Tobacco has a long, storied, and complicated history in the United States, most regularly attributed to plantations and the Virginia-Carolina tobacco belt.
Stepping Into the Shade, the highly anticipated documentary series set to debut Saturday, June 1, at The Westport Library, tells the story of tobacco from a Connecticut perspective, illuminating the Nutmeg State’s integral role in the U.S.’s history of tobacco and tobacco farming.
The series is a production of the Eastern Connecticut State University Department of Communication, Film, and Theatre.
“All around the world you will find Connecticut’s mark on cigars,” said June Archer, the entrepreneur, music industry executive, and community leader who hosts and narrates the series. “In fact, the gold standard for cigar wrappers comes from tobacco grown in Connecticut.”
The June 1 event (free to attend; click here to register) will kick off at 5 pm with a reception. An exclusive screening of select scenes from the series will start at 6 pm in the Trefz Forum, shown on the Library’s state-of-the art, 18-foot videowall, followed by a panel discussion and interactive audience Q&A hosted by acclaimed journalist Leslie Mayes-Low and featuring Michael Chambers Sr., historian and co-founder of the Cricket Hall of Fame; Jeffrey O.G. Ogbar, professor of history and founding director, Center for the Study of Popular Music at the University of Connecticut; Jason Chang, associate professor of history at the University of Connecticut; and Fiona Vernal, director of Engaged, Public, Oral, and Community Histories (EPOCH) and associate professor of History and Africana Studies at the University of Connecticut.
The evening closes with a VIP reception featuring food representing the cultures and ethnicities presented in the series.
“We’re thrilled to be able to offer our community a first look at this remarkable documentary series,” Westport Library Executive Director Bill Harmer said. “This is an important Connecticut story that many people may not know about, and we are proud to partner to present it. The story of Connecticut is brilliantly told and impeccably executed in this series. It promises to be a wonderful evening — and will surely make anyone who comes want to watch the entire compilation immediately.”
The producers of the Stepping Into the Shade — Archer, alongside co-directors Brian Day and Kristen Morgan of Eastern Connecticut State — describe the docuseries as “a love story about the people who toiled in the soil on the Connecticut tobacco farms.”
The series explores the history of Connecticut tobacco farming and the various stories of the people who worked on the farms and changed culture and Civil Rights. It began with a short film by Andrew Ellison, a student of Day’s and Morgan’s at Eastern Connecticut State, with the three then teaming up to create the episodic series.
“Stepping Into the Shade is a dynamic story full of interesting information and amazing people,” said Day. “It is a creative pleasure to discover the depth of the story of Connecticut tobacco and to take that information and create entertaining and engaging scenes that will hopefully connect to audiences in a personal fashion. … Learning about the history of tobacco farming in Connecticut and how the labor used to cultivate this crop ultimately changed culture and impacted Civil Rights has been an incredible journey of discovery.”
The full documentary series will be available by September, with a distributor still to be decided.
