Centennial Celebration at The Piney Woods School

The big day finally arrived and the film was unveiled to the Piney Woods community in front of a packed auditorium. It was awesome to hear the reaction of the audience throughout, especially when they saw people they knew as actors. Of course the biggest applause came for Mr. Sias (who we like to call the Mayor of Piney Woods because he's been there so long) when he said Amon Gibson's one line of the film: "'Tween the boll-weavil an' the landowners, folks roun' here ain't got nothin' left to give."

The most rewarding thing for me, though, was talking to people afterward and hearing their impressions, especially from people who knew Dr. Jones personally. It was so affirming to hear them say, "You got it right. That's Dr. Jones." Many of his grand-children said that they cried just hearing his voice again, since they hadn't heard it in decades. Some PWS alumni mentioned that they actually learned some things about him that they didn't know. Every comment was positive and everyone wanted to hug me and thank me for telling his story on film.

I've often thought of the thousands of lives that Dr. Jones touched during his lifetime, but I never really considered what this film would mean to them. I've been more focused on making a film that would introduce Dr. Jones' legacy to a whole new generation of supporters... but for one night, I had the pleasure of showing his story to the people who are the living results of the story itself. To get an ovation in a room full of his blossoms of cotton... well, that's an honor I won't soon forget.