land near Cobbs Creek, straddling Southwest Philadelphia and Delaware County. The burial ground features an ornate brownstone gatehouse built in the Norman castellated style, and its gravestones range from humble markers to grand mausoleums. The final resting place of a diverse array of people from the region, Mount Moriah is especially noted for its Civil War soldiers, particularly from the Battle of Gettysburg.

Precious Places Community History Project Vol. 3

Film Still: 
PP2004framegrab.jpg
Producer of the Work / Filmmaker: 

Scribe Video Center and various community organizations

Year released: 
2007
Length: 
Total running time for the DVD is 2 1/2 hours
Price: 

$20 for individuals/ $50 for institutions and universities
Individuals may purchase this DVD for $20 plus shipping and handling online using Scribe Video Center's secure PayPal account. Institutions should contact Scribe directly by calling 215 222 4201.

Scribe Video Center’s
Precious Places Community History Project Vol. 3

Quote: 

"It [Precious Places] moves documentary practice away from the individualistic and idiosyncratic, typified in projects like Supersize Me (2004, by Morgan Spurlock) and Fahrenheit 9/11 (2004, by Michael Moore), towards collaborative interactions between neighborhoods, filmmakers, and scholars who create new histories. As a result, the project constitutes more than an intervention into the conceptualization of documentary. Importing concepts from postcolonial studies, the project shows how to embody difficult and sprawling polyvcalities and microhistories as a way to reclaim and revitalize ideas about the archive, history and memory.

Rather than creating a single authorial vision, Precious Places advances the collaborative ethnographic and historical model, where community participants become the authors and not simply the objects of community history." -- an excerpt from Patricia Zimmerman's article "Imbedded Public Histories" published in Afterimage, March/April 2006

Press: 

April 8, 2004 - Philadelphia City Paper, Day in the Life

May 6, 2004 - Northeast Times, Getting Neighborhoods in Focus

Public Screenings, Broadcasts and Festivals: 

2005 Athens International Film and Video Festival (tied for first place in the documentary category, winning for Best Expression of a Community on Film), Athens, OH
2005 & 2007 Philadelphia Film Festival, Philadelphia, PA
2006 Harlem Film Festival, Harlem, NY
2006-2007 Council on Foundations’ 39th Annual Film & Video Festival

Precious Places Community History Project Vol. 2

Producer of the Work / Filmmaker: 

Scribe Video Center and various community organizations

Year released: 
2007
Length: 
Total running time for the DVD is 2 1/2 hours
Price: 

$20 for individuals/ $50 for institutions and universities
Individuals may purchase this DVD online for $20 plus shipping and handling using Scribe Video Center's secure PayPal account. Institutions should contact Scribe directly by calling 215 222 4201.


Scribe Video Center’s
Precious Places Community History Project Vol. 2

Quote: 

"It [Precious Places] moves documentary practice away from the individualistic and idiosyncratic, typified in projects like Supersize Me (2004, by Morgan Spurlock) and Fahrenheit 9/11 (2004, by Michael Moore), towards collaborative interactions between neighborhoods, filmmakers, and scholars who create new histories. As a result, the project constitutes more than an intervention into the conceptualization of documentary. Importing concepts from postcolonial studies, the project shows how to embody difficult and sprawling polyvcalities and microhistories as a way to reclaim and revitalize ideas about the archive, history and memory.

Rather than creating a single authorial vision, Precious Places advances the collaborative ethnographic and historical model, where community participants become the authors and not simply the objects of community history." -- an excerpt from Patricia Zimmerman's article "Imbedded Public Histories" published in Afterimage, March/April 2006

Filmmaker's Photo: 
PP2004framegrab.jpg
Press: 

April 8, 2004 - Philadelphia City Paper, Day in the Life

May 6, 2004 - Northeast Times, Getting Neighborhoods in Focus

Public Screenings, Broadcasts and Festivals: 

2005 Athens International Film and Video Festival (tied for first place in the documentary category, winning for Best Expression of a Community on Film), Athens, OH
2005 & 2007 Philadelphia Film Festival, Philadelphia, PA
2006 Harlem Film Festival, Harlem, NY
2006-2007 Council on Foundations’ 39th Annual Film & Video Festival

Precious Places Community History Project Vol. 1

Film Still: 
PP2004framegrab.jpg
Producer of the Work / Filmmaker: 

Scribe Video Center and various community organizations

Year released: 
2007
Length: 
Total running time for the DVD is 2 1/2 hours
Price: 

$20 for individuals/ $50 for institutions and universities
Individuals may purchase this DVD for $20 plus shipping and handling online using Scribe Video Center's secure PayPal account. Institutions should contact Scribe directly by calling 215 222 4201.

Scribe Video Center’s
Precious Places Community History Project Vol. 1

While tourists head straight for the city’s official “Historic District” and native Philadelphian’s think they have seen it all, Scribe Video Center’s Precious Places Community History Project reveals bypassed neighborhood sites as bright landmarks that surprise and inspire residents and visitors alike. Using the video documentary as a storytelling medium, neighborhood residents have come together to document the oral histories of their communities. Over the past 6 years Scribe has collaborated with community groups from Philadelphia, Chester, Ardmore, and Camden to produce 59 community histories. Precious Places is a regional history, an occasion for neighbors to tell their own stories about and the people and places that make their communities unique. This DVD features 15 films assembled into 5 programs of approximately 30 minutes in length.

Program 1

The Taking of Bodine: Never Forget by Community Leadership Institute (North Philadelphia).
The Taking of Bodine confronts the displacement of residents in North Philadelphia through the Neighborhood Transformation Initiative (NTI). Led by neighborhood organizer Rosemary Cubas, the Community Leadership Institute contends that many good neighbors are being pushed out, houses bulldozed and land devalued in a plan that promises “development”, but not for the current residents. Read more

Quote: 

"Precious Places moves documentary practice away from the individualistic and idiosyncratic, typified in projects like Supersize Me (2004, by Morgan Spurlock) and Fahrenheit 9/11 (2004, by Michael Moore), towards collaborative interactions between neighborhoods, filmmakers, and scholars who create new histories. As a result, the project constitutes more than an intervention into the conceptualization of documentary. Importing concepts from postcolonial studies, the project shows how to embody difficult and sprawling polyvcalities and microhistories as a way to reclaim and revitalize ideas about the archive, history and memory. Rather than creating a single authorial vision, Precious Places advances the collaborative ethnographic and historical model, where community participants become the authors and not simply the objects of community history."
-- an excerpt from Patricia Zimmerman's article "Imbedded Public Histories" published in Afterimage, March/April 2006

Public Screenings, Broadcasts and Festivals: 

Philadelphia Film Festival, 2005, 2007
Athens Film Festival
Harlem Film Festival
WHYY TV 12, Philadelphia

Struggles In The Shadows : Philadelphia's Free African Youth

Producer of the Work / Filmmaker: 

Produced by Scribe Video Center, in conjunction with WGBH's documentary series "Africans in America,"

Filmmaker Facilitator: 

Hébert Peck Jr. and Roxana Walker-Canton

Year released: 
1998
Length: 
29 minutes
Price: 

$79 fr Community Institutions: Libraries, School, Non-Profits / $99 for Universities & Businesses

Buy this Video: 

To purchase a DVD please call 215 222 4201 or email inquiry@scribe.org.

What is history and who makes it? Developed under the auspices of the Philadelphia Youth Initiative as part of an eight-city educational project inspired by the PBS series, "Africans in American," the production of Struggles in the Shadows was guided by Scribe Video Center, WHYY TV 12, and Temple University's Charles L. Blockson Afro-American Collection.

Filmmaker's Name: 
Project For Youth
Filmmaker's Bio: 

Teens participating in the 1998 Documentary History Project for Youth were: Michael Barron (a freshman at Girard Academic Music Program), Kyle Devero (then a Roxborough High School graduate and Temple University attendee), Bonnie Friel (then a Masterman School graduate and Sarah Lawrence attendee), Lizandra Ocasio (then a student at Masterman School) and Michelle Theorgood (then a High School for Creative and Performing Arts sophmore).

Press: 

October 2005 - Listed on Upcoming Events page, Philadelphia Public School Notebook

Public Screenings, Broadcasts and Festivals: 

October 20, 1998 - Broadcast on WHYY-TV 12, a PBS affiliate (Philadelphia, PA)
May 7, 1999 - Street Movies screening, part of 1999 Philadelphia Festival of World Cinema, held at Playground of William Penn High School (Philadelphia, PA)
March 25, 2000 - Youth Media Jam II at Prince Music Theater (Philadelphia, PA)

Louise Thompson Patterson: In Her Own Words

Producer of the Work / Filmmaker: 

Louis Massiah and Scribe Video Center

Year released: 
2002
Length: 
18 minutes

If she had been a bigger fan of capitalism, Louise Thompson Patterson might have been a Horatio Alger heroine, lionized today as a pioneering woman of the Harlem Renaissance and a role model for both African Americans and women of all colors. Instead she put the skills and education that she fought for and won in a racist society to work for the liberation of African Americans, the US working class, and the exploited and oppressed peoples throughout the world.

Filmmaker's Name: 
Louis Massiah
Filmmaker's Photo: 
ltpatterson.jpg
Press: 

ebruary 18, 2002 - Cinema on the Edge screening at Ithaca College's Park Hall Auditorium (Ithaca, NY)

- February 21-23, 2002 - Part of "Langston Hughes and His World: A Centennial Celebration," a Yale Department of African American Studies program (New Haven, CT)

- October 1, 2002 - Issues in Black Independent Cinema: The Documentary series at University of Pennsylvania (Philadelphia, PA)

- October 17, 2005 - Screened in the Jones Room of the Woodruff Library at Emory University, followed by a panel discussion with scholars and activists, including Pattersonís daughter, Dr. MaryLouise Patterson (Atlanta, GA)

- March 10, 2006 - Part of event focusing on the work of Louis Massiah and held at Squeaky Wheel/Buffalo Media Resources (Buffalo, NY)

Public Screenings, Broadcasts and Festivals: 

October 2005 - "About Arts at Emory" Artist of the Month Interview with Randall K. Burkett prior to Emory University screening of documentary

Lawnside: A Haven to Freedom

Producer of the Work / Filmmaker: 

E. Muneerah Higgs

Year released: 
1992
Length: 
20 minutes
Price: 

$20 for individuals / $35 for Community Institutions ie: libraries, schools, non-profits / $50 for Universities & Businesses

Buy this Video: 

To purchase a DVD please call 215 222 4201 or email inquiry@scribe.org.

This documentary, produced by a life-long resident of Lawnside, New Jersey, tells the story of the historically African-American town founded in the early 1800s as a well-known stop of the Underground Railroad. Using interviews with resident storytellers and footage of its prosperous, tree-lined streets, this video chronicles the history of a town framed by the memories of those who loved it. Since its completion in 1992, the video has been screened annually at the Lawnside Public School, among other places, where it is used as a teaching tool.

Watch the Trailer:

Filmmaker's Name: 
The Lawnside Historical Society & E.Muneerah Higgs
Filmmaker's Bio: 

The Lawnside Historical Society's mission is to preserve and protect the heritage of Lawnside, N.J., the state's only African-American incorporated municipality, by restoring the Peter Mott House for use as a museum and station along the Underground Railroad, the clandestine network to freedom for fugitives in the 19th century. The Society conducts tours of the Peter Mott House and provides speakers for groups and organizations. In December 2005, the New Jersey Council for the Humanities awarded Lawnside Historical Society a $3000 grant to create an oral history project.

In adition to her work as a videomaker, E. Muneerah Higgs is a veteran of the Lawnside Public Schools, where she works as a Social Studies teacher. She won the 2004 Mildred Barry Garvin Teacher of the Year Award, which crowned her the best history teacher on the elementary level in the state. That same year, she went to South Africa in the summer of 2004 as a Fulbright Scholar. Upon her return, she developed a curriculum for New Jersey teachers called "The Soweto Uprisings."

Press: 

May 15, 1992 - Philadelphia Inquirer, "Putting Focus on Lawnside and Role As Ex-Slave Haven", by Edward Engel

August 8, 1999 - Philadelphia Inquirer, "New Program Takes Films Out of Theaters and Into the Streets", by Daniel Rubin

Public Screenings, Broadcasts and Festivals: 

May 1992 - Philadelphia Festival of World Cinema (Philadelphia, PA)

November 1992 - Third World Newsreel exhibition series, D'Ghetto Eyes: Films and Videos by New Black /Asian/ Latina/o makers, at The Kitchen (New York, NY)

February 1993 - Camden County Cultural and Heritage Commission (Philadelphia, PA)

February 1993 - Lawnside Public School, first of ongoing annual screenings (Lawnside, NJ)

April 1993 - Lawnside Historical Society (Lawnside, NJ)

June 1993 - Rutgers University (Camden, NJ)

Best Kept Secret, The

Producer of the Work / Filmmaker: 

Directed by Muneerah Higgs and Produced with the Lawnside Historical Society

Filmmaker Facilitator: 

Julian Berrian and Donna Lee

Year released: 
2002
Length: 
23 minutes
Price: 

$20 for individuals / $35 for Community Institutions ie: libraries, schools, non-profits / $50 for Universities & Businesses

Buy this Video: 

To purchase a DVD please call 215 222 4201 or email inquiry@scribe.org.

The video takes viewers on a tour of the home of Peter Mott, once a safe haven on the Underground Railroad, for which he served as a "conductor." Mott, a free African American man, abolitionist and real estate entrepreneur, didn't have much by today's standards. But considered by 19th century mores, he was exceptional. And he risked everything to help enslaved Africans be free.

Filmmaker's Name: 
Muneerah Higgs
Filmmaker's Bio: 

The Lawnside Historical Society's mission is to preserve and protect the heritage of Lawnside, N.J., the state's only African-American incorporated municipality, by restoring the Peter Mott House for use as a museum and station along the Underground Railroad, the clandestine network to freedom for fugitives in the 19th century. The Society conducts tours of the Peter Mott House and provides speakers for groups and organizations. In December 2005, the New Jersey Council for the Humanities awarded Lawnside Historical Society a $3000 grant to create an oral history project.

In addition to her work as a videomaker, Muneerah Higgs is a veteran of the Lawnside Public Schools, where she works as a Social Studies teacher. She won the 2004 Mildred Barry Garvin Teacher of the Year Award, which crowned her the best history teacher on the elementary level in the state. That same year, she went to South Africa in the summer of 2004 as a Fulbright Scholar. Upon her return, she developed a curriculum for New Jersey teachers called "The Soweto Uprisings."

Public Screenings, Broadcasts and Festivals: 

December 11, 2002 - Part of Community Visions premiere at the Prince Music Theater (Philadelphia, PA)
July 29, 2003 &
August 2, 2003 - Broadcast on WYBE-TV's Philadelphia Stories, Season 3 (Philadelphia, PA)
2004 - Lawnside Scholarship Club Luncheon (Lawnside, NJ)
February 2004 - Lawnside Public School (Lawnside, NJ)
2004-2005 - Peter Mott House (regular screenings throughout the year)
January 15-April 25, 2005 - A 20-minute version of The Best Kept Secret was shown twice daily at the Atwater Kent Museum as part of its "Small Towns, Black Lives" exhibit (Philadelphia, PA)
March & April 2005 - Kent Atwater Museum (regular screenings)

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