The Barber's Diaries

On-Location Production of “The Barber’s Diaries”

admin — Wed, 10 Aug 2011 01:18:06 +0000

Sisters Wilma Ellis Kazemzadeh (left and Adrienne Ellis Reeves stand on the spot where their family home once stood in the central Illinois town of Altamont. The Ellis family had lived there – the only black family in a white farming community – until the early 1930s.

Their father, Charles Ellis, was the town’s barber and kept extensive diaries of life in those times. It is the subject of a PBS documentary, The Barber’s Diaries. Michael Wunsch, CEO of Outpost Worldwide Productions, is seen here filming their first trip back to Altamont in 80 years. The program is being produced by Wunsch and award-winning journalist David Henderson.

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Media Coverage: A Barber’s Diary

admin — Wed, 03 Aug 2011 01:41:58 +0000

Former Altamont resident Charles Everett Ellis recalled as African-American pioneer

Bill Grimes of the Effingham, IL, Daily Newsreports on August 1, 2011:

ALTAMONT — By Jingo! That’s what Charles Everett Ellis might have said about Sunday’s visit of several descendants to his old home town of Altamont.
Adrienne Ellis Reeves (left) and her sister, Wilma Ellis Kazemzadeh sit beside the Ellis family stained glass windows at the First Methodist Church in Altamont, IL.
Ellis, who used the term “By Jingo” on a regular basis, was a fixture in downtown Altamont during the first three decades of the 20th century. He started keeping a diary on his 40th birthday — Jan. 22, 1927 — and kept on writing for the last 44 years of his life.
The entries are a fascinating look into the life of an African-American in a predominately white community at the turn of the century.
The diaries eventually stretched to 2,560 pages of observations about Ellis’ life — and the larger world around him.
But it all started in Altamont and that’s why members of the Ellis family were in town Sunday. Daughters Adrienne Ellis Reeves and Wilma Ellis Kazemzadeh received a plaque after morning services at the United Methodist Church in Altamont. On top of that, members of the production team accompanied family members to church as part of an upcoming documentary on the family patriarch and his world.

Click here for the whole story.

From The Barber’s Diaries

admin — Fri, 22 Jan 2010 21:18:58 +0000

“Forty years old today by Jingo. Looking back over those years have brought many revelations. Youthful dreams have failed of materialization and stern realities have replaced them. Many mistakes have been made which are daily exacting their certain toll and are holding back my onward progress but with experiences gained in those years transformed into wisdom in the future I yet declare that my next forty years shall not be ineffective in service to my Maker, mankind and my own family. Many things I have to be thankful for. A happy home and family, a good business and perfect health – much to be thankful for. I am very grateful to my Maker that my faith in Him has sustained and soothed me in my trials and each day I will try to deepen that faith that in my affairs there shall be no doubts nor fears but shall labor onward and upward that my life shall be a successful one. Forty years in number are many but in one’s life filled with varied experiences they are not many but in that span one either has his plan well laid or is drifting. Mine is planned in detail and my future efforts shall be its maturity.”

~~~~~~

“Man is what he thinks, not what he says, reads, or hears. By persistent thinking, however, in the right away, the way of truth, you can undo any condition which exists. You can free yourself from any claims, whether of poverty, sin, in health or unhappiness.”

~~~~~~

“Believing that Almighty God, in His infinite wisdom and boundless love for mankind, has endowed each normal being with infinite powers that only await development; and, that these powers are only developed by rigid self-discipline and self control; and, that through persistent effort one can develop all of his powers and successfully handle himself with all the powers which constitute a full and effective life, I hereby set forth some resolutions which I hope to build into permanent habits within my own being.
1. Daily reading of the Bible; prayer and meditation
2. Constant seeking for wisdom and understanding
3. Development of will-power and constructive thinking
4. Effective reading with development of memory
5. Concentration upon all matters at hand
6. Infinite pains unto the smallest detail
7. To look upward and onward – never downward nor backward
8. To properly value time and perseverance
9. Promptness and decision where needed
10. To speak clearly and express accurately”

~~~~~~

“Many of God’s greatest apostles of thought and feeling and action have come from the humblest stations. But the most insuperable difficulties have not long been obstacles to them. These greatest of difficulties are true men’s greatest helpers – they stimulate powers that might have lain dormant all though life, but often have readily yielded to the stout and reliant heart. There is no greater blessing in the world than poverty, which is allied to self-reliance and the spirit of self-help.”

~~~~~~

“When things get bad, so very bad that worse they could not be, hold fast to hope, cling hard to faith, that someway out you’ll see.”

~~~~~~

Media Coverage of “The Barber’s Diaries”

admin — Fri, 22 Jan 2010 20:05:28 +0000

“Black barber in Altamont focus of documentary,” writes journalist Bill Grimes for the Effingham Daily News.

His story continues …

ALTAMONT — “Forty years ago today, by Jingo. Looking back over these years have brought many revelations. Youthful dreams have failed of materialization and stern realities have replaced them.”
It is doubtful Altamont resident Charles Everett Ellis knew what he was getting into as he penned the first three sentences of his new diary on Jan. 22, 1927. Forty-four years and 2,560 pages later, a dying Ellis laid down his pen for the last time after commenting on family matters and world events alike for more than two generations.
Outpost Worldwide, a Kansas City, Mo.-based production company, is converting the diaries into a full-length documentary, “The Barber’s Diaries,” tentatively scheduled for release next fall.

Please click here to read the whole story.

The Inner Mind and Powerful Voice of a Visible Man

admin — Fri, 22 Jan 2010 17:15:53 +0000

Charles Ellis

This is the story of an invisible man who lived at a time of invisible people.

Charles Everett Ellis was the only black man living in an all-white small town in Illinois town during a violent period of America’s history, just before the Great Depression.

It was a time when African Americans faced threats of racial cleansing across the South and Midwest.

Thousands were murdered, tortured and publicly executed. Property was stolen. Towns destroyed, communities eliminated, overnight.

For most black men, the way to survive in those times was to remain invisible and never speak out.

Step off the curb when white people approached, avoid eye contact, stay in your place, never show emotion, always keep your thoughts to yourself, and your mouth shut.

For Charles Ellis … he had a wife and seven children to protect. He had a home. But, keeping his thoughts to himself was not an option.

He was a valuable asset in the white community – he was the town barber. He cut the hair of white men, gave shaves with a straightedge razor, and listened to white men in his shop talk, sometimes of hatred and racism.

And, then, Ellis voiced hope, and the dreams for all black Americans, like himself, during that time of the contemporary American black experience. He took up pen and paper, and kept a secret diary. The Barber’s Diaries.

An extraordinary man, self-educated in the classics … his writing is a celebration of life that rises above the violence and challenges of the time. His words inspire and endure to this day.

For the next 44 years, Ellis expressed his thoughts, his philosophy, his theology, his politics – his world-view.

“The Barber’s Diaries.”

The inner mind … and the powerful voice … of a visible man.

The Barber’s Diaries

admin — Thu, 21 Jan 2010 16:24:29 +0000

In a time before any thought of the Civil Rights Movement, when race riots erupted across the Midwest, many blacks fled to safety and better jobs in northern cities. One man remained with his family in the small Illinois farming town of Altamont. He was the last black man in town, braving the daily threat of race-related violence. He stayed because he was the town barber. “The Barber’s Diaries,” tells the remarkable story of Charles Everett Ellis.

Outpost Worldwide executive producer Michael Wunsch and author David Henderson recently were on-location in southern California to shoot cinema high definition segments with Ellis’ daughters about their father as part of a developing documentary project.

Ellis protected his family, kept quiet, and cut hair but his voice soared in his diaries. What’s revealed is the intellectual and inspirational mind of a philosopher. When he died in 1971 at the age of 84, his diaries contained more than 2,600 pages in six volumes spanning more than 40 years of world events, his family and his own philosophical and spiritual journey.

Video Story Treatment: “The Barber’s Diaries”

admin — Sun, 10 Jan 2010 17:47:47 +0000

The Barber’s Diaries is the story of Charles Everett Ellis, who was a barber in Altamont, a small Illinois town during the 1920s, and the only black man in town. We believe we, as a nation, are at a historic time when such a story carries a profound message.

Photo Gallery

admin — Fri, 08 Jan 2010 19:11:36 +0000

Here is a collection photos of the Ellis family in Altamont, Illinois, in the pre-Great Depression era, and today. We encourage your comments, and invite you to send your photos related to this project.

Special thanks to Mr. Pete Seeger for his storytelling guidance on the project, and to Mr. Alvin Oliver of Altamont, Illinois, for his invaluable assistance.

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A Story of America

admin — Sat, 02 Jan 2010 20:44:29 +0000

The Barber’s Diaries – The inspiration for creative programming and curriculum development, celebrating the achievements of remarkable “ordinary” citizens who have embodied the fabric and spirit of America.

The Barber’s Diaries is the true story of one black man’s journey in America, from the 1920s through the 1970s. A story about perseverance, commitment, family, education, and faith. Working as the sole barber in a time before the Great Depression – surrounded by racial violence in the Midwest and South – Charles Everett Ellis lived with his wife and seven children. They were the only black family in an all-white town. As the town barber, Ellis was a valuable yet low-paid asset in the white community.

Ellis cut the hair and shaved the faces of businessmen, traveling salesmen and farmers as he had done since the age of 15. He worked silently while they talked, about crops, the weather, community events, politics, and, no doubt, about race issues. In order to survive, he never openly expressed his thoughts. He was an invisible “necessity” to the whites.

In 1927, at age 40, Ellis made the decision to bring purpose to each day of his life, and to express his voice in a different way. He began writing a diary. At the same time, Ellis chose a path of higher education, to become a self-taught scholar and intellectual by reading every book he could acquire.

In his diaries, Ellis wrote about his quest for knowledge, faith, about his family, and the challenges of the world around him. On issues of racial tension, he wrote of teaching his family where to hide and how to walk through the town, without being noticed.

He would write for the remainder of his life. When he passed away in 1971 at the age of 84, his diaries contained more than 2,650 pages in six volumes spanning world events, his family, civil rights, and his own philosophical journey. In the diaries of Charles Everett Ellis, one sees and feels an American life that inspires the heart, encourages the soul and embodies the human spirit.

In the greater vision, The Barber’s Diaries is a catalyst for storytelling, sharing, and discovery of many other lives within the black American culture that have never been heard. The diaries are a platform to learn about, study and be inspired by the “real” stories of extra “ordinary” people who have helped to enrich and shape a nation.

We encourage involvement to help make this project a reality, a celebration of diversity and of humanity that will reach out to embrace us all. The recent discovery of this literary treasure is the foundation for a comprehensive program of television content, educational curriculum, and limitless online opportunities for sharing and discussion.

To learn more about becoming involved in The Barber’s Diaries, contact Michael Wunsch, CEO, Outpost Worldwide (mike@outpostworldwide.com) or David Henderson, Executive Producer (david@davidhenderson.com). We are seeking co-production partners in the corporate, television and educational markets to participate in this important project. This is a series with significant merit and value. Today, is it timely and highly relevant to America’s new direction.

“The Barber’s Diaries” Moves Forward

admin — Sat, 02 Jan 2010 17:11:16 +0000

The made-for-television documentary and motion picture project – The Barber’s Diaries – is moving forward at increasing speed. Director and screenwriter Kevin Willmott (“CSA: Confederate States of America” and “Bunker Hill“) has joined the project. Emmy Award winning journalist and writer David Henderson is involved along with Outpost Worldwide, the production company.

The Barber’s Diaries is the true story of Charles Ellis, a black barber who secretly expressed his thoughts, philosophy, theology and world view throughout an era of dynamic racial change in America, from the 1920s through the civil rights movement.