Keith Beauchamp

We are so thankful to Keith Beauchamp who advised us during the early production stage of our film. A tremendously talented and creative producer, Keith never hesitated to make himself available to the team sharing his professional expertise. An award-winning filmmaker, he attended Southern University in Baton Rouge where he studied Criminal Justice with the intention of becoming a Civil Rights Attorney. In the fall of 1997, Keith relocated from Louisiana to New York and quickly found work at Big Baby Films. Two years later, in 1999, he founded Till Freedom Come Productions, a company devoted to socially significant projects that can both teach and entertain. He has devoted the last 22 years to telling the story of Emmett Till.

Keith has been featured on 60 Minutes, ABC World News Tonight 'Person of the Week,' Court TV, MSNBC, Good Morning America, CNN, BBC as well as numerous publications around the world including The New York Times, Washington Post, USA Today, Associated Press and the Chicago Sun Times. He has worked on several cold case civil rights cases for TV One and the History Channel. And he is currently the Executive Producer and Host of Investigation Discovery’s crime reality series, The Injustice Files, and producer of the feature film “Till.” He is also a frequent lecturer at colleges and universities around the country.

We are eternally grateful to Keith for always being so gracious and helpful!

Jacqueline Hamer Flakes (Sept. 22, 1966 - March 27, 2023)

As the last living child of Pap and Fannie Lou Hamer, Jacqueline Hamer Flakes was often asked to share her amazing story of being raised by one of the most powerful voices of the civil rights movement. She spoke often at events honoring her mother and was interviewed in the film, Fannie Lou Hamer’s America.

Maegan Parker Brooks

Lead Consultant and Researcher for the film, Editor and Curriculum Designer for the Find Your Voice K-12 Curriculum and author of Planting Seeds: The Life and Legacy of Fannie Lou Hamer

Maegan Parker Brooks received her PhD from the University of Wisconsin-Madison in Communication Arts, with emphases in Rhetoric and Afro-American Studies. She served as a board member of the National Fannie Lou Hamer Statue and Education Fund Committee and is now an Assistant Professor of Civic Communication and Media at Willamette University.

Brooks has published three books about Fannie Lou Hamer. The first, The Speeches of Fannie Lou Hamer: To Tell It Like It Is, is an anthology of Hamer's speeches, which Brooks co-edited with Davis W. Houck. The second is a rhetorical biography of Mrs. Hamer entitled, A Voice that Could Stir an Army: Fannie Lou Hamer and the Rhetoric of the Black Freedom Movement. And her third is a popular biography entitled Fannie Lou Hamer: America's Freedom Fighting Woman for Rowman & Littlefield's Library of African American Biography series.

Brooks has also written article-length pieces about Fannie Lou Hamer, including a Voices of Democracy unit she co-authored with Davis W. Houck.

Pablo Correa

Videographer, Project Web Master and former Sunflower County Film Academy Instructor

Originally from Fort Lauderdale, FL, Dr. Pablo Correa is the Program Director and Assistant Professor of the Digital Media and Communication Program at University of Saint Joseph in West Hartford, Connecticut. Previously, Correa was a visiting professor in the Civic Communication and Media department at Willamette University in Salem, Oregon. Correa specializes in digital media and documentary film with a special focus on the interests of minorities, especially Blacks and Hispanics in America. His work highlights racial relations, stories of tension, as well as stories of perseverance and success.

As a graduate student at Florida State University, Correa received the Bronze Award in the 2015 Fort Lauderdale International Film Festival (college documentary category). His film highlighted the civil rights movement in Ft. Lauderdale, Florida and was screened during the 2017 Southern Margins Film Festival at Clemson University. Currently, Correa works on projects commemorating Emmett Till and documenting the racial reconciliation movement in the Mississippi Delta. His goals is to teach and inspire others through documentary film, while empowering Mississippi Delta high school students to tell their own stories through digital media.

Joy Elaine Davenport

Director, Editor, Videographer, Music Composer and Founder and Instructor Sunflower County Film Academy

Joy Elaine Davenport is a director, editor, and composer. She has worked as a freelancer on every aspect of film production for over a decade. Her mission as a documentary filmmaker is to elevate and empower underrepresented voices. Fannie Lou Hamer's America is her directorial debut.

Robert "RJ" Fitzpatrick

Videographer, Photographer and former Sunflower County Film Academy Instructor

A videographer and photographer from Ruleville, MS, Fitzpatrick has a Bachelor of Fine Arts Degree from Delta State University. He is the founder of Hydro Productions Company LLC, and specializes in photography, documentary filmmaking, feature films and video. He also helps others start and brand their careers.

Specializing in Digital Media Arts, Fitzpatrick is active in impacting communities in the Delta in a positive way by fostering the knowledge of and influence of local Delta activists such as Fannie Lou Hamer. Fitzpatrick is a videographer for the upcoming film, Fannie Lou Hamer’s America, and an instructor for the annual Sunflower County Film Academy.

Tara M. Gregg

Grant Writing Consultant

Tara Gregg is a grant writer and Certified Research Administrator specializing in university grants and sponsored programs. Her passion is helping individuals and teams translate compelling ideas into competitive proposals, with a special interest in arts and humanities programs and projects that promote equity and justice. In her work at three universities and as an independent consultant, she has helped secure funding from five Federal agencies; numerous state agencies and arts councils in Kansas, Mississippi, Nebraska, and Oregon; multiple residencies and fellowships; and many more corporate, community, and private foundations.

Prior to becoming a professional grant writer, Tara served two terms as an AmeriCorps VISTA Fellow at Van Go, Inc., an arts-based job-training nonprofit organization in Lawrence, Kansas. She received her Master of Arts degree from Roosevelt University in Illinois, where her thesis on feminist citizenship and television was recognized with the Samuel Ostrowsky Award for Outstanding Work in the Humanities. She holds a bachelor’s degree in music from Southern Methodist University in Texas.

Davis W. Houck

Consultant and Researcher for the film, Curriculum Designer for the Find Your Voice K-12 Curriculum, Academic Coordinator Sunflower County Film Academy

Davis Houck is the Fannie Lou Hamer Professor of Rhetorical Studies in the School of Communication at Florida State University, where he teaches classes in rhetorical theory and criticism.  Over the past 10 years his scholarship focused primarily on the African American freedom movement in Mississippi, specifically the case of Emmett Till and the speechmaking and activism of Fannie Lou Hamer.  Houck is the author/editor of 12 books, including The Speeches of Fannie Lou Hamer: To Tell It Like It Is (with Maegan Parker Brooks) and Emmett Till and the Mississippi Press (with Matthew A. Grindy).

Houck has also worked on several documentary film projects, including Keith Beauchamp’s series, Murder in Black and White, which featured the unsolved killings of black activists, Reverend George W. Lee and Lamar Smith.  Houck also serves as the Series Editor of the Race, Rhetoric and Media series with the University Press of Mississippi.

Monica Land

Executive Producer, Producer, Researcher, Photographer, Writer

An award-winning journalist, Land has been writing for local and national media outlets for more than 25 years specializing in investigative and statistical reporting, feature and enterprise articles, general news writing and historical research. As the niece of civil rights icon, Fannie Lou Hamer, Land has written numerous feature articles about Hamer, as well as an essay for the book, Pieces From The Past: Voices of Heroic Women in Civil Rights (2011) published by Joan H. Sadoff and Tasora Books.

Land has also produced historical segments for Entertainment Tonight and A&E's Biography.

Selena Lauterer

Executive Producer

Selena Lauterer has worked in public media for more than 20 years and is the founder and president of Artemis Independent, a media promotions and production company located in Boone, North Carolina. Her public television credits include Co-Producer of the Emmy and Peabody Award-winning PBS series A Chef’s Life, consulting producer for Vivian Howard’s new primetime PBS show, Somewhere South and Executive Producer of A Craftsman’s Legacy. Lauterer is Head of Production for The Bitter Southerner and her company manages promotion efforts for over a dozen public television favorites each year, including POV, Roadtrip Nation, Reel South, Pearl Jam 20, Tony Bennett Duets II, and more. The Bitter Southerner is Co-Producer of Fannie Lou Hamer’s America.

Shelby McConville

Illustrator, Planting Seeds: The Life and Legacy of Fannie Lou Hamer

Shelby McConville is a freelance illustrator with an occupational background in primary education and early childhood studies. Since obtaining her M. Ed. in elementary education, she has maintained an integral role as an educator within the West Linn-Wilsonville School District in Oregon. Inside her classroom, McConville utilizes various written, illustrated, and melodic art forms to optimize educational time. These novel methods of instruction give students the opportunity to explore deeper into modern-day learning objectives, as well as our society’s complex and conflicted history.

Julia (Jules) Null

Illustrator, Graphic Designer and Website Designer

Jules studied visual art and graphic design at Slippery Rock University. With her experience in small businesses, contracting, and nonprofit work Julia fits right in.

After moving across the country twice, Julia now resides back home in Pittsburgh, PA. When she’s not traveling, you can find her hiking in the woods with her dog, Izzy or drawing into the night. In her spare time Julia takes on side projects as a contractor including illustration, vector tracing, and album artwork. Her artistic skills come in handy for any project needing a creative flair!