German TV viewers to learn about slavery from Brattonsville interpreter
Crews from a German television station will stop at Historic Brattonsville on Saturday morning to film a portrayal of plantation slave life that will be part of a travel feature on South Carolina and Georgia.
The segment will be part of a 30-minute documentary on the culture, history, culinary destinations and plantations of the two states for a monthly television travel magazine. The show will air on German public television channel ARD Saarlendischer Rundfunk in late fall.
At Brattonsville, crews will film a slave interpretation featuring Kitty Wilson-Evans, a local black history interpreter.
Wilson-Evans will re-enact the part of a slave whose sister is sold to another farm. Joining Wilson-Evans in the interpretation will be Strauss Moore Shiple from the Olde English District Tourism Commission, playing the sister, and Tyrie Rowell from Brattonsville as a slave new to the plantation.
Last week, the station shot footage of the Olde English Tourism District at Boykin in Camden and areas of Myrtle Beach, Charleston and Hilton Head Island.
Film crews left South Carolina this week and are filming in Georgia, said Dolly Chewning, international sales manager for South Carolina Parks, Recreation and Tourism.
"They are making a special trip to Brattonsville on their way back to Germany to film a separate piece on Kitty," Chewning said.
During a March international tourism trade show in Berlin, representatives from the station were looking for a people story in South Carolina. Chewning told them about Wilson-Evans' slave interpretations.
"They wanted to see Kitty in action," said Jayne Scarborough, executive director of Olde English district in Chester.
Said Wilson-Evans: "My character is very concerned about her sister, and what will become of her."
This isn't the first time that Wilson-Evans has caught the eye of the German tourism industry, Scarborough said.
Last year, a German magazine for women, "Brigitte Woman Magazine," wrote a feature on her for its August issue. Since then, Chewning said, many German tourists have visited Brattonsville.
"Some of them even brought the magazine with them and showed it to Kitty," she said.
Despite the recognition, Wilson-Evans isn't one to toot her own horn, said Teresa Armour, exhibition manager for York County's Culture and Heritage Museums.
Wilson-Evans said she depicts black history to have fun, educate children and keep the promise she made to descendants of slaves to tell their stories.
"When people look at me, they can see what a slave would have looked like and what their ancestors went through," she said.
This story was originally published May 2, 2008 at 12:09 AM with the headline "German TV viewers to learn about slavery from Brattonsville interpreter."