Event Details
After generations of showcasing its pre-Civil War mansions and hoop-skirted guides, Natchez, Mississippi, is now reckoning with a romanticized past, an uncertain future and the debt it owes to the descendants of slavery. A cinematic portrait of a tourist town at a crossroads, Natchez follows an array of historic homeowners, activists and tour guides as they tell their versions of the past, and clash over who gets to tell America’s story.
Guests:
Martha Swan, John Brown Lives Founder/Executive Director
Martha Swan is the founder and Executive Director of the freedom education and human rights project John Brown Lives!
Since 1999, she has led the organization in engaging communities, using the arts and education, advocacy and activism, in excavating the useful legacies of the past to inform and inspire principled and effective civic action to address urgent issues today. Before retiring in 2021, she taught Spanish, and some French, in Adirondack schools for over twenty years. She lives in the Champlain Valley with her beloved Vito and their critters.
Allison Heard- Higher Education Leader, Women’s Rights Alliance of NYS Board Member
Allison Heard brings more than 20 years of leadership experience in equity, community engagement, and institutional transformation and is a doctoral candidate at the University of St. Francis in Joliet, Illinois. She has a distinguished record of advancing student success, reforming organizational structures, and shaping policies that eliminate systemic barriers while holding institutions accountable for sustainable change. As a visionary leader in higher education, Allison’s expertise spans student identity development, organizational change, civil rights law, Title VI, Title IX, compliance, and equity-driven strategy.
Allison Heard is a board member with the Women’s Rights Alliance of New York State and the North Country Underground Railroad Museum Historical Association. Deeply committed to interfaith and community work, she is recognized as an Interfaith Alliance Practitioner and holds a faith-based leadership role in Chicago, Illinois, and is actively engaged in Interfaith work in Plattsburgh, New York. Allison is a trained Truth, Racial Healing, and Transformation Center (TRHT) Healing Circle Facilitator and is a certified Restorative Justice Practitioner, further reflecting her dedication to community, healing, justice, and equity.
Awards & Nominations
Winner: Best Documentary Feature- 2025 Tribeca Film Festival
Winner: Special Jury Mention for Cinematography in a Documentary Feature- 2025 Tribeca Film Festival
Winner: Special Jury Mention for Editing in a Documentary Feature- 2025 Tribeca Film Festival
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