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Museum object · Time-based Media - Moving Images

A Singing Stream: A Black Family Chronicle

1986

Washington, District of Columbia, United States, North and Central America

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Source catalog description

This description refers to material held by Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture. Visual details below describe the original material.

A documentary film with the title A Singing Stream: A Black Family Chronicle. It consists of a single reel of color 16mm polyester film with optical sound. The documentary chronicles the experiences of the Landis family, a religious and musical family based in Granville County, North Carolina. Through interviews, anecdotes, family reunions, church services, family conversations and family photographs, the documentary traces the family's history over the lifetime of family matriarch Bertha Landis. Mrs. Landis relates experiences such as defying odds and buying her first home with her husband, not being able to vote at some point in her life and teaching her children the importance of voting. Other members of the family also relate their experiences as well: Grandson Kenneth Daniel describes his experience of being one of the first black children at a newly integrated school.

Sources & collection details

Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture — original record ↗

Source collection ↗

Catalog metadata · CC0 · Source checked 2026-10-13

Catalog reference: 2017.55.100.1a

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