Lillie and
Leander: A
Legacy of
Violence
This
is a
documentary
film
that
examines
the
case
of a
black
man
suspected
of
raping
and
murdering
a
white
woman
at
the
turn
of
the
20th
century
in
Pensacola.
In
investigating
the
rape
and
murder
of
her
great-great
aunt
Lillie
Davis,
Alice
Brewton
Hurwitz
stumbles
upon
an
explosive
family
secret.
While
newspaper
accounts
of
the
time
reported
the
vigilante
lynching
of
Lillie’s
suspected
black
assailant
Leander
Shaw
in
fascinating
detail,
Hurwitz
discovers
that
the
men
in
her
family
exacted
their
own
system
of
revenge.
In
one
interview,
an elderly
relative
recounts how
the men in
the family
killed every
black man
who walked
the road
they lived
on. The
story seems
to match the
local
mythology in
this divided
community.
When the
State
Attorney
gets
involved, an
investigation
begins in
full force.
More than a
crime
investigation,
Lillie &
Leander
addresses
the racism
that still
simmers in
many U.S.
communities
through a
powerful,
unforgettable
tale of
family
secrets
unlocked.
Alice
Brewton
Hurwitz -
Producer
Alice
Hurwitz
recently
retired as
Coordinator
of Academic
Support
Services at
NYU’s Tisch
School of
the Arts
Kanbar
Institute of
Film and
Television.
Educated at
the
University
of Florida,
the
University
of North
Carolina,
the
University
of Southern
Mississippi
and NYU, she
pursued a
career
teaching art
at public
schools in
North
Carolina,
Mississippi
and Alaska.
While
studying for
her Ph.D. at
NYU, she
directed an
art gallery
in the East
Village.
Influenced
by film
students,
Alice
recognized
that
documentary
film was an
appealing
story-telling
medium and
began
researching
an old
family story
that became
the basis of
Lillie &
Leander.
Alice
Hurwitz
spoke with
WUWF's
Sandra
Averhart
about the
film.
