A Place of Our Own

Each summer, affluent African Americans return to an upper middle class resort community that has historically provided an oasis for black professionals.

Film Signature Image
Series
Independent Lens
Premiere Date
February 17, 2004
Length
60 minutes
Funding Initiative
Series and Special Projects
  • Award laurels-r Created with Sketch.
    2005 American Library Association-Notable Film for Adults
  • Headshot of Stanley Nelson
    Producer

    Stanley Nelson

    Stanley Nelson is an Emmy Award-winning documentary filmmaker, MacArthur “genius” Fellow, and member of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. He was awarded the National Humanities Medal by President Obama in August 2014. Nelson has directed and produced numerous acclaimed films, including Black Panthers: Vanguard of the Revolution (Independent Lens), Freedom Summer, Freedom Riders, Jonestown: The Life and Death of People’s Temple Show more and The Murder of Emmett Till. He is also the co-founder and Executive Director of Firelight Films and co-founder of Firelight Media, which provides technical support to emerging documentarians. Show less

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    The Film

    A Place Of Our Own explores the rarely seen world of the black middle class and the town of Oak Bluffs on Martha's Vineyard, where African Americans have vacationed for generations. Through intimate stories of African Americans in Oak Bluffs, Director Stanley Nelson discovers a renewed appreciation for the place his father established as a summer home for the Nelson family for generations to come.

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