Short Documentary

In 1954, Gerald Hughes and Annabelle Conrad married in Smithville, Ohio. Ohio was the first state to repeal its anti-miscegenation laws (banning interracial marriage) but as my grandmother Annabelle tells it, "they still had to check the law book first" before the state handed them their wedding license.

My grandparents overcame enormous prejudice and adversity throughout their marriage all while raising a family of four girls, running their Mennonite church in Cleveland and working. My grandmother served as church librarian, sunday school teacher and gardener. My grandfather served as Sunday school teacher, music minister, song leader, choir director, and later, a teacher and principal at local public schools. My grandmother became known as "Cookie Lady" around the neighborhood, baking cookies and reading to the area children. They took in church members and family friends that needed a place to stay, helping to get them back on their feet.

My grandparents have an amazing story to tell - help me chronicle it! I am in need of funding for the short documentary I'm making this summer centered around my grandparents. It will be a story of love and family - a personal story intermixed with the history behind anti-miscegenation laws and the tumult of race relations in America.

The amount I'm asking for now is specifically to cover the cost of renting equipment for our week long shoot in August - a camera, a few lenses, a microphone and a monitor.

Your contribution will help make this film possible!