SEMO PROF HELPS FILM WIN EMMY

Dr. Frank Nickell, director of the Center for Regional History at Southeast Missouri State University, played a key role in the historical research for a film that won an Emmy award in the "best documentary" category at an awards program in St. Louis earlier this year.

"Oh, Freedom After While: The Missouri Sharecropper Protest of 1939" won the award at a meeting of the Mid-America chapter of the National Academy of Television.

The chapter covers Missouri, Arkansas, Illinois, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky and Louisiana.

The documentary, shown nationally on the Public Broadcasting System on April 30, focused on the sharecropper protest in the Bootheel and the subsequent founding of the sharecropper community known as "Cropperville" near Poplar Bluff, Mo.

The video has been shown at the Dallas Film Festival, the Hot Springs Film Festival and the San Francisco Film Festival, where it received a certificate of merit.

Pete Daniel, curator of the National Museum of American History, called it a "poignant film" and "perfect for classroom use."

The film may be purchased from California Newsreel, the distributor, by calling 1 (800) 621-6196.