For Love of Liberty: The Story of America’s Black Patriots

Synopsis

The story spans the Revolution to Iraq and examines why, despite enormous injustice, these heroic men and women fought so valiantly for freedoms they themselves did not enjoy.

For Love of Liberty: The Story of America’s Black Patriots will finally, and for all time, set the record straight. At the center of this multi-faceted initiative is a four-hour, High Definition, PBS miniseries introduced by Colin Powell, hosted on-camera by Halle Berry and narrated by Avery Brooks. The film uses letters, diaries, speeches, journalistic accounts, historical text and military records to document and acknowledge the sacrifices and accomplishments of African-American service men and women since the earliest days of the republic. The story spans the Revolution to Iraq and examines why, despite enormous injustice, these heroic men and women fought so valiantly for freedoms they themselves did not enjoy.

The project's goal is to raise public consciousness and shed light on an extraordinary and relatively unexplored aspect of our nation's history. The central theme of the initiative, the price of liberty, is relevant to all Americans. Much more than a collection of historical facts & figures, For Love of Liberty: The Story of America’s Black Patriots is about heroes. At its heart are the emotional, first-hand accounts of the men and women who were in harm's way. Since the earliest days of this nation, the hopes, fears, thoughts, and observations of these brave warriors have been preserved in a fascinating collection of written texts.

Objective, revealing, personal, compelling, heartbreaking and inspiring; these memories of those long gone resonate through time via dramatic readings by Morgan Freeman, Mel Gibson, Bill Cosby, Susan Sarandon, Lou Gossett Jr., John Travolta, Ossie Davis, Robert Duvall, Danny Glover, Sam Elliot, Delroy Lindo, Walter Cronkite, Isaac Hayes, John Goodman, Ice-T, James Garner, Robert Townsend, Alan Rickman, Roscoe Lee Browne, Ruby Dee, John Amos, Eriq La Salle, Angela Bassett, Chris Cooper, Alfre Woodard, Cliff Robertson, Blair Underwood, Charles Dutton, Kris Kristofferson, Michael Clarke Duncan, Donald Sutherland, Isaiah Washington and many others. Their words reveal an epic story of perseverance and triumph, which the documentary vividly brings to life through the innovative use of rare photographs, archival materials, reenactments, personal memorabilia, historical paintings and posters.

For Love of Liberty: The Story of America’s Black Patriots will be distributed nation-wide to all PBS affiliates in February 2010, with numerous repeats in the years to come. Much like Ken Burns’ acclaimed The Civil War, this multi-media endeavor is, in every possible sense, a definitive, cultural event that will have impact for decades to come. In the seven years that this project has been in production, the producers have uncovered and accumulated an astonishing and frankly unprecedented collection of material related to the African-American experience in the United States military. It is their intention to use these assets as the basis for an extensive, ongoing, web based archive and educational out-reach campaign. The film has been vetted by two Ph.D's and been endorsed by a broad coalition of supporters including the leading African-American veterans organizations, Congressman Charles Rangel, The Congressional Black Caucus, the NAACP, Ken Burns and others. Oprah, Good Morning America and Parade magazine have all expressed interest in the project.

Excerpts from For Love of Liberty: The Story of America's Black Patriots can be viewed on-line at www.Forloveofliberty.com.

Director Frank Martin is a long time documentary filmmaker whose accomplishments include convincing the venerable film director John Huston to allow him to document his long and colorful life. The result was John Huston: The Man, the Movies, the Maverick, which one leading critic called “a great, walloping, gutsy, funny, unsparing and ultimately inspiring film.” Upon its release, the picture received numerous national and international awards including The Sundance Film Festival's Filmmakers Trophy. Shortly thereafter, Ted Turner hired Frank to write and direct the six-hour documentary mini-series MGM: When the Lion Roars. Two years in production, this film was an in-depth study of the rise and fall of Hollywood's greatest motion picture empire. It won a Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Informational Series and is universally accepted as one of the best Hollywood history documentaries ever made. Among his other numerous credits are The CBS 50 Anniversary Special and Mr. K: A Common Man with Uncommon Vision, which was recently awarded the Emmy for both Outstanding Direction and Outstanding Writing. In addition to For Love of Liberty, Frank's other current projects include Men of Color, To Arms! The Story of America's Black Soldiers During the Civil War and The Miracle of the New Testament, which is a multi-part series that examines the origins of Christianity’s defining documents.

Budget:

$ 10,000.00

Project's Financial Needs

The funds will be used to help finish the project. Hours and hours of footage has been shot and compiled into this four part program and we need to hire talented editors to make sure the program is ready to air in February.  As our country moves forward, so will this project and we need to include a new portion of our history as a nation and  about our Commander-In-Chief, Barack Obama. 

Current stage of production

Distribution

Estimated Completion Date

02/01/2010