Rider pupil explores African American veterans’ struggle for civil rights in docu-series

Junior Danielle “Dani” Jackson, double major in history, film and television, is turning an academic research project into a 12-part documentary series on the struggle of African American veterans for civil rights with a recent Kickstarter campaign.

Junior Danielle “Dani” Jackson is directing the documentary series A Two-Front War.

Described by Kickstarter as a “Project We Love,” which surpassed its original target of $ 5,500 and raised more than $ 8,000 to date, Jackson is able to complete her first episode of the documentary series A Two-Front War . The series tells the stories of WWI and WWII veterans in African Americans who fought for their country abroad and for their own civil rights domestically. Jackson hopes to raise awareness of a forgotten population of national heroes.

“In history, African Americans are often portrayed and seen in slavery,” says Jackson. “We show their oppression. We show their bondage. But I want people to see your strength. I want these veterans to be remembered for the super soldiers that they were. ”

Jackson began working on the project after receiving an Undergraduate Research Scholar Award (URSA) from Rider. Each spring, a small group of students is selected to receive the US $ 5,000 award, which is dedicated to supporting independent student research and scholarships. From her professor and advisor Dr. Shawn Kildea encouraged Jackson stepped into the director’s chair.

“The more we talked and thought about this project, the more it seemed like this could be a series, not just a short film,” says Kildea. “The idea would be to first create a 24-minute program of sufficiently high quality that can be broadcast on Netflix, Amazon, Hulu and shown as a series.”

Jackson has always been interested in U.S. military history, and said she didn’t realize the depth of the commitment African American soldiers until she began research.

“It wasn’t until I could dive deep that I realized we’d been here all the time since the War of Independence to participate,” she says.

A number of Junior Rider film and television majors are also involved in the project, including executive producers Benjamin Ross and Patrick Konopka, production manager Sarah Waldron, assistant project manager Tiffany Hartman, and boom operator Andrew Jacabacci.