Millard Fillmore

The Second Party System rested on slavery staying at the margins of politics. As long as it did, both the Democrats and the Whigs could enjoy support in both sections and avoid the natural contradictions between a free and democratic government that permitted slavery. While the early 1850s did not see slavery completely eclipse all other issues, both parties drifted in similar directions. To draw on an example that will return later, argument in the early part of the decade did not involve whether to have internal improvements, but rather where to locate the largest internal improvement project the nation had ever contemplated: a transcontinental railroad. Differences remained, but many of them did not run so hot as they had in past decades. The Mexican War and ensuing fallout pushed slavery into the limelight in a more sustained way than ever before and the backlash did not push it all the way back into the political wilderness.

That presented a serious problem for the Whigs, who did not have quite the same party loyalty machinery that the Democrats had with which to manage internal divisions. The passing of the Armistice showed that Whigs could not even muster a coalition to support their own solutions to national issues. The prominent role of Stephen Douglas’s Democrats in making the Clay Measures into law sent a signal South that they could best trust the security of slavery to the Democracy. Up North, antislavery Whigs could have read that same signal with delight, but for the role their party had in prosecuting the most noxious part of the Armistice, the Fugitive Slave Law.

Who would the Whigs run for president, then? The Southern wing of the party wanted a second Fillmore administration thanks to his support of that most radical act of Congress in the nation’s history to date. The Northern Whigs hated Fillmore for the same reason. Fillmore’s home state of New York held many of his most dedicated foes, led by none other than William Seward.

Winfield Scott, Old Fuss and Feathers

Seward adopted the winning formula of the two previous Whig victories: find a winning general and nominate him. It worked for William Henry Harrison. It worked for Zachary Taylor. In both cases, the Whig nominee won and then died in office, which left Whig much less to Northern Whig liking in the White House. But 100% of Whig administrations still amounted to only two elections and thus hardly anything to draw a conclusion from. A general at least offered the potential to run a war hero who could distract from policy questions that divided the party and they couldn’t all die in office.

The general on hand for Seward’s faction again led armies to victory in a war that most Whigs hated. In the place of Zachary Taylor, victor of Buena Vista, they put Winfield Scott, who marched through the Halls of Montezuma. Like Taylor, Scott hailed from the South. But unlike Taylor, Scott did not own slaves. The Southern Whigs had seen Seward play this game before, picking a soldier that, they imagined, he groomed and wooed away from his natural Southern inclinations toward Yankee antislavery agitation.

The Whigs did not have an easy time of it when they convened in Baltimore. Southerners forced through a platform that endorsed the Armistice and its finality, forever closing the book on slavery and rubbing salt into the wounds inflicted by the Fugitive Slave Law. No Southern Whig voted against the platform. On the nomination itself, New England broke away to support Daniel Webster, but later came around to Scott. After fifty-three ballots, Scott finally received the nomination. His support came 95% from the North. Fillmore’s came 85% from the South.

Alexander Stephens

For Whigs like Alexander Stephens, the Scott nomination did not go down easy. They had just told the nation that Union rested on the Armistice, especially the Fugitive Slave Law. Now their own party rejected the man who did the most to ensure it? Stephens, Toombs, and seven other Southern congressmen refused to support Scott. They led a wave of defections. The Whigs did not immediately turn Democrat, but they stayed home on election day in droves. The Deep South delivered less than 37% of its popular vote to the Whigs, down from 50% just four years earlier. They did better, but still lost, in the Upper South and Border States. Of the entire South, Scott carried only Kentucky and Tennessee.

Outside the presidential race, the Whigs won no governorship in any of the future Confederate states. They retained control of the legislature only in Tennessee. Of the sixty-five congressional races they contested, they won only fourteen. The entire Southern Whig contingent in the House shrank in short order to twenty-two.

Surveying the wreckage in Deep South Georgia, Stephens pronounced Whiggery dead.

Matichon, a newspaper in Thailand, quoting national security source, says there are news that militant separatist in Thailand’s deep South have acquired weapons with telescope, for “Sniper” activity. Matichon said national security officials have directly with word of mouth, warn senior officials that they are targets of sniper assassinations and to take extra security precautions. Matichon says Thai national security officials have told those in security operations, such as soldiers, police and parla-military forces, to beef up their personal security and their base security, as the militant are still very active. Warnings on bombings of security operators as they travel were also issued. With Malaysia assistance, an early stage of peace talk between the militant and Thai government have started. However, the armed wing of the militant have gained power of the Thai Deep South separatist movement, leaving little power to the the political wing. At the negotiation table, are leaders of a fraction of the separatist. Analysts have pinned pointed the rise of certain individual of the separatist movement, as being a new generation of very capable at violence and  ”Hardcore” in philosophy. Since the movement went active some 10 years ago, about 5,000 people have lost their life, mostly, innocent civilians, often killed in situations that verges on being “terrorism.”

An Thai soldier, General Choke Perksophon, commander of Internal Security Command Operations in the militant infected Deep South, said the “Gun Usage Class” being given to teachers and those in the education sector, is meant to help the educators react in calm manner when faced with crisis situation so they will not make mistakes, if they were attacked by militants. About 6 classes of educators have graduated from the program this year. Since the start of the militant activity some 10 years ago, about 5,000 people have been killed, with the militant, often launching campaign to attack those in the education area (Source).

The vice governor of militant infected Pattani province, Seri Srihatri, says the militant continues to target high level government official, after a high ranking police was attack by the militant. The attack on the high ranking police is the latest and indicates a pattern. Seri, says high ranking officials in the Deep South must be more careful about their security situation. For years, the militant will attack the people in the Deep South indiscriminately, often hitting the grass-roots in remote areas. Seri says peace talks with the militant will continue and during the talks security continues as normal. Most analyst says the militant arm of the separatist have gained power over the separatist movement, leaving little power to the political wing to negotiate a peace package. However, the talks is impotent in winning the heat and minds of the Thais in the Deep South that are mostly Muslims. As most of the militant attack is road related, Seri says security will be beef up at the major and secondary roads (Source).

Many people would see the title of your book and respond, “It’s time to put the past behind us and go forward.” Doesn’t We Confess! drag up issues best left alone?

It is time to go forward. But we can’t put the past behind us if we’re still chained to it. My experiences inside a denominational structure made very clear to me that we are still chained to attitudes and behaviors our ancestors could not bring themselves to face. And that’s not just true for Southern Baptists.

The state of our nation indicates as much. The state of a nation reveals much about the state of the church within it. When the people of God are moving in sync with him, it profoundly affects a nation for good. So whatever bothers you most about our nation, whatever you see as badly askew, it’s almost surely badly askew in the church, as well. Otherwise, the church would have the authority to change it.

If we’ll take an honest look at the church in the US – and especially that part of the church that prides itself on its devotion to Jesus – we’ll see that something has aborted every revival since the Second Great Awakening of the early 1800s. Something is holding us back from the unity, the character and the power of God. We Confess! uncovers the stuff from our past that needs to be redeemed so we can go forward together in newness of life and power.

At the Government House on the 18^th of April, Thailand’s prime Ministery, Yingluck met with Thailand’s National Security Council chief, Paradon Pattanathabutra, to discuss the Deep South militant crisis. In the meeting, the prime Minister approved budget and plans for surveillance camera. The militant have often been captured from surveillance camera evidence, and is known to destroy the system before attack. The implementing of the system, have been going on with several governments of the past, but often rocked with corruption, and thus the Deep South surveillance camera system has a reputation of not being reliable.  Concerning peace talks with the militant, Pradon said the discussion with the militant will go forward, focusing on reduction of violence. “We are keeping a close watch on the Deep South security situation,” said Paradon.

(Working Felines Come Under Heavy Scrutiny by Labor Laws & Media)

In that, we’re still novice writers/novelists—moderately that is, we’ve been around a short while now—in our world of TASK FORCE NOVELS, it’s unsurprisingly accurate to say that we (Jack & Cyndi) are on a dreadfully tight budget (henceforth we are known as “starving artists”!). However, with a little conniving, and darned good luck, we secured the covert, underground offices of J&C Wordsmiths, LLC (an undisclosed workplace on the SE coast of the U.S.). As one knows, any productive, functioning business requires dedication, tenacity, forward thinking (that’d be that outside-of-the-box mental thingy for us all here in the Deep South, y’all), and employees… and the ability to live without sleeping, eating or a social life! Here in the Deep South, that means no pig pickin’s, shrimp boils, NASCAR, or mud runnin’.

Did we say employees? At first, we two were the only employees! Until that fateful day wherein we discovered the source of cheap labor: creatures undaunted by most any task given them. CATS! Our cats to be specific, all seven of them! (Cats are like Lays potato chips, you can’t have just one). Truly, we’ve attempted to cross train all our feline employees to work as office managers, editors, cover designers, directors of marketing, advertising, procurement, finance, safety, sanitation, and so forth. They even provide the best of yowling security at the first threat of real-life antagonists (squirrels, mice, other cats, the UPS man). At first, they were a bit cattish about it especially when they discovered they weren’t being paid, and there were no union rights. However, catnip and tuna seemed to solve the issue. The catnip, we discovered, needed to be stashed away, using it only as a motivational tool and a reward at the end of the work day. Using it during the day made them catatonic, leading to a loss of catchy phrases, cat-and-mouse chases, an inability to catalog documentation, catapulting from desk to desk, and overall just catting around.

A few other downfalls to having cats as employees is having to keep a large supply of antihistamines on hand for our cat allergies, ever-suddenly-appearing hairballs, barf, litter boxes, sharpening claws on everything from office furniture to our legs… and all that pawing around they do at night when we’re not there! Our inspirational giant tarantula figurines keep showing up in different places every morning. Only one of the office cats is a perpetual scared-y-cat…taking off in a full-on Scooby-Doo run (paws running in place on the floor—but going nowhere) at the drop of a hat. We’re trying to find her some kitty Prozac, however.

Also in that we’re both lay-ministers (it’s true!) at our individual churches (and, yes, the irony is that we murder people in our books except on Sundays) the cats take great pleasure in arguing as to which of them will be the catechist for the day, engaging in our daily religious practices.

The one thing that really gets their dander up (and that’s nothing to sneeze at) are the online LOL-CATS, you know, the ones caught in a compromising yawn, stretch, or some inane frozen-in-time photo—with a “sans serif font” that makes it read as if written by an ignoramus tomcat with bad grammar & spelling (“Can I has a cheezburger?”). Overall, we’re grateful for our feline helpers, even when we feel or look like something the cat dragged in. They’re not only a valuable workforce, but provide us with joy, entertainment, inspiration, motivation, encouragement, and creativeness. With their vital contributions to J&C Wordsmiths, one day soon we will be catapulted to literary success! And our public relations pussy is all set to deal with the eventual paw-parazzi…

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“One of the Miracles” is the personal story of Inge Meyring Smith, a Holocaust survivor and American Civil Rights early–education pioneer who became the light of learning for thousands of children in the American South. She survived yellow benches, the Nazis who killed her family, American prejudice, the Ku Klux Klan, and the march for racial equality.

During the German Holocaust, Inge’s Jewish family barely escaped with their lives. Having only $15 in the family’s pocket when they arrived in the U.S., Inge’s family swore to survive. She moved to Tennessee. She had barely lived through yellow benches in Germany and what she saw in the South was segregated water fountains. “It was ignorance more than prejudice,” she said, but she had seen from the extermination of her own family where prejudice and ignorance unchecked could lead. Hand–picked by the Kennedy/Johnson administration to help them develop a new national preschool education program called Head Start, Smith – a woman and a Jew – went South at peril again to her own life. Through her international efforts via independent school associations, out of her passion to reach children in unreachable parts of the U.S. as well as at her own backdoor, untold thousands of children have been inspired to learn through her efforts and those she has influenced over the past 70 years.

What’s going to happen next with the film? Stafford doesn’t know. “We’ve been humbled at the response. To us, it was clearly a story that needed to be told and recorded, but we never could have anticipated the response. As a result, we’ve had interest from several television distributors, but no final decision has yet been made.” Like Inge, this film may have a life of its own. For more on this project please go to http://www.oneofthemiracles.com.

Golf-ball and baseball-sized hail pelted parts of Georgia and the Carolinas late Thursday and early Friday.

Three people were killed.

Please click here for the photos:

Golf-ball and baseball-sized hail pelted parts of Georgia and the Carolinas late Thursday and early Friday.

Three people were killed.

Please click the photos for larger images:

The story begins with a flood that washes away people’s homes and lives. The poor and down trodden are left to fend for themselves and the imagery of Hurricane Katrina almost 90 years later echoes through your mind. A young boy will first lose his home then his friends and finally his family. First in the flood, then in the aftermath. And so a journey begins. An odyssey of sorts through flood and fire, decay and renewal, past and present. A boy becomes a man and must choose whether or not to stick with the past or run into the future.

The comparisons to Cormac McCarthy abound but I think they’re off the mark. McCarthy’s writing is often sparse and direct while Cheng’s is more poetic and profound. His style and the structure of the story is more reminiscent of Column McCann but Cheng’s own distinct voice shines through. Cheng brings vividly to life a physical world of decay and renewal, hope and despair and echoes these sentiments through his characters. Hauntingly sad this is an epic journey that tests and strains the limits of human endurance both physically and of the heart.

ISBN: 9781447225003
Format: Paperback
Price: $29.99
Imprint: Picador

You’ve written a book with a very provocative title: We Confess! The Civil War, the South, and the Church. How did you come to write We Confess?

I’m a white woman from the Deep South. I grew up with a profound awareness of the subjects my culture and my church culture do not wish to discuss. Never would I have dreamed I’d write a book like this – until I worked inside the Southern Baptist denominational structure for seven years. During that season, I inadvertently uncovered something big and ugly that didn’t fit at all with what we proclaimed ourselves to be.  My experiences left me asking God, “What was that?” In answer, the Lord prompted me to research the history of the Southern Baptist Convention. When I did, it was as if I’d pulled a thread, and all kinds of things began unraveling.

For one thing, I saw the way the SBC had, from its inception, deliberately linked itself with the South, and particularly with the sin strongholds of the South. I saw how patterns established four generations ago had repeated in my work situation. But also I saw how those same patterns were repeating in my life and family and in families and churches all around me. The more I learned about my ancestors’ choices, the more I realized how powerfully those choices still impact the US church today, and especially the conservative church rooted in the Bible Belt.

As I studied, and grieved over, and worked through all I was learning, I began to experience dramatic changes within me – new life, new freedom, new purpose, new intimacy with God. I wanted others who are shackled by things they don’t even know are binding them to experience this same freedom. So after a lifetime of experiences and five years of research, I spent about a year writing We Confess! The Civil War, the South, and the Church.

There’s another place I fell in love with on my travels: Louisiana. New Orleans, especially, for it’s architecture, music, food, tropical gardens, iron urns, beautiful cemeteries, for its people and history and passionate embrace of life and death, for its celebrations. I have many shots of the city, these are a few pictures I took in the Louisiana countryside outside of the city in the former “plantation” country. There is not a tree more beautiful or haunting to me than a southern live oak with spanish moss hanging from its branches.

The iconic shot at Oak Alley (2007 or 2010).

There’s nothing like the feeling of driving along the backroads of the south listening to delta blues getting lost and feeling the sun on your skin. A true slice of Americana.

I love country porches.

Sweet tea and lemonade and a couple of rocking chairs.

The trees seem to come to life as they reach for the ground like some fairytale ancient creatures.

The mossy trunks and roots.

The trees hold centuries of stories and memories.

A beautiful walk: Louisiana is full of perfect, lush, tropical gardens.

The plantations are picaresque these days but the bitter truth of their origins is something you see when you are on its grounds.  To think civil rights only got started about fifty years ago shows how close we still are to our darker history.

The best smelling country candles, a rich vanilla.

Some time I’ll post my New Orleans photographs of voodoo queens, Saint Louis No. 1, creole cottages, spanish moss, street cars, musicians, cafe au laits, street candids, flora and fauna and more…

Finally!

Accustomed to early Spring in the DEEP South, after 30+ years life experience there, I’ve found it difficult to adjust to the delayed Spring here even though this is where I spent the first 20 years of my life.

As a child, I grew up to the various “Winters” of Spring.

1. Pear tree winter
2. Redbud winter
3. Dogwood winter
4. Locust winter
5. Blackberry winter

The temperature would rise to Spring-like warmth and various plants would break bud, show color and then a cold snap would hit and we would experience Winter again for several days.

This year the Winters of Spring have been delayed.  And, so has Spring’s floral parade.

Redbud trees should have bloomed weeks ago. Dogwoods should be in regal attire by now.  But, Redbuds are experiencing their first blush as Dogwood buds swell with promise.

Pear Winter has come and gone.  Pear trees, still bearing white blossoms, are showing green as new leaves begin their growth.

Redbud winter can be checked off the list and this next week of Springtime warmth will prompt a quick response in the remaining actors in Spring’s display.

If the rain holds long enough and the ground drys fast enough, I’ll get the garden tilled this week, or next, and begin working it in preparation for planting.  Some things can go into the ground after Dogwoods bloom.  Other things, like tender tomatoes, will wait until Blackberry winter passes.

Moving is an adjustment on all counts – and even more so when so much of who you are and what you do is in tune with where you are in the seasons of the year.  For the past 30+ years I’ve experienced Spring’s arrival by the end of February and planting season by the first of April.  “Easter Freeze” was considered the last opportunity for a wintery snap that could threaten tender growth – that is, as long as Easter came in March and didn’t wait until April.

If I’m in tune with the seasons, I’m in tune with life – and find that when my rhythm matches that of nature around me, I’m happiest and most productive.

I’ve clicked off Redbud winter and am watching the local Dogwoods for color.  And, I’m beginning preparations for the period of growth ahead.  I want to move with nature, in sync, in harmony, enjoying the rhythm of life and the living of it.

In my sophomore year of college I got an idea for a novel, following the adventures of the main character as she wandered around the United States (hiding from her past, unable to go home, that sort of thing). I wrote small bits of the story whenever I got inspired, but never really focused any effort on it.

My senior year I was suddenly filled with inspiration for the novel, and made a conscious effort to sit down and write more. There was one particular section of the story I felt sure was best placed in the Deep South, where things would be hot and sticky and rural and racist. But as I sat down to write, I had nothing. I couldn’t picture any details. Everything looked generic. I realized that my hot sticky rural racist South was based entirely on movies and books. I was setting my story in someone else’s novel.

It’s been pointed out to me before that being in the southeastern United States in July is going to be miserable. That is, generally, the point. If I want to write about that misery I’m going to have to experience for myself. I’ve been accused before of being too autobiographical in my writing, which to me is a silly accusation. Every writer is writing her own story. Every writer is writing the relationships and settings and characters that she has seen inside herself and in the world around her. Some just disguise it better than others. In my experience, the more you disguise it the more like your real life it ends up being anyway, but that’s a story for another time.

My point is, the Deep South is on my must see list so I can see and feel and taste what it’s like to be there. Unfortunately being there is the only thing on the list.

As I mentioned before, I’ve been keeping track of possible U.S. attractions in Evernote. When I go to my notes on Mississippi and Alabama, all I’ve got on the list of possible places to see is the Unclaimed Baggage Center in Scottsboro, and I’m not even sure I want to go there. These two states stand as a single, solid block of “I’m sure I’ll find something.”

I can’t help but wonder what this is implying. Is it that I don’t know anyone who has visited either of these states? Or is it just that they don’t have any good news to report? I know I want to spend some time on the Mississippi river, so that’s a start. But what then? On all my maps thus far I take a straight path from New Orleans to Jacksonville. While I’m sure the gulf coast is nice, it seems an awful long way to go just to stay on the edge the whole time.

Perhaps I should just do what my main character does: head towards Alabama and get myself into trouble.  I don’t know if it worked for her, I haven’t written that yet. But I suppose that’s true for both of us.

The sixth census found the nation on the edge of war. Though Lincoln did not win a landslide, except in the Electoral College, his opponents had three candidates to divide their votes and so his election only stood to reason. At the heart of the conflict, of course, lay the nation’s 3,953,757 slaves and the future of their condition. Would the alchemy that transformed blood and misery into plantation profits endure or would the victories the Slave Power won over the previous decade prove its last hurrah?

The North in the seventh census. (Click for a larger version.)

The nation’s slaves accounted for 12.58% of its population in 1860. Only sixty-one (0.0015%) of those lived in the North and only eighteen in a Northern state: New Jersey. Most of the North’s slaves actually lived in the Utah territory (26, 0.06% of its population.) The Dakota Territory, listed as South Dakota but including the land of that state and modern North Dakota, stands out on another extreme: not a single black person lived there, free or slave. A state or territory could enslave no more than 0.01% of its population and count as normal by Northern standards. After a long run, New Jersey leaves that club. Utah takes its place.

The South in the seventh census. (Click for a larger version.)

In the South, as usual, just the opposite story played out. By Southern lights, the North remained bizarrely free. The rest of the nation reverse the comparison. Anything above 15% enslaved counted as significantly far from the national mean. Delaware (1.60%), the District of Columbia (4.24%), Maryland (12.69%), and Missouri (9.72%) come in under that bar, but no other Southern state could. Of the remainder, only Kentucky’s 19.51% even comes close.

But as usual the South could flip things around again and say that by Southern norms, none of those states with a nationally “normal” level of slavery fit inside the South. They would need at least 17.87% enslaved for that, excluding even runner-up Kentucky. Also by Southern lights, anything up to 46.34% enslaved fit into the normal range. Louisiana (46.86%), Mississippi (55.18%), and South Carolina (57.18%) break that demographic ceiling.

I know I’ve said this before, but the numbers really put things in sharp relief. One can easily say the South stood apart from the rest of the United States, distinctly its own place, but every region and every locale within it would claim that status for itself. We all have our own distinctiveness. But demographically, the places closest to the national means do not belong in North or South. Delaware in 1860 would fit within the 1790 North, but even its less than two thousand slaves amount to almost thirty time times the entire Northern slave population.

Of course local distinctiveness comes in hierarchies. Louisiana, Mississippi, and South Carolina form a South within the South. The Deep South in general does much the same. The Upper South and Border States do as well. Setting aside the demographics for a moment, it makes perfect sense to view a region as a containing associated sub-regions that differ from the norms in varying degrees and varying ways. The South and North respectively had more in common with their sectional neighbors than one another, but that does not mean their differences melt away. The real world gave, and continues to give us, many Souths and many Norths, which form parts of many Americas from which people draw and to which they hold multiple, coexisting loyalties. The statistics illuminate some of that messiness and give us measures to judge it by.

But I had overlooked the voices of those who lived it: my parents, both teenagers when King was assassinated. I asked what it was like, and they answered.

‘A Quiet Anger’

In the Pinkard household, three generations and three distinct reactions mostly underpinned by shock and sadness. Lula and Willie Pinkard, both children of Georgia sharecroppers; their seven-year-old son Sylvester, and their youngest daughter, my mother, who was one day shy of turning 16.

“My parents were saying it wasn’t surprising,” my mom said. “My brother? I don’t think he knew what was going on.”

As for my mom, “a quiet anger” stirred within her.  She and her classmates came of age against a backdrop of assassinations, racially charged beatings and church bombings.  And before 1968 would end, another high-profile shooting would stun the nation.

“We were sophomores then, but our little group was kind of militant anyway,” she recalled. “The Black Panther Party and Angela Davis were just coming along around this time and you had all this stuff about ‘say it loud, I’m black and I’m proud.’”

The same anger and frustration that fueled riots in large cities such as Detroit and Los Angeles prompted a focused determination to live out King’s dream and a relentless pursuit of excellence in Stewart County, Ga.

“In Lumpkin, there was nothing to tear down, so you had to go about it in another way,” she said. “You were mad at people, but you didn’t show it. You showed them that you’re not going to keep Martin Luther King’s dream from becoming a reality.”

And that’s what they did.

Suggested listening: “Move On Up,” Curtis Mayfield

‘Things just weren’t the same…’

Meanwhile, growing tension among Tuskegee Institute students exploded into a lock-in of the school’s administration. My dad recalls three tumultuous days on campus:

So, where were you on April 4, 1968?

I was at Tuskegee, finishing up my freshman year. There was a lot of unrest going on. We had issues with the administration. It was Founders Day and the Board of Trustees was meeting. They were in the guest hall, which is now the Kellogg Center, and the students locked them in. They wouldn’t let them out.

What issue or issues did students have toward the administration?

The attitude toward the students. There were a lot of things going on. It started in the School of Engineering; they were dissatisfied with professors. They had a lot of foreign professors and they weren’t sensitive to them. That’s how it started, back in the first semester. We had a march through campus. (Dr. King’s assassination) just added to it.

On that Saturday, the National Guard came on campus with the M16 guns. They shut down school and sent everybody home. Everybody had to reapply for admission. Some people weren’t allowed back. The TV stations and newspaper in Montgomery were there and some people had been identified. They weren’t allowed back in school.

It was touch and go because the National Guard, they were the local yokles.  Sammy Younge was a student at Tuskegee who was killed at the Greyhound Station in Tuskegee in ’66.  I wasn’t at Tuskegee at the time, but the students marched downtown. There was a statute of a Confederate soldier and they painted it black. The Guardsmen didn’t forget that. When they came on campus in ’68 they had that in the back of their minds. It could’ve been a massacre, really, if somebody had done something crazy, because they were looking for an excuse.

So where were you while all of this was going on?

(laughs) I was just going along for the ride. The guest hall, people were going in and taking food out like ham, turkey and other delicacies. Then there was this one guy Ronnie Hilton, from Pittsburgh. . . when the National Guard came on campus, they were building the chapel, so he said “Let’s go over to the chapel and get some bricks to throw.” So you had people talking about throwing bricks at folks with machine guns. So I went back to my dorm and locked up. (My sister) Sue and (her husband) Bill came and got me and took me home.

So how did all of this happen? Did it start with one student and then grow or was it organized?

It was organized. The students leaders organized it.

And all of this happened on April 4? How long did it last?

Thursday, Friday and Saturday was when the National Guard came on campus. We were home that whole week. . . We came back to complete the semester.

So aside from the campus unrest, how did Dr. King’s assassination affect students?

It was devastating. It really was. It was very upsetting. I really don’t know how to describe it. It gave you a sense of hopelessness.

How were you all able to move past it?

I don’t know that we really did. Things just weren’t the same after that in terms of the civil rights movement. The civil rights movement didn’t necessarily die, but the leadership wasn’t the same. Martin Luther King was everything to black folks.

Suggested listening: “Abraham, Martin and John” by Dion

Image sourced from official Facebook page

Last month we featured the exciting new ‘Southern Gothic Plantation Horror’ Graveyard Dogs as an Indie Buzz. An independent film set in the depths of pre-Civil War South, the plot focuses on the romance between a slave and the son of her owner, which becomes threatened when the mangled corpses of runaway slaves start to appear in the woods.

We’ve since been lucky enough to catch up with producer Chris Hines, writer and co-director Micah Hudson and co-director Edwin Hammond. Read their interview with Emma Knock below…

Hi Micah, Edwin and Chris, thanks for chatting with us about your upcoming film. Firstly, can you give us a little background on Graveyard Dogs?

Micah: The script for Graveyard Dogs was written last summer. Then, we filmed the trailer in November. Since then, we’ve been in post-production and doing all of the grunt work that comes along with putting together a fundraising package (business plan, pitch deck, etc.) Shooting the trailer was a blast and has definitely been the highlight! We had so many wonderful people volunteer their time—including a great DP named Jarrett Morgan and his crew. It was an amazing collaboration of talents. We were also fortunate to have access to the perfect location. We shot at a house that was built in the early 1800s which still has an original slave quarters behind it.

Micah, where did the inspiration for the screenplay come from and how did you all come together to work on Graveyard Dogs?

Micah: I knew that I wanted to write a script set in the region—that was the first inspiration. After that, I had to figure out the time period, tone, etc. It just sort of grew from there.

Chris: I met Micah at a Film Athens networking event. Film Athens is a community of Filmmakers, Actors, Crew and Film Enthusiasts in Athens, GA. We hit it off and he sent me a copy of a script he had written. After reading it, I said “I’m going to cash in my 401K and make this movie.” Luckily I am married and my wife said, “No, you are not.” That script was not Graveyard Dogs. So Micah wrote a short story that was the beginning of Graveyard Dogs. It was fantastic. I showed it to Edwin, who I had worked with on several projects and he loved it as well. We suggested he turn it into a feature script. He did just that. After reading the Graveyard Dogs script, I knew that we had to make this film. From there everything started to fall into place.

Edwin: Chris and I have worked together on several projects before and he knew I was on the lookout for a script. I saw the initial short story that became Graveyard Dogs and was hooked from the get go. I agreed with Chris that the story was just too good to only do it as a short, so we asked Micah to expand it to a full length feature. I already knew from reading the short that I wanted to direct it, and once I read the full feature script, it just cemented my involvement.

So far we know very few details about the plot of Graveyard Dogs, but just enough so that we are massively intrigued, can you share any other details with us?

Micah: It’s hard to top “massively intrigued.” We should probably just leave it there.

Chris: I would recommend staying away from the woods. Bad things happen in those woods.

Edwin: It’s a very unique story that takes some familiar elements and blends them together with something you’ve never seen before. Think Romeo & Juliet meets Jack the Ripper with a dash of Django Unchained thrown in for good measure.

Micah: Or, maybe Django meets The Evil Dead.

Image sourced from official Facebook page

We know you’re looking for fundraising to help get the ball rolling on production, how can people get involved?

Chris: An excellent question! We are very close to revving up a Kickstarter campaign. Folks can check out our Facebook page and get the latest info on our development and pre-production. We will post there first when we get our start date. There will be lots of chances to help out with the film and receive a bunch of behind the scenes info and swag. An easy way to pitch in is to help champion our cause! Spread the word about Southern Gothic Plantation Horror. Anyone interested in becoming a part of the Graveyard Dogs Underground just need message us. For individuals that might be interested in investing, we do have investor packets available as well. Become a part of our team.

Micah – you wrote the screenplay and are co-directing the feature with Edwin, which aspect have you enjoyed the most so far?

The best part of writing a script is when you get to share it. It’s much more fun to create with other people that you respect and enjoy being around.

Chris – as a producer what has been your biggest challenge to date?

The fact that we are doing a period piece is challenging. The Pre-Civil war era ratchets up the expenses and the workload but at the same time, that is what makes it interesting and unique. Every time an obstacle has appeared a solution comes right along. We have a very talented and creative group of people around us that work as a team. Anytime you have that, you can accomplish daring things.

Edwin and Micah – how have you found the process of co-directing? Have there been many creative differences or do you find that working together has really helped fuel your creativity?

Micah: I’m gonna let Edwin handle this one. He sums it up nicely.

Edwin: The process so far has been wonderful. Micah and I come together to form this superhuman mutant director amalgam where I bring my eye for shot composition and on set experience and combine it with Micah’s knowledge of the inner workings of the characters and the story. We’ve disagreed on a few things, but I straighten him out pretty quick. *Laughing* In all seriousness though, it’s been a very smooth process co-directing the film so far. I’m very much looking forward to shooting the full feature.

From seeing the production stills we can see that both the costumes and set appear very authentic of the time, how did you source these?

Chris: It was very important to all of us that the film looks authentic. For a lot of the talent involved, the time period was a big draw. We have the amazing Kate Sawyer on board to design our costumes and wardrobe. Kate works on a lot of major film productions but she liked the challenge of our story. We are lucky to have her. The farm we shot the trailer on is in Lexington, GA. It is owned by my friend Kathleen DeMarrais. We have been in a writing group together for three years. The original slave quarters are still intact behind the main house. Kathleen is also a historian and made sure that every piece of furniture and prop was from that time period. The people of Lexington were very warm and gracious. When Micah and I were looking for authentic set dressing, several people pitched in and helped us locate what we needed. We met a Civil war re-enactor that was very knowledgeable and helpful.

Image sourced from official Facebook page

We know you’ve filmed the trailer – when can we expect to see it?

Chris: The trailer will be released on the day that our Kickstarter campaign kicks off in the very near future. Details will be on our Facebook page. Be on the look out for a short teaser.

What are your aspirations for Graveyard Dogs once it’s complete?

Chris: In a word, DISTRIBUTION. Everything will be on the table. We will go the festival route, attend AFM, seek foreign distribution and self-distribute if needed. We want to get Graveyard Dogs seen by as many people as possible. Happy investors = Repeat Investors. We want to make a film that everyone is proud to be a part of. We hope Graveyard Dogs can bring more attention to the growing film community in Athens, GA.

Micah: I suspect it’ll go something like this: Dominate the film festival circuit => Major theatrical release => Win the Golden Globe and Academy Awards for Best Picture (although, I guess, I’d settle for one or the other) => After that they’ll probably invent some new award for us like “Greatest Film Of All Time… And That Includes The Future.” I like to keep my goals modest.

Edwin: Once it’s complete, I want a lotta eyeballs on this sucker! I hope it proves to be a first step towards many great things as a filmmaker.

What can horror fans expect from Graveyard Dogs?

Micah: It’s not like any horror film you’ve ever seen before. It’ll make Django shit his pants (that should be our new tagline).

Chris: Five types of blood, screams, visual violence with a thrilling story.

Edwin: Thrills, chills, manglings, mutilations, blood, guts… What more could you want?

Have you taken any inspiration from any well-known horror films?

Micah: I’ll have to go with The Evil Dead, again. It is, of course, a classic… and probably a cliché answer. I think it was more of a subconscious inspiration. It features haunted woods. Hint?

Chris: Candyman

Edwin: I wouldn’t be able to say any specific films have inspired me for this project. I’m doing my best to bring my own unique vision to the screen. Surely there will be elements that I’ve absorbed from the loads of horror films I’ve seen, but nothing jumps out at me.

If you could work with anyone in the industry who would it be and why?

Micah: I’m a big fan of supporting your local film community first. One of our goals is to help grow the film scene in Athens, Georgia. That said, I’d love to work with local acting stud IronE Singleton from The Walking Dead.

Chris: I’d love to work with Guillermo del Toro. He creates such visually wonderfully haunting worlds. Also Javier Bardem, he can be a scary dude.

Edwin: Where to start? I’d enjoy geeking out with JJ Abrams for sure. Ridley Scott would be a dream to learn from as would David Fincher. Also Neil Blomkamp ‘cause District 9 was outstanding.

Image sourced from official Facebook page

Do any of you have any other projects in the pipeline?

Micah: Yes, I have another script that is a continuation of the Southern Horror theme. It would be great to make that one after Graveyard Dogs. Once we win “Greatest Film Of All Time… And That Includes The Future” it should be much easier to procure funding.

Chris: The Graveyard Dogs graphic novel and also the first script of Micah’s. There is no shortage of scripts coming from the Film Athens community. Our goal is to help other local filmmakers make their features as well.

Edwin: Definitely have a few projects waiting to move forward on. Step 1 is Graveyard Dogs though.

Finally…what’s your favourite scary movie?

Micah: I’ll stand by my cliché. The Evil Dead!

Chris: Pan’s Labyrinth and Hellraiser

Edwin: Halloween. Scared the living shit out of me when I first saw it. Carpenter is a god. (Editor: Correct answer, Edwin – mine as well!)

Any last words?

Micah: Thank you, Horror Hothouse, for interviewing us!

Chris: Thanks for the interview! Love the blog! Encourage storytellers and filmmakers to get involved and make it happen!

Edwin: I’ll be right back… (Laughs) Thank you so much for the interview and for spotlighting our film. We can’t wait to come back and talk to you when the full feature is complete. You guys rock!

Don’t forget to follow Graveyard Dogs on Twitter at @GraveyardDogs and like them on Facebook.