Scarred Justice: The Orangeburg Massacre 1968

Bestor Cram began his career as an independent filmmaker in the early 1970s, following a tour of duty in Vietnam. He urgently needed to find a way to communicate to the hearts and minds of those who had already dismissed an opportunity for dialogue. It was a time of polarizing words sparked by horrific acts of violence that needed to be understood in the context… Show more of misleading lies, cover-ups, and nasty political discourse. It was a pivotal era of lost innocence, forever changing the way our nation saw itself — and how a young veteran saw himself. In 1982, he founded Northern Light Productions, where today he serves as the Creative Director. Cram has built Northern Light into one of the premiere documentary production companies in New England, dedicating himself to documentary film and museum work that strives to achieve a greater truth. Bestor has written, directed, produced, shot and executive produced over 30 films, including Scarred Justice: The Orangeburg Massacre, Johnny Cash at Folsom Prison, Circus Without Borders, Beyond the Wall, and ANITA: Speak Truth to Power. Show less

Judy Richardson is a senior producer with Northern Light Productions in Boston, where she produced two History Channel documentaries (including the 2-hour Slave Catchers, Slave Resisters) and other films. Previously she worked on Blackside’s Academy Award-nominated 14-hour PBS series Eyes on the Prize from its first incarnation in 1978 and was… Show more Blackside’s education director for the series. She was also co-producer of Blackside’s American Experience biography, Malcolm X: Make It Plain. Richardson brings to her filmmaking a long-time involvement with social justice issues: as a Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) staffer in the early 1960s on its projects in Mississippi (during 1964 Freedom Summer), Alabama, and Southwest Georgia; as office manager for Julian Bond (then SNCC’s communications director; now chair of the NAACP) during his successful first campaign for the Georgia House of Representatives; as a founder of the largest African American bookstore in the late 1960s; as the director of information for the United Church of Christ Commission for Racial Justice; and more. She lectures nationally, and conducts professional development workshops for teachers, all focused on the civil rights movement and its relevance to the issues of today. She has been published in several academic journals and is also one of six editors of Hands on the Freedom Plow, the SNCC women’s anthology, chronicling the courageous civil rights activism of more than 50 women in the Southern freedom movement during the early 1960s. Show less