A tribute to the indomitable spirit of a group of African American volunteers in Jasper, Texas to overcome adversity through hard work, self-reliance, and community engagement. Plagued by a long history of virulent racial violence, these volunteers have spearheaded an unprecedented number of projects to reclaim the dignity of their community and to advance social justice.

Perhaps no town has experienced the racial divide in America as much as Jasper. The lynching of James Byrd Jr. in 1998 revealed the deep division between the African American community and their white counterparts. The legacy of slavery runs deep in Jasper; most Blacks have a clear kinship to ancestors who were emancipated on June 19, 1865, and many have suffered from the ravaging effects of Jim Crow racism. Life for African Americans in Jasper has always been tough, described as Apartheid by George Adams, a descendent of the slave Billy McCrea. Jasper is a place where Blacks represent most of the population but lack representation in government.

In the film, the racial trauma of Byrd’s lynching is seen in counterpoint to the efforts of his mother Stella Byrd along with other members of the Lone Star Youth Council to transform Jasper by highlighting the importance of African American history in museums, roadside markers, monuments, parks, and a memorial to Byrd in front of the County Courthouse. Installations at the Jasper County Historical Museum feature displays on Freedom Colonies in the area and the chronology of the Byrd killing and the prosecution of the white perpetrators, as well as a survey of the work of Alonzo Jordan, a self-taught local Black photographer who documented the day-to-day life of his community for more than three decades.

Quiet Voices in a Noisy World could not be more relevant in today’s world, at a time when attempts to rectify the injustices of history are being undermined by the politics of erasure. The African American volunteers in Jasper, Texas demonstrate a path forward against all odds.

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