Looking for Lincoln film recounts Atlanta barbeque celebrating Emancipation Proclamation 12th Anniversary

 

[July 30, 2022] 

On July 21, representatives of the Looking for Lincoln Heritage Coalition screened its newest short film titled “1875 Emancipation Proclamation: A Grand Old-Style Barbeque in Atlanta, Illinois.”

This film focuses on a little-known story from the town’s history. It is one of a series of videos and podcasts about lesser known stories connected to Abraham Lincoln. During Lincoln’s time in central Illinois, he knew many people in Atlanta.

The Looking for Lincoln Heritage Coalition created the short film to help people “learn about the events and efforts of a small group of African American citizens from Atlanta, Illinois, who hosted an area-wide BBQ celebration at their local fairgrounds.”

The event celebrated “The 12th Anniversary of the Emancipation Proclamation, which granted freedom to the enslaved people of the United States.”



A poster of the barbeque is in Atlanta’s Union Hall. The film shows a dance in Union Hall. Varble said that dance may have been in the very room in which they were screening the film.

One reason Feezor said Atlanta was chosen for the celebration is that it had the fairgrounds and was located close to the railroad. People from Springfield, Bloomington and Peoria all converged in Atlanta for the one-day celebration.

There were about six Black households with a total of 25 people in Atlanta at that time. The people from these households hosted the event. They spent days preparing for the celebration, which had several notable speakers and musical entertainment by an all-black band.

At the time, the population of Black people in Illinois was 6/10 of a percent of the population. Varble said that seemed low, but found it was accurate. That means having a stable African American population in Atlanta then was unusual.

Some African Americans that came here were Civil War soldiers.
 

Though there were white people in attendance, many white people in town looked on as Black families participated in the celebration.

There was so much information Varble said they found when researching the event.



Following the film screening, Steven Varble and Heather Feezor from the Looking for Lincoln Heritage Coalition gave a short presentation.

Varble and Feezor discussed the steps involved in the research and film making process.

First, research was done, and primary documents were collected. Census records show a small African American population in Atlanta at that time.

One part of the process involved identifying the story, assembling the research and images, and then compiling them into a story. A storyboard is created as they put images with the script.

There were some images of Atlanta, but Feezor she said struggled to find many photos. Photos of the fairgrounds date from 1900.

Since they did not have a lot of Atlanta images, Feezor said historians told them that they could just use images from the later time period. She was told [documentarian] Ken Burns did that all the time.

Much of the celebration shown was from a different celebration around the same time. Feezor said they looked for similar images to show what would have potentially happened.

The process can take a long time. For the video, 20 images were needed for each minute, so getting the photos takes the longest.

After Feezor finished her part, she sent everything on to Varble. Varble did the more technological part.

Varble said to put together the video, they first read a script aloud to figure the length and number of photos needed. He then told Feezor how many photos were needed to make the video.

One problem Varble said they encountered was having many photos about one section and no photos for another section.
 

To read the script, the Coalition wanted an African American narrator. Varble said they were able to use Reggie Harris. Harris plays a ghost in “Ghosts of the Museum” at the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library Museum.

After Harris read the script, everything was put in an audiophile to make sure it sounded good. Next, Varble said they began dropping in the photos.

When they realized they needed to take out a few photos, Varble said it left a five second gap. There could not be any gaps in the video. They then went to the Library of Congress website, which has hundreds of images of Atlanta and other places.

After searching the internet for music and sound effects, these were added to create a soundscape.

The work bounces back and forth between team members until all pieces come together.

Once another team had looked the video over and approved it, Varble said the video was ready to be launched.

One thing Varble said they discovered during the pandemic is that Looking for Lincoln has a huge following online. Audiences have really expanded, so they are making these films available online.

“1875 Emancipation Proclamation: A Grand Old-Style Barbeque in Atlanta, Illinois” became available on YouTube immediately after the screening.

The next film in the series the Looking for Lincoln Heritage Coalition is working on is about Susan Richardson. Varble said Richardson was a slave in Illinois and bought herself out of slavery.

An interesting film that Varble said will be coming up, is about New Philadelphia. New Philadelphia was the first community in the United States founded by African Americans. The community was down by Pittsfield, Illinois.

The podcast is done for that one, and Feezor is working on getting photos. The process of getting photos takes the longest.
 

Paintings and drawings of events are also sometimes used.

Right now, Varble said they are working on a film about African Americans who were friends with Abraham Lincoln. Feezor said they are trying to finish that film.

[Angela Reiners]

Related Links:

“1875 Emancipation Proclamation: A Grand Old-Style Barbeque in Atlanta, Illinois” Looking for Lincoln

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qJCkVk9fGdw

On Atlantaillinois.org go to Discover Atlanta, click on Looking for Lincoln and then the link under Grand Old-Fashioned Barbecue

Library of Congress website: loc.gov