Susan Burch (American Studies), independent filmmaker Rick Tejada-Flores, and independent scholar Hannah Joyner have received a grant from the Media Projects Development Program at the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) for a project titled Unspeakable: The Life of Junius Wilson. The goal of this project is to develop a 60-minute documentary on Junius Wilson (1908-2001),  a deaf African American man detained at a psychiatric institution in North Carolina for 76 years. The film will be based largely on the 2007 biography Susan co-authored with Hannah Joyner, and Susan will serve as a main advisor. The documentary explores the overlaps of race, deaf identity, gender, eugenics, incarceration, and civil rights through Mr. Wilson’s life story. It draws heavily on oral history, signed languages, material culture, and inclusive methodologies—central topics in Susan’s research and teaching. This funding supports preliminary work on the film, including site visits, select filmed interviews, script development, and archival research work.

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