Image: If you've followed our history news at all, you've probably discovered the Athens Historical Society's Athens Film Project. A number of UGA students, faculty, and alumni have been involved in this Athens Historical Society project, the goal being to create films on Athens history for local 11th grade U.S. History and 8th grade Georgia History classes. In conjunction with the films, lesson plans are being created for teachers, the first of which have been written by UGA alum and local teacher Tom Drewry. The AHS website explains that the project is funded by small grants, the UGA History Department, and local donors. The four films they have completed to this point are: “Emancipation” written by Bryant Barnes, a history doctoral student at the time and now graduate, and directed by Grady School graduate Emani Saucier; “The Knox Institute,” a film about Athens’ famous Freedmen’s Bureau School, written and directed by local filmmaker Jesse Freeman; “Industrial Athens: Part 1,” also written by Barnes, and directed by Georgia Film Academy instructor Phil Bergquist. Bergquist also directed, “The Founding of Athens and the Struggle for the Oconee River,” which was written by history PhD student Cole Wicker. The film is about the struggle between Indigenous people and newly arrived settlers over the area that later became Athens, GA. The newest film, “Industrial Athens: Part 2,” was written by Barnes and directed by Lauren Musgrove, and discusses child labor at mills in Athens. The films are available on the Athens Historical Society’s YouTube channel. Read more about the the Athens Film Project on the Athens Historical Society web site https://athenshistorical.org/.
