Premieres Monday, April 22, 2024 / Stream with the PBS App, WORLD YouTube Channel, and Black Public Media YouTube Channel
AFROPOP: THE ULTIMATE CULTURAL EXCHANGE closes out its 16th season on April 22 (Earth Day) with a documentary film exploring the urgent effects of climate change on one North Carolina community. The film is produced and directed by Resita Cox, an award-winning, North Carolina-based filmmaker.
In "Freedom Hill," Cox transports audiences to Princeville, North Carolina, a town that has the distinction of being the oldest town in the United States chartered by Black people. Formerly enslaved Africans settled the area — which is set along the state’s Tar River — and initially called it Freedom Hill. Established in a low-lying area of the state that was known to be prone to flooding, Princeville now battles frequent “100-year” floods that threaten to wash the town away.
Cox grew up an hour away from Princeville but didn’t learn of the town’s historical significance until sent as a reporter for WCTI-TV 12 in New Bern, North Carolina to cover the flooding. Through milestone events, everyday life in the town and the work of Marquetta Dickens — a Princeville native who has returned to her hometown and taken on the mantle of saving it — the documentary explores the history of Princeville and its uncertain future. In the face of environmental injustice that leaves many of their calls for change unanswered, the people of Princeville provide an intimate look at a community on the knife’s edge of climate change.
Watch On Your Schedule: The films of AFROPOP Season 16 will be available to stream online, on the PBS App, WORLD YouTube Channel, and Black Public Media YouTube Channel.
Three other films are presented in Season 16 of AFROPOP, which showcases stories and lives from across the African diaspora:
"Commuted," by Nailah Jefferson , is a documentary exploring a woman’s efforts to rebuild her life after having her triple life prison sentence commuted by President Obama.
"Supa Modo" by Likarion Wainaina, a magical tale of a village that helps a terminally ill young girl achieve her dream of becoming a superhero
Mbithi Masya’s "Kati Kati," an award-winning, supernatural film following a woman with amnesia on an exploration of life and death.
Credits: Black Public Media (BPM) and WORLD. "Freedom Hill" is a co-presentation of AFROPOP: THE ULTIMATE CULTURAL EXCHANGE and WORLD’s LOCAL, USA, a series that profiles diverse people and communities throughout the United States.
“For generations, Black people have been on the receiving end of environmental racism,” said AfroPoP series director/producer Denise A. Greene. “Climate change is intensifying this situation, jeopardizing our health, our property and our very lives. Resita’s film brilliantly uplifts the daily struggles facing our people, ensuring that our voices are heard and the plight of our people is centered in the conversation on climate.”
