History is our cachet in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. No doubt about it. And, we have the resources and the talent around to capitalize on it by offering the media industry attractive film locations, creative talent, technical support, and equipment.

A case in point. The New York Historical Society, the oldest museum in the city, chose Massachusetts-based Krent/Paffett/Carney, Inc., which specializes in exhibit design, especially museum design, as the designer to develop its important exhibit, “Slavery and the Making of New York,” due to open in the city October 7, 2005. KPC Creative Director Michael Roper says, “People in the North tend to think that slavery happened only in the South. But that’s not accurate. New York was the second largest colony with the second largest number of slaves before the Revolution.”

The Society’s goal was to present to the public a largely unknown era of history—slavery in a major northern city during the fledgling nation’s early years. Roper says, “A lot of new scholarship has come to light and been developed in the last ten to fifteen years which shows the importance of slavery in New York and its impact there and on the whole country.”

To launch the project, KPC partnered with the American History Workshop, whose members Richard Rabinowitz and Karen Kaplan became guest curators.

Roper has been excited about the project since the contract was inked. He  explains that his particular group within the company, Experience Media, sought “to develop an integrated experience so people can explore and learn in different ways, and hopefully their curiosity and wonder will be sparked.”

Collaboration is the key to a successful project such as this. “Some of the best historians in slavery have been involved in the project such as James Horton. It’s exciting to work in these collaborative projects with experts,” he says.

Roper and the History Workshop team decided that the ideas could best be conveyed through drama. Rabinowitz and Kaplan scripted two short episodes, “The Storyteller” and “The Well,” to dramatize the plight of slaves in pre-Revolution America.

Boston’s Northern Light Productions, which has experience in this kind of documentary creation, filmed the mini-dramas over the summer in Lexington at Minuteman National Park. During a two-day shoot filmmakers set-up in two locations—one in a basement and the other in an open field at a constructed well high on a platform to allow for camera placement. Miguelangel Aponte-Rios oversaw the production as director of re-creations.

Northern Light’s Judy Richardson, co-producer and director of the actors, explains that wells back then were visited at least two times a day by slaves to fetch water for their masters, and they became one of the few places where they could talk freely and commiserate.

In “The Well” episode, the creators chose a unique vantage to hear the voices of the slaves. The video camera was mounted below the platform. The view was shot through a clear, Pyrex dish with a thin layer of water, thus showing the three-and-a-half minute exchange from the perspective of the well. “We try to evoke for viewers the feeling of looking down into a well and seeing the reflection of the water and the slaves, Roper says. “Viewers will see slaves looking back up at them. The whole idea is reflection and giving a sense of experiencing another time.”

Richardson says, “The well scene tries to show the absolute suppression  the people were under in the 18^th century under British rule. The point at which they came to the well was the point at which they had some sense of community.” 

Though the episode dramatizes the seemingly hopelessness of slaves, shades of humor were written into the script. “Things that helped make them survive,” Richardson says, “were a sense of humor and a sense of community. And, a sense of outrage.”

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Writer-photographer Robert Pushkar is a regular contributor to Imagine. He may be contacted at rgp@robertpushkar.com