Shooting History

A few weeks ago, I travelled with members of my History 462 class to Ames Plantation. Ames is a large piece of land outside of Memphis that encompasses over eighteen thousand acres total and sites date back to the nineteenth century. The reason we were there was to shoot B-roll for the documentary we are making on the Memphis Massacre of 1866. On the property, there are restored slave cabins that we had been invited to shoot at, so on Sunday morning we drove the hour from campus to get there.

When we got there, we began to walk between the three cabins we were allowed to shoot in. I was hard to look at these tiny wooden cabins and not see the hardships that would have accompanied them. It was particularly cold on that day, and I remember bringing two jackets because I knew the wind would be strong. Walking in and out of the three tiny homes, it was astonishing to note that it was nearly the same temperature inside and out. There was next to nothing insulating the walls, and the small fireplace would likely have still left the room quite cold as heat escaped through cracks in the door and walls.

It was difficult for me to imagine people living in these tiny shacks with whole families as there was barely enough room for a table and a bed in some. The addition of a loft in one was a much needed convenience that was not present in the other two. The bed was old and looked very uncomfortable, made with rope lashed across the bottom of the bed frame with little to no support for the body. This was a house meant only to live in, not to be a home. Somehow, it still managed to evoke reverence. Here we were, a group of students getting ready to reenact both peaceful and violent scenes in and around these small cabins, and yet, these used to be the dwellings of slaves. It seemed almost fitting that this was where we would decide to show violence against recently freed African Americans. The purpose of this documentary over the course of the semester has become to show the historical importance of the Massacre, but also to show a moment in Memphis history that has been cast out of the narrative in nearly every circle. Not many in Memphis know about this, and we feel it is important to inform Memphians, and what better place than at Ames in cabins that slavery was felt in?