As we forge ahead with our mission to educate the community about the African American experience in New Jersey, we have some notable achievements to share with you.
On July 14th both episodes of “The Price of Silence” were nominated for New York Emmy Awards in the category of "Best Documentary - Cultural.” We’ll be on the edge of our seats until October 28th when the winner will be announced at a gala in NYC.
The following week the New Jersey Council for the Humanities awarded Truehart Productions a grant for $15,000 to produce a promotional film (trailer) for the next installment to “The Price of Silence” series. We are excited about this next episode that will tell the story of the African American’s Great Migration to Newark in search of a better life while also trying to escape the atrocities of the Jim Crow South. Due in part to the promise of employment, between 1910 and 1930 the black population in New Jersey grew from 89,760 to 208,828, an increase of 132 percent.
Yet throughout the migration, wherever black Southerners went, the hostility and hierarchies that fed the Southern caste system seemed to carry over into the receiving cities in the North. Newark was no exception and there were barriers to black mobility erected that continued until the early 1960s and beyond. Even in the places where they were permitted, blacks were relegated to the lowest-paying, most dangerous jobs, barred from many unions and, at some companies, hired only as strike breakers, which served to further divide black workers from white.
With the completion and distribution of the trailer our hope is that we will again garner enough support from the community to encourage PBS to enter into another co-production agreement to produce the next film. “The Price of Silence: The Search for Freedom in New Jersey.”
Thank you again for your support.
Sincerely,
Ridgeley Hutchinson
President/CFO