Distributed by Northeast Historic Film
This hour-long documentary tells the story of African Americans struggling to create and sustain a community centered around a church in Portland, Maine. Founded in the early 1800s as the Abyssinian Church, it later became Green Memorial AME Zion Church.
Facing discrimination in their daily lives, African Americans turned to the Church as a spiritual home and a community center. The Abyssinian Church played an important role in Maine's abolitionist movement. Green Memorial Church continues to this day as a leader in the struggle for racial equality in Maine.
The film consists of three parts, each beginning with a photo montage. Part One covers the colonial period through the Civil War. Part Two spans 1900 to the mid-1950s. Part Three covers the period from civil rights movement to the present. It is possible to show each part on successive days.
Anchor of the Soul uses archival photographs, paintings, church records and other historical resources, as well as interviews with historians, church members and leaders of Maine's African American community. Barbara Jordan, the civil rights leader and former congresswoman from Texas, narrates Anchor of the Soul. The soundtrack features gospel music performed by Jane Sapp and the Gertrude E. Brown Choir of Green Memorial Church.
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Dec 27, 1995