The Monett Historical Society will show the documentary film “The American Way: Life, Liberty, and Being Pursued by the Mob” at 7 p.m. on Monday, Nov. 16, at the Monett High School Performing Arts Center, 1 David Sippy Drive in Monett.
This film, assembled by documentarian Tiffany Lee, carefully looks at the difficult subject of racial lynchings that took place in southwest Missouri from 1894 to 1906. The lack of ethnic diversity that impacted the area until the 1990s stemmed from these events.
Historians, societal scholars, and descendants of families that fled the area or who were killed in these incidents provide background for this careful retelling. Unlike other accounts, Lee’s film focuses on the big picture, relating what took place in Monett in 1894, Pierce City in 1901, Pittsburg, Kansas, in 1902, Joplin in 1903, and Springfield in 1906. The narrators explain how these incidents were related, representing a deliberate pattern intended to terrorize people of color for a specific goal of maintaining social control.
The film offers a non-inflammatory way to look at history and recognize its relevance to how today’s southwest Missouri came into being and the challenges ethnic diversity poses.
“These are not easy stories to tell,” said Jeanne Ann Camp, president of the Monett Historical Society. “Lee’s film provides context for understanding history and how these events impacted southwest Missouri into the present day.”
Lee’s film is presently being shown at festivals around the nation. At the International Black Film Festival in Nashville, Tenn., in October, “The American Way” was named the Best Social Justice Film.
The Nov. 16 showing in Monett represents the first public showing to a general audience, and is available free of charge, underwritten in part by the Monett Historical Society. All interested persons are welcome. Educators, especially history teachers in schools, are encouraged to attend to hear how to present this kind of information.