‘Acts of Reparation’ explores family history, healing in Macon premiere

Filmmakers Selina Lewis Davidson and Macky Alston sparked discussions of family history, reparations and generational healing with their documentary “Acts of Reparation,” which premiered at Douglass Theatre Friday, Sept. 19.

The documentary follows Davidson and Alston’s journeys as descendants of enslaved individuals and slave owners.

“We are in conversation together across race, across history, during both journeys,” Davidson said. 

The filmmakers’ partnership dates back 30 years. Their first documentary focused on the legacy of slavery.

Their newest work is “like the other shoe dropping,” Alston said — a continuation of the conversation on repair, equity and healing from “historic harm.”

Part of the film follows Davidson, who grew up in West Oakland, California, and her exploration of her family’s hometown of Monroe, Louisiana. 

What fosters storytelling, according to Davidson?

“Boots on the ground, feet in the dirt and sitting around the kitchen table,” she said.

Davidson interviewed members of her extended family to piece together her family tree. Eventually she purchased the house her ancestor lived and worked in as a domestic worker. The “Pink House,” as she calls it, is now a community center for others to pursue and preserve their family’s stories. 

While Davidson delves into her family history, Alston reconciles with his family’s role in enslavement. 

His story begins with his great-great-grandfather, the first president of Mercer University, and continues with visits to his family home and plantation in Penfield.

The film recounts how Alston donated his share of the money from the house to a Black-led organization as an act of reparation. He also worked with a Greene County resident to open a museum focusing on Black history.

Alston also played a part in unearthing a long-forgotten Black cemetery containing more than 1,000 graves and situated just a brick wall away from the cemetery where Mercer’s founders are buried.

Throughout the documentary, both filmmakers grapple with the question of what reparations look like to them.

Reparations aren’t just about monetary value, Davidson said. It can also be about coming to terms with one’s personal history and initiating hard — and often — uncomfortable conversations.

“Telling the truth about American history and teaching Black history is more controversial than it used to be,” Alston said.

He added that individuals have the responsibility of keeping their own family histories and sharing them with future generations, their communities and schools, and even their houses of worship.

“That’s a way that we can keep this history alive,” he said.

Those tough conversations don’t end with the rolling credits of the documentary, either, the filmmakers said. 

“We feel like the film is a catalyst,” Davidson said. 

“Acts of Reparation” is part of a film series organized by Mercer’s Spencer B. King Jr. Center for Southern Studies.

“There is a power in relationship and family storytelling — even if your backgrounds are different,” said Douglas Thompson, center director.

A day of family history workshops followed last Friday’s film premiere, including what Davidson has dubbed “Pink House Pop-Ups.” 

Attendees learned about genealogy and resources for ancestry research. They also heard from Muriel Jackson, head of genealogy at the Washington Memorial Library.

Macon native Linda Anderson Bivins and several of her cousins attended the Saturday morning workshop. Her interest in family history dates back to 1987 when she met an unknown relative from another county.

With little information on her grandparents and her family’s records destroyed by fire, she connected with a 99-year-old relative who helped Bivins trace her family history all the way back to her enslaved ancestors.

Bivins said she hopes to take some of Jackson’s tips on tracing family members by cemetery records through online services like Find a Grave.

The family history weekend also included story swapping and wider discussions about the meaning of reparations.

Family history isn’t always pretty, Davidson reminded filmgoers Friday evening — but, “you are here because they were there,” she noted.