By Catherine M. Welch
Wilmington, NC – The film adaptation of North Carolina author Tim Tyson's book "Blood Done Sign My Name" opens in theaters across the country Friday.
It chronicles the murder of a black veteran by a white merchant in the North Carolina town of Oxford. The film's based on the autobiography of Tim Tyson and how the murder, the trial and the racial fallout impacted his family and a black teacher named Ben Chavis.
Tyson says the movie does a good job capturing this messy, human and complicated story.
"When Hollywood has done the Civil Rights movement in the past, it's always the good white folks against the bad white folks with black southerners more or less used as hymn singing props. In this film we get a completely path breaking approach."
Tyson says the film "Blood Done Sign My Name" is opening in about 30 cities and 100 theaters this weekend.
Tyson is currently a Senior Scholar at Duke University's Center for Documentary Studies.
Do you have insight or expertise on this topic? Please email us, we'd like to hear from you. news@whqr.org.