April 11, 2023

Sabot has partnered with local filmmakers for a community viewing of Birth of a Planet: Richmond on Paper to be followed by a facilitated discussion and Q&A. The documentary details a postbellum African American newspaper in Richmond and the life of its editor, John Mitchell Jr. The viewing will take place on Saturday, April 22,  from 3 p.m. to 4:30 p.m. Childcare will be provided during this time. If you are planning to attend, we ask that you register here so that we may plan well.

Ida Mitchell and John Mitchell, two descendants of John Mitchell Jr., will guide our discussion and the Q&A session after the viewing as they did with our older students at Sabot last month. We believe this event is an important learning opportunity for our community, connected in no small part to our larger Learning Group initiative which aims to ground the whole of our School—students, teachers, families—in a posture of co-learning and co-working. Just as we tell students, an important part of learning requires a seeking out of multiple voices as we grapple with difficult topics, ask complicated questions, and listen for varied responses.

This documentary does contain brief, archival images of lynching and, in general, the documentary is suitable for an audience of ages 10 and older. Of course, parents may certainly choose to bring their younger children to the screening. You may view the trailer for the documentary here.

As mentioned, students in Grades 6-8 attended a viewing several weeks ago, on March 15, and 5th graders joined them afterwards for the Q&A, facilitated by John Mitchell, Reggie Carter, and Ida Mitchell (pictured, left to right). Reggie designed a Virginia license plate that features the Richmond Planet and explained his initial interest and idea as well as the process for the design and its ultimate approval by the Division of Motor Vehicles.

We know that conversations at home are vital in supporting this learning process. This is why we would like to share some of the historical connections Grades 4-8 have been making to our Umbrella Project this year: "Peace."

• Grade 4 has been exploring the concept of whether war is necessary for peace and looking at what it means to "protest." The children are passionate about certain causes, and have seen media coverage of protests. Sharing their drawings with classmates, the children noticed marches and signs, protesting institutions and fighting for human rights. They even pondered the idea of counter protestors and the presence of the police. Perhaps the summary of the work so far was this powerful quote: "If you believe in it enough or if you feel like you are not being heard or if something is not fair, then that would call you to action."
• Grade 5 has been exploring information about the Larus family which has generated questions about our government, voting rights, political campaigns, and protest. They've also been looking at the story of Virginia, to begin to align it with what was happening to the Laruses and their company at this time in history. When students learned that Larus Brothers Tobacco, founded in 1877, used prisoners for labor in their factory, which was segregated by race, it sparked a vigorous discussion: "...while this was clearly wrong, many companies probably treated their workers badly, and it probably improved their profits" and "While enslavement was not legal when Larus Brothers was founded, using prisoners as labor was the workaround allowed in the 13th Amendment, which outlawed slavery by law."
• Grade 6 has been studying Colonial America and preparing for an upcoming unit involving a lot of hard history. They have been having small-group conversations, navigating complicated feelings about race, learning to define race and racism (in order to have a common language and understanding in class), and beginning to understand the difference between intent and impact as well as calling out and calling in. The class has engaged and leaned into these conversations. They have been able to take the time and space to listen to one another, make connections between their own experiences with what they've discussed, and have been really supportive of one another's continued learning.
• Grade 7 recently participated in the National History Day Project, completing research on topics like: The Ideal Woman: How Charles Dana Gibson set the Feminine Standard from 1895 through the Early 20th Century; Rosa Parks and the Montgomery Bus Boycott;American Imperialism in the Caribbean: The Negative Impact of US Law from 1900-1920 on Puerto Rico; Clamoring for Change: The Equal Suffrage League of Virginia; and The Manhattan Project: A Frontier in Warfare and Politics. Additionally, one of our current 7th grade students, Lucian, researched John Mitchell Jr. last school year.
• Grade 8 is working on a unit-long research project on the Constitution. Students started with comparing a draft of the Preamble with the final version to consider the purpose of our government. The class settled on investigating whether our Constitution creates a just government. In order to answer that question, they are striving to understand how our government is currently organized and how it operates, why it was set up the way it was (including its flaws), and how decisions are made. They have also been comparing news coverage from different websites. Students continue to look for similarities and differences in how different news agencies approach and handle the news, opinion, and bias.

Below are some details about the creation of the documentary, as written in a recent Richmond Magazine article by Davy Jones. 

We hope you will all join us for this shared learning event. Please know that this invitation is extended to all families, all faculty and staff, and all members of Sabot's Board of Directors. 

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excerpted from Richmond Magazine, ‘This Isn’t a Mural Anymore,’ by Davy Jones

Birth of a Planet is a collaboration between Tilt and artist Hamilton Glass, a 30-minute film about the influential newspaper The Richmond Planet.

Scot Crooker, chief content officer at the Richmond-based Tilt Creative + Production marketing company, describes the moment that the project to honor Black-run newspaper The Richmond Planet with a mural began to grow beyond the outdoor wall of its Scott’s Addition studio this way: "Oh, this isn’t a mural anymore, is it? There’s a big story here."

The documentary, which premiered in June at the Richmond International Film Festival, air[ed] Feb. 28 on VPM. At its center is the Planet’s firebrand editor, John Mitchell Jr., who led the publication for 45 years, starting in 1884. The paper was 2 years old when Mitchell took over; he was just 21 years old. Under his guiding hand, the Planet was a daring counterbalance to established newspapers, which glossed over early Jim Crow racism and injustice that Mitchell knew well, having been born into slavery.

The makers of “Birth of a Planet” were intentional about representation, as well. "Let’s try and tell the story through as clean a lens as possible," Crooker says. "Let the people who own the story, in effect, tell the story." In addition to on-camera interviews with John Mitchell, great-great nephew of John Mitchell Jr., and descendants of Planet co-founder Albert V. Norrell, the documentary features narration from local rapper Daniel Jones.


The full article is here.