Spenser Simrill (Ph.D. English, UGA) is descended from slaveholders. Michael Simril, from people they enslaved. Together, they have researched their York County, South Carolina roots to embark upon an extraordinary journey of reconciliation and healing. Their documentary takes many twists and turns, including uncovering the history of their forebear, Reverend Elias Hill, who with his niece Harriet Simril testified in 1871 in federal court against the violence and voter suppression of the Ku Klux Klan, and then led 166 formerly enslaved persons to Liberia to begin new lives. Based on their research, in 2017 the state of South Carolina dedicated an historic marker at Allison Creek Presbyterian Church, York County, to commemorate their courage and that of other family members. Please join us in this screening and discussion of a very American story of community, resilience, and hope. Free and open to the public.

This event is presented by the Willson Center for Humanities and Arts, the UGA English Department Rodney M. Baine Lecture Fund, the UGA Special Collections Libraries, Athens Branch of the Association for the Study of African American Life and History, the Clarke Oconee Genealogical Society African American Genealogy Shared Interest Group, and Dr. Barbara McCaskill, Distinguished Research Professor, UGA department of English.