The story
The Power of Truths: Get a Mule, Forty Acres or So… + a Live Recording of Remind My Soul will bring together history, storytelling, film, and live music in an immersive experience exploring the legacies of Black land ownership, freedom, and cultural memory.
Hosted by filmmaker and educator Michael Lawrence-Riddell, the afternoon will feature a live taping of Remind My Soul with acclaimed Hip-Hop artist and educator Akrobatik. During the recording, Lawrence-Riddell will share a story from American history that Akrobatik has never heard before. Together, they will reflect on its meaning, resonance, and relevance today.
Following the conversation, Akrobatik will have just thirty minutes to compose an original verse and DJ Trends will create an original instrumental, both inspired by the story and dialogue, culminating in a live performance of the newly created piece before the audience.
While Akrobatik writes, attendees will experience an interactive screening of Get a Mule, Forty Acres or So…, the first installment in Freedom’s Soil: Land and Liberation, an upcoming three-part documentary series examining the histories and enduring legacies of Black land ownership and farming in America. The film features interviews with scholars, activists, and Leah Penniman, author of Farming While Black and the founder of SoulFire Farm.
In the film Penniman says, “Land is the source of everything. Land is the source of freedom and independence and equality and revolution. This has been the beating heart of Black people since the beginning.”
Get a Mule, Forty Acres or So… brings us back to the hope and the promise of Reconstruction when Black political and economic power seemed like they were taking hold. The film’s title is an allusion to Special Field Order 15, which was designed to redistribute land to newly freed people. As Mistingutte Smith, Founder and Director of The Black/Land Project, says in the film, “Special Field Order 15 is fundamental to the Black imagination, about entitlement to land in this country. It seemed to be a promise of repair. It was of course a promise of land to a people who, by definition, were landless.”