Administration. John Robert Zellner was born on April 5, 1939 in Jay, Florida and grew up in small towns throughout south Alabama. Please email us at [emailprotected], subject line republish, with any questions or to let us know what stories youre picking up. Yet he was not following the trope of the white savior; a charge directly addressed, and discounted, in the film, as well as in Zellners 2008 autobiography, The Wrong Side of Murder Creek: A White Southerner in the Freedom Movement, co-written with movement scribe Constance Curry. During the 2016 election season, Bob and his wife Pamela volunteered for the Doug Jones for Senate Campaign in lower Alabama. Actually, tell me a little bit about Lucas Till as playing the young Bob Zellner. In 1962, Zellner organized workshops on nonviolence for students at Talladega College in Alabama, preparing students for lunch counter sit-ins and marches. Schumers mother was a volunteer on Zellners State Senate campaign, so both of them organized vigorously for her son, the future US Senate Majority Leader Charles Schumer. He grew up in rural Alabama, the son and grandson of Ku Klux Klan members and ministers. Founded by Congressman John Lewis and Methodist minister Rev. Bob Zellner was 22 years old when he got his first taste of the civil rights movement after marching to city hall with 100 Black Burglund High School students through McComb, Mississippi, in 1961. Carol Ann thinks that Rosa Parks and the Durrs were overstepping trying to recruit them into the civil rights movement, but Zellner flashes back (within the flashback) to a time where he was pressured to brutalize some Black folks. Zellners peers and teacher remind him of the risks of going to a Black church, but Zellner blows everyone off and convinces his four classmates to attend the service with him. It's very sad that Huntingdon College, where a huge part of the script takes place, that they weren't able to bring themselves to welcome us to shoot on the campus. Kathleen graduated from the Northern Illinois University College of Law in 1981 and then worked for a 2nd District Appellate Court justice and several large law firms. The writer-director Barry Alexander Brown constantly reiterates how hard it is for white people to act against the mob and recognize the humanity of Black people. I hope that's the takeaway. Obviously, those are still fresh wounds. In 1966 SNCC voted to expel white activists from its organization, and although Zellner and his wife, Dorothy Miller Zellner, who also worked for SNCC, appealed, SNCCs central committee rejected their request for reinstatement. The temperature cools down. The fight has not ended for Zellner and his wife, Pamela, who still invest in their community. He was expelled as a white from SNCC in 1967 following leader Stokely Carmichaels movement of the organization in the direction of Black Nationalism. They have a daughter named Anne Zellner, who is a lawyer at the firm 'Ryley Carlock & Applewhite' in Denver. Continuing his life-long habit of returning from time to time for graduate studies, he completed most of the classwork for a Ph.D. in history, Tulane University in New Orleans, Louisiana between 1991-1994. Tell me a little bit about the importance of shooting right here, where all of this really happened. February 27, 2023 By restaurants on the water in st clair shores By restaurants on the water in st clair shores All who were injured were charged with disorderly conduct and resisting arrest. Well, the paradigm, it is just the story of one of our freedom songs we had in the movement, that freedom is a constant struggle, because after the Civil Rights Movement, we never thought that women's rights would be challenged again, or that anyone would try to restrict the vote to white people ever again, or labor rights would be restricted, but what's happened is that the Civil Rights Movement, there was tremendous reaction against the Civil Rights Movement and the right wing really dug in and did the kind of grassroots community organizing that the movement had done. I don't know. Well, what was going through my mind at that time of meeting Rosa Parks and getting to know her and Reverend Abernathy. If we had wanted to create him, we couldnt have done a better job, McDew wrote in his autobiography, Tell The Story, released posthumously last year. Mr. Zellner became SNCC's first white field secretary and was arrested 18 times with John Lewis and the Freedom Riders. They brag on all the movies that have been shot there, but not Spike Lee and Barry Alexander Brown shooting Son of the South. So again, does a white Alabaman directing the story of another white Alabaman smack of saviorism? I had met church people strong in faith, but until then I had never seen such a dedicated soldiers, he remembered. Zellners time in SNCC, as a member of the original staff, meant he was working with Civil Rights Movement legends Martin Luther King Jr., John Lewis, and Rosa Parks. I was egging the people on to hang me! This page was last edited on 31 March 2021, at 08:29. His father was a doctor and had absolutely no interest in share trading or speculating, in spite of the fact that Robert's grandfather was a speculator. The courage and vision that they shared of a world not stunted by racism inspired me. Carol Ann, the white girlfriend, is virtuous, saving herself for marriage, and Joanne, the light-skinned Black woman who not only speaks five languages, is a professor and lived in Paris, visits Zellners room in the middle of the night with a Mai Tai and jumps into bed with a man whose motto is, Ill try anything three times. It seems as if these characters were just thrown in to break up the narrative with a love story, which doesnt work. I didn't know the extent to which I would and the lifelong involvement, but I knew that I was destined to do that. Alabama with my new wife Pamela Smith to work with Senator Doug Jones and other southern progressives to, once and for all, confront our nation's foundational history of genocide against native peoples . There was a time in American cinema where the portrayal of Black bodies being brutalized by white racists was shocking. By Julia Cheng. Part of Bobs job description was to take photographs and write articles for SNCCs Student Voice newspaper. 4. As a result, those qualities were ascribed to another character and McDews role significantly diminished. did bob zellner marry joanne. The program is being organized by The Equity Project Alliance. I went to the SNCC office, the address that I had, and there was one person there, sitting in this almost empty office. The project was also known as getting Rid of Wallace. During that summer and the following year he was a trainee in nonviolence workshops led by James Lawson (activist)|James Lawson, John Lewis, and Diane Nash in Nashville, Tennessee. Zellner made it clear from the start that she intends to prove Avery's innocence, despite. The moral high ground was that we were not going to fight back. I didn't know it would come so quickly. And my father did, and he told me about it later on. Where: Gateway Church of Christ, 445 Creighton Road, Pensacola. At 'Fed Atlanta,' Robert got acquainted with a research fellow from 'Duke University' who was pursuing the same doctoral program. In the fall of 1963, Zellner moved to Cambridge, Massachusetts with her then husband, Bob Zellner, to run the Northeast Regional Office of SNCC. It was painful. Always active with his wife Pamela, always on the go, he sees . Director and Inspiration: Bob Zellner autographs his book, The Wrong Side of Murder Creek, while chatting with Barry Alexander Brown, the director of Son of the South, a film executive produced by Spike Lee about Zellners work in the Civil Rights Movement. It's about the beginning of the movement, for me, as a white southerner. And Daddy said, he even put me back in the will. I said, "I'm, Bob Zellner. I hope it does, and if so, I have a suggestion: Bring back the character of McDew to make a buddy show, about a Black Jewish guy from the North teamed up with the white grandson of a Klansman, working for SNCC in the most dangerous days of the movement. Scoop a tad of hair pomade, run your palms with it and apply the product to your locks. Jeanine is a Writer, Actor, member SAG/AFTRA, AEA, Podcast host,. Zellners father and grandfather were Ku Klux Klan members. Alex is survived by his wife . For several months Zellner, McDew, and Moses ran a freedom school, Nonviolent High of Pike County, for the students who dropped out of Burglund High to protest Traviss expulsion, though the school closed when the three activists were convicted of disturbing the peace and contributing to the delinquency of minors. Bob Zellner was 22 years old when he got his first taste of the civil rights movement after marching to city hall with 100 Black Burglund High School students through McComb, Mississippi, in. We are providing this brief biography for, The Shalvi/Hyman Encyclopedia of Jewish Women, Copyright 19982023, Jewish Women's Archive. Robert is married to Kathleen Zellner, a well-known attorney known for representing murder convicts Steven Avery and Larry Eyler. After that, there was not a lot of question with the early SNCC people about my commitment, but I also realized that white privilege, would lead me go back to being white at any time that I wanted to, had I chose to do so, but I made a commitment that I wouldn't, so I tried to live up to that. Brian Dennehy playing my grandfather. Mr. Zellner became SNCCs first white field secretary and was arrested 18 times with John Lewis and the Freedom Riders. Troopers attacked Dr. Zellner and members of the tribe who were protecting ancestral burial grounds from developer's bulldozers. Isn't that ironic? And he said, "Oh good. His commitment to the Movement was continually, and often violently, tested by white supremacists. Son of the South is a biopic is based on The Wrong Side of Murder Creek, the autobiography of civil rights activist Bob Zellner (Lucas Till). The film "Mississippi Burning" so distorted the role of the FBI in the movement that Bob toured college campuses lecturing on the real history of the struggle. The film begins with a bloodied and beaten Zellner, riding in the back of a 57 Chevy with a group of fellow sons of the South, on his way to what could be his own lynching. (2013). Robert completed his tenure in Atlanta and went back to the 'University of Florida,' where he completed his master's thesis on consumer credit. Lives in Wilson, North Carolina. 1 (866) 213-6794, centennial@ssa.uchicago.edu, Scholarship and Service in a Changing World. I just didn't want to believe that that's why, that they had a problem with the script or the situation. And he said, "Oh no, when we're able to, we get back on the bus." Zellners a senior at a Methodist college. Photo by Julia Cheng. This group, the torch that lit their fuse, was a college paper I got assigned to do with four of my friends. I also hope that the takeaway to young people, and to women who are really leading the charge right now to save or reclaim our democracy, is that it can be done. She is presently identified as Anne Zellner Sherwood and lives in Denver, Colorado. In 1967 when SNCC became all Black, Bob and Dottie Zellner designed and organized a white organizing push in the deep South called Grass Roots Organizing Work (GROW). Well, the one thing that I would like to be sure of, is that young people hear about this movie. The story of these lynchings is told in the motion picture Mississippi Burning. His race proved to be useful for SNCC as he forged connections with powerful whites in rural communities that were sympathetic to their organizing. Thats because the Jewish half of what could have been a hilarious-yet-gripping buddy film was largely written out. If he is still at it today, he nearly lost it many times in the process. The Wrong Side of Murder Creek: a White Southerner in the Freedom Movement. It got me into thinking about nonviolence. The men attempted to drag Zellner away from the other protesters, but Zellner clung to a railing until police finally pulled him off to arrest him, along with the other SNCC workers and 119 students. So Bob, tell me a little bit about meeting Barry and beginning this relationship where he's taking your story and making it into a film? Till is known for his work in CBS reboot of "MacGyver" and the movie "X-Men . During Mississippi Freedom Summer of 1964 he traveled with Rita Schwerner while taking part in SNCC's and CORE's investigation of the disappearance of her husband Mickey, James Chaney, and Andrew Goodman. Like other activists imbued in Marxism, Zellner used a materialist approach when organizing reforming Klansmen, focusing on concrete advantages of black-white unity rather than appealing to Christian brotherhood. During 1964 Mississippi Freedom Summer, Zellner coordinated volunteers and the Freedom Schools in Greenwood, Mississippi. That would be like a pitched battle. Template:TOCnestleft Some of Wikitia's pages are sourced from Wikipedia.org's Mainspace and Draftspace. His first campaign through SCEF was the GROW project, Grass Roots Organizing Work, in rural towns such as Laurel, Mississippi. In December 1961, Bob took part in Freedom Rides and was subsequently jailed with Martin Luther King Jr. in Albany, Georgia. I hope it's a young people's movie and I really hope that it comes through as a women's movie, because SNCC was led by strong women. Beginning in the mid-sixties Bob worked on documentary and feature films, traveling to Europe, Africa, the Caribbean, and Mexico. We knew that at some point we'd have to make a decision. Bob Zellner was a member of the October League.[1]. I knew that because my father had already done a tremendous journey of leaving the Ku Klux Klan that I was destined to take a part in this somehow or another. Turns out, Bob Zellners granddaddy is a head Klansman and is part of the posse. I said, "Well, who's coming." Zellner is partnered with his wife, Pamela Smith, to stay in front of what he calls a new era for civil rights. And he said, "I know, we've written our wills." To avoid shifting to a disturbed nation, he started to search for academic courses in America. A paper on race relations. The following information is provided for citations. Zellner and four other students (later known as the Huntingdon Five) outraged school authorities, however, when they began attending civil rights meetings with Black students from what was then Alabama State College for Negroes. Bob and his wife Dottie joined SCEF, the Southern Conference Educational Fund, to . He explained everything about the supply and demand balance issue to Robert. From 1994 to 2003 Zellner taught History as an adjunct Professor at Stony Brook Southampton|Southampton College of Long Island University in Southampton, New York. More:Pensacola business leaders band together to fight systemic injustice, More:Elizabeth Eckford in Pensacola to share how she braved hate as one of the Little Rock Nine. In the movie treatment, however, McDew is less expansive. Prominent Civil Rights Activist, Freedom Rider and Author of The Wrong Side of Murder Creek: A White Southerner in the Freedom Movement. Although he occasionally uses a broad brush dipped in primary colors while fashioning his admiring portrait of Bob Zellner, the grandson of a Ku Klux Klansman who improbably evolved into a civil . Until the time of With Showing Up for Racial Justice organizers in North Carolina. Son of the South is a perfect elixir to soothe the wounds inflicted by the conspiracy theory believing far-right relatives that every liberal white person apparently deals with, back in the middle-American home town they escaped from. He is a graduate of Denmark High School, Class of 1980. . Zellner recruited white southerners to join the Civil Rights Movement through his role as a campus traveler. and his wife they . He's incredible. Jim Forman arrived a week later with a tape recorder. They work alongside Common Power, an organization that encourages civic action through community, education and investment in a next-generation of leaders. Somebody hands you a briefcase and that's the extent of SNCC. Zellners peers and teacher remind him of the risks of going to a Black church, but Zellner blows everyone off and convinces his four classmates to attend the service with him. UPTO 50% OFF ON ALL PRODUCTS. After working briefly in Atlanta, Zellner went to McComb, Mississippi, with Bob Moses and Chuck McDew for a SNCC planning session. The moral aspect was that if you didn't fight back, you had a potential of converting that person. Or was he die hard to the day he died about his stances? It was at these meetings that Zellner met SNCC members for the first time. He started working for the 'Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta.' Zellner, Bob Biography: Robert Zellner was born April 5, 1939 in southern Alabama. (2003). A 1957 graduation speaker at Murphy High School in Mobile, he received a BA from Huntingdon College, Montgomery, Alabama in 1961 with highest honors in Sociology and Psychology. Activist Dorothy "Dottie" Miller (Zellner), who lost her shoes to high-pressure hoses after being clubbed during a demonstration in Danville, Virginia, gives an affidavit to James Forman, SNCC executive secretary. Zellner was beaten, almost hung, and jailed as a result in McComb, Mississippi. Civil rights activist Robert Zellner tells Gianna about growing up in Montgomery, Alabama during the Civil Rights movement shortly after the premiere of "Son of The South," based on Zellner's autobiography, "The Wrong Side of Murder Creek." The grandson of a Klansmen, Zellner talks about how & why his father chose family disownment and left the Klu Klux Klan. While attending Huntingdon College in Montgomery, Alabamaan all-white Methodist schoolZellner was given a sociology assignment to research solutions to racial problems in the South. The Woodcutters Union Campaign, from 1967 to 1979 mobilized thousands of black and white pulp and timber workers. Especially when you couldn't have thousands of people demonstrating, carrying arms. It was painful. In a voiceover, Zellner muses, A lot of white folks have a short fuse when it comes to civil rights. Born in Alabama on 5 April 1939, John Robert Zellner was the second of James Abraham Zellner and Ruby Hardy Zellner's five sons. 1. It was a part of Barry's dream for the movie that it would be shot in Alabama, that it wouldn't be a real Alabama movie with real Alabama people. Bob Zellner is an influential leader in the Civil Rights Movement. They had busted all the cameras. While in Russia, he lived and worked with a group of black gospel singers who were also helping the resistance, and when he returned to the United States, he repudiated his racist beliefs. More than once, Zellner was beaten into unconsciousness. She also became SNCCs media relations person, helping generate support for the organization and bring it to national attention. 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