Finding The Cornerstone – The Wallace A. Rayfield Story
The doors are closed. There are no more screenings of this film.
Synopsis: AVAILABLE AUGUST 20th AND 23rd | 10:00 AM – MIDNIGHT
Southern focused documentary shorts that explore the South of today and yesterday.
SHORT FILM:
On the Edge (16min)
People in Alabama are living with curable cancers, heart disease and other conditions. However, they can’t afford to get treatment, because Alabama didn’t expand Medicaid. On the Edge goes deep into Alabama to explore the economic and social cost of the thousands who are “left behind’ by Alabama’s healthcare laws.
FEATURE FILM:
Finding The Cornerstone – The Wallace A. Rayfield Story (58 min)
This film tells the story of two men, separated by race, education and time. However, the two are united by happenstance.
Born in Macon, Georgia in 1873, Wallace Augustus Rayfield was the second university-educated African American architect. His most familiar design is Birmingham’s 16th Street Baptist Church. The church was the site of the 1963 bomb blast that killed four young girls. Many of the places of worship Rayfield designed in the South were rallying locations during the Civil Rights Movement. He designed hundreds of structures throughout the South prior to the Great Depression. Today, around the country, many of the buildings Rayfield designed are still standing.
The discovery of Rayfield’s legacy began in the fall of 1993 when Allen Durough, a white, Baptist preacher was demolishing an old barn on his property in Bessemer, Alabama. Durough inspected the barn before the demolition began and found 411 printing plates that belonged to Rayfield. Over the last 18 years, Durough has painstakingly researched Rayfield’s life. He has failed to find a permanent home for the plates and his research. In 2010, he published The Architectural Legacy of Wallace A. Rayfield. Sadly, Durough is not willing to donate the material to a museum or university. Nonetheless, he is 75 years old, disabled, and his health is rapidly declining. On most days you’ll find Durough sitting in his wheelchair, appearing dazed and lethargic. His home is cluttered with old pianos, books, and stacks of boxes.
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Jonathan Morris
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Director's Statement
When I was a young child my parents bought me an audio cassette recorder. I have fond memories of recording stories about people in my community, the sanctified, the sinners, the marginalized, and the colorful characters. At that time, those simple stories were my creative escape and cultural awakening. Later those narratives would become the driving influence and inspiration for my creative work.
Director's Bio
Dwight Cammeron is a native of Gadsden, Alabama. As a lecturer/instructor he taught documentary and media production classes in the Journalism and Creative Media department at the University of Alabama. Cammeron’s primary documentary interests are African American history and contemporary cultural issues. He has been honored by the National Academy of the Arts and Sciences with an Emmy for Still Holding On: The Music of Dorothy Love Coates and the Original Gospel Harmonettes. The documentary tells the story of one of Alabama’s most original and influential voices. Cammeron has also been recognized by the National Black Programming Consortium’s International Film and Video Competition, the New York Festival, The National Educational Telecommunications Association, and the Broadcast Education Association.
Cammeron earned a Bachelor’s degree in Communications from the University of Alabama in Birmingham. He also holds a Master’s degree in Telecommunication and Film for the University of Alabama in Tuscaloosa.