Travel Notes of a Geechee Girl

FAIN: TR-264665-19

Women Make Movies, Inc. (New York, NY 10001-5059)
Barbara Ghammashi (Project Director: August 2018 to April 2019)
Rachel Watanabe-Batton (Project Director: April 2019 to present)
Julie Dash (Co Project Director: September 2023 to present)

A two-hour documentary film on the life and work of Vertamae Smart-Grosvenor (1937–2016), a twentieth-century American poet, civil rights activist, actress, culinary anthropologist, writer, journalist, radio host, and chef.

Through a narrative blend of first-person storytelling, archival images and sounds, contemporary landscapes, settings, and dramatic evocations of historical moments, Travel Notes of a Geechee Girl, a two-hour documentary film, explores the South Carolina Lowcountry community and culture that framed Vertamae Smart-Grosvenor’s work, and the powerful relationships that informed her storied career around the globe. It situates her particular Gullah-Geechee story within the context of twentieth-century American history and culture, US Southern race relations, and frames her as a major contributor to international artistic, intellectual, and social movements.