Michelle R. Jackson
Series Creator and Director
When Michelle read the interview of Mary Reynolds, an 105 years old former slave, in the Federal Writers’ Project’s Slave Narrative Collection of 1936-1938, Michelle asked friends, “Who is going to make sure we don't forget about Mary's story? People need to know what she went through.” A few weeks later, Michelle assembled an interracial cast of 22 actors to retell Mary’s story and the stories of 6 other formerly enslaved men and women.
As the series creator, writer, and director of the film series, Another Slave Narrative, Michelle is committed to retelling original interviews included in the Slave Narrative Collection of 1936-1938. Why? One reason: because their stories matter. There are at least 2,300 interviews. It might take 10 years to retell each interview, but like Michelle says, “As a descendant of those once enslaved, retelling their stories is the least I can do”.
Michelle is a filmmaker and writer living in Los Angeles. She studied the intersections of religion, race, sexuality, and gender at UCLA and Harvard University.
@mishyjackson
Herman Jean-Noel
Director of Photography
Herman Jean-Noel is a visual philosopher, cinematographer, artist, husband, cyclist, tech nerd, and a lover of everything tropical hailing from Anse-A-Foleur Haiti. He looks to consistently expand his knowledge and creativity in the world of community building, art, documentary and feature film making, digital video, food, spirituality and technology. Hermans style is a by-product of his multicultural upbringings, mixed with his love of nature and fine attention to details and the ability to capture the mood and emotions of the most mundane or the most remarkable of moments.