After 2 years in production, 'Stepping Into the Shade' screens at the Bushnell Eastern-produced docuseries highlights Connecticut's tobacco history

The Bushnell Center for the Performing Arts in Hartford held an exclusive screening of the docuseries "Stepping into the Shade" on Sept. 21 with host June Archer and Eastern Professors Brian Day and Kristen Morgan. Industry insiders, those with personal connections to Connecticut's tobacco farming history and even a Jamaican migrant who worked alongside Martin Luther King Jr. joined to share how the industry has affected their lives and communities.

The three-hour event showcased a condensed version of the program, with a heavy focus on Hartford's tobacco-related history. Sitting on stage were producers Morgan and Day of the Department of Communication, Film and Theatre, and entrepreneur June Archer, host of the docuseries.

The six-part docuseries has been in development for the past two years and delves into the extensive history of Connecticut tobacco farming and how it affected the development of Caribbean communities and civil rights in the state and across the country.

"As a human population, we're all interconnected," said Day. "Sometimes you just stumble across a story, and you realize that people have a very similar background, even though they don't think they do."

It became apparent in the documentary that large portions of Connecticut's Jamaican, Puerto Rican and some African American communities were drawn to the state due to demand for labor on tobacco fields.

"I hope that viewers will want to learn more about it, like by visiting the Tobacco Museum (at Northwest Park) in Windsor, for example," said Morgan. "I hope it's a jumping-off point for people who want to learn more."

Communication, film and theatre Professor Brian Day and Kristen Morgan served as producers of the "Stepping Into the Shade."

Morgan and Day had worked together previously on a project called "Cultivating Dignity," which explored Martin Luther King Jr.'s experience on a Connecticut tobacco farm in the 1940s. It ended up being a major inspiration for "Stepping into the Shade."

"Brian and I decided that there was more to that story that needed to be told," said Morgan. "We had no idea that it was going to be this big."

Archer was approached by the two filmmakers over two years ago and felt personally attached to the project. "My parents are immigrants from Jamaica. My grandfather came here to work on farms, picking apples," said Archer. "This story happens to be an American history story. It happens to be the makeup of Connecticut, which is why it's a super important story for me."

In attendance was 103-year-old Euyald Clarke, one of the first Jamaican agriculture workers to arrive in the United States under an international wartime labor contract in 1943. Clarke crossed the Gulf Coast with 4,200 other people during the height of German U-boat attacks during the second World War. "I wanted to travel," he said.

He found work from Louisiana to Illinois before arriving in Granby, CT. Clarke even spent some time working alongside a young King on a tobacco farm in Simsbury. "They came up from the South," Clarke said. "That's where King worked, and that's where I met him."

King spent several summers on the farm to help fund his education at Morehouse College in Atlanta, Georgia. "Tobacco farming provided many teens with income to help fund their education," said Archer on-screen.

Tony Pettaway, who was featured in the series and attended the screening, explained that the Caribbean population in Hartford exploded within the past half-century. Being a part of the Jamaican community in the city, he personally knew many people who were bussed to tobacco farms in West Hartford and Windsor. With the farms using incentive-based pay among other competitive and exploitative strategies, Pettaway said many workers were forced to learn negotiating and business skills.

A panel was held after the screening with the production team and interviewees of "Stepping into the Shade." It immediately became apparent that many individuals in the audience shared similar stories to those on-screen. One attendee shared that she was related to a Jamaican worker who came to the United States on the same ship as Clarke in 1943. Others expressed the importance of telling this story, which is often overlooked by historians as well as local communities.

"Kristen, Brian and the student creatives involved in the filming made the process one that I will always remember," said Archer. "We've had a meeting every Monday for the past two years." Now that the project has finished production, the team now hopes to work with major publishers to publicly release their work.

"We have more in common than we give credit for," said Archer. "Our history is rich and filled with stories of triumph, from those who worked on the farms to those who smoke cigars."

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