The Power of Voice & Youth!
THE LAST WITCH
shows us the power of voice - and youth!
I’ve been spending a lot of time pouring over interviews and footage for a while now. Each time that I do, I discover something new, something unique, something special from each of the people that we have interviewed. That includes both adults and children.
While both adults and children have a lot to say on the subjects that Elizabeth Johnson Jr’s story connect with, I’m in awe of how much the middle school students learned with their civics education project to exonerate someone who was convicted and sentenced to death so many years ago.
We often think of children as innocent and naive compared to adults. Yet, they are the ones who repeatedly, as several of our grown-up interviewees point out, speak the truth, ask the hard questions, and hold people in power accountable. For example, many of them connect the Salem Witch Trials that happened 330 years ago to current events and concerns like women’s rights, Roe v. Wade, bullying, and the importance of family.
It struck me how important that last one is to them when I not only hear a young man compare his father’s lonely childhood as a homeless refugee to Elizabeth’s experience of being shut out from her community during the trials. I also hear student stories of alienation from within their own families which they related to Elizabeth’s situation, and how concerned they are that Elizabeth, a convicted witch, was not allowed to be buried with hers.
They are also fully aware that it is a lot easier to stand up for a family member than it is to stand up for a stranger.
How we treat each other in the world starts with how we treat each other at home. The students that you will come to meet in THE LAST WITCH know that. They also know that it’s not something to be taken for granted. That gives me hope for the future!
“I want to support women creators, and THE LAST WITCH is led by two brilliant and thoughtful women. I want to uplift women's voices, and this project highlights the thought leadership and work of a number of outstanding professional women including teachers, political leaders, historians and keepers of culture.I want to celebrate women of the future, so I'm excited by the number of young women and girls who stepped into leadership roles during this civic projects.”
Robyn Coburn, Grant writer
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