Episode 5: How do We Author History? with Jacqueline Olive

Featured Guest: Jacqueline Olive

We should all tell our own stories, and listen to others tell theirs.

In this episode, Jason and Yvonne sit down with Jacqueline Olive, a friend and a filmmaker. All three met through her documentary, “Always in Season” at the Sundance Film Festival. Here, they sit down and examine the meaning behind the question, “Who’s telling the story, and does that add or take away from the story?” Through the lens of storytellers and their own experiences as People of Color living in America, they respond.

This week:

Jason asks, “How do we author history?”
Jacqueline’s work is about filling in the gaps of narrative in history
Jackie’s documentary, “Always in Season” won the 2019 Sundance Special Jury Prize for Moral Urgency
Jackie asks, “Who’s telling the story, and does that add or take away from the story?”
Quote originates from Greek poet, Dinos Christianopoulos “They tried to bury us but they didn’t know we were seeds.”
Jackie talks about how acts of rebellion and resistance inspire her to create
Jackie says that having a child is authoring history
Jackie described the racial tension that she and her family experienced in Mississippi
Jackie says authoring history is about going to school with questions, not answers
Yvonne asks Jackie if she finds that some Black people do not want to talk about painful racial topics
Jackie responds that she is not about to judge them, but she will make space for the conversation to be had
Jason says that trauma can also stop us from exploring our ancestry
Jason explores why some people stop talking about their history

“My films are really about rounding out those narratives so that you hear the voices of people who are often overlooked or mischaracterized, or erased altogether.”

- Jackie, (minute 22:00)

Cocktail: Manhattan

Recipe

2 oz of Rye Whiskey
1 oz sweet vermouth
Three teaspoons of simple syrup
Several dashes* of Angostura and orange bitters
Brandied cherry
Stirred in a mixing tin

*We love our bitters; “You can’t under-bitter a Manhattan”

History & Meaning

The Manhattan is one of David Embury’s six essential cocktails which he mentions in his 1948 book, The Fine Art of Mixing Drinks. The six are the Manhattan, Martini, Old Fashioned, Daiquiri, Sidecar and the Jack Rose. It was important to us to include the Manhattan; no one really knows who created this classic -- there are a lot of theories and stories. Enjoy!

About our special guest
Jacqueline Olive

**Jacqueline Olive** is a filmmaker who directed, produced, and wrote, Always in Season, which was awarded the 2019 Sundance Film Festival Special Jury Prize for Moral Urgency and was featured twice on Democracy Now!

Jacqueline was the Director/Producer of Death is Our Business, which was broadcast on FRONTLINE/PBS & PBS WORLD with digital launch on March 23, 2021 and Screening at BlackStar Film Festival August 2021.

She co-directed with Bree Newsome, They Tried to Buy Us, a first-person documentary film that picks up where news coverage left off when activist and filmmaker Bree Newsome made headlines with a historic direct action protest, scaling a 30-foot flagpole at the South Carolina State House to remove the Confederate flag following the racially-motivated shooting of 9 African Americans at Mother Emanuel AME Church in 2015.

Jacqueline is the founder of Tell It Media, a film production company that focuses on creating documentaries that tell stories about the diverse people, places, and cultures in our world.