Dan Nonte, University Relations
Contact: (336) 334-5371
Posted 4-3-07
GREENSBORO, NC – “A Christmas Family Tragedy,” a documentary about the 1929 Lawson family murders in Stokes County, will be screened at 3:30 p.m. Thursday, April 19, in Weatherspoon Auditorium at The University of North Carolina at Greensboro. The event is free and open to the public.
On Christmas Day, 1929, a widely respected, affluent tobacco farmer named Charlie Lawson murdered his wife, 6 of his 7 children, and then himself. The only member of the immediate family to survive the massacre was Lawson’s 18-year-old son, Arthur, who was sent to the store to buy more shotgun shells just before the violence broke out.
A question-and-answer session with the filmmaker will follow. In addition, representatives from UNCG Student Affairs and Wellness Center will be on hand to talk about UNCG’s response to domestic violence. The event is sponsored by the Center for Women’s Health & Wellness, the Department of Broadcasting & Cinema, and the Women and Gender Studies Program.
“This film is important because it uses local stories, both historical and present day, to help us become more aware of the tragedies that can, and do, happen to women, families and communities when we don’t take domestic violence seriously,” said Dr. Paige Hall Smith, director of the Center for Women’s Health and Wellness. “It also provides us with ideas about what we can do today to help reduce the problem.”
The mystery of what led to the murders has inspired classic bluegrass murder ballads, ghost stories, family feuds, and overcapacity crowds for annual retellings of the story. The film explores the legends and myths surrounding the murders, and what they mean to the remaining family and community today. The Mountain Times has called the film “a wonderful treasure trove of southern oral history.”
According to the filmmaker, a heritage of silence follows the mystery, often with deadly consequences. The ballad used to be sung as a warning to the wives and kids in this area to behave or else; now it is starting to be sung as a warning to abusers, to where their malevolent actions could lead.
Although the program is free, donations for Stokes Family Violence Services, which is seeking to establish the county’s first battered women’s shelter, will be accepted. A percentage of the profits from the film support domestic violence organizations.
For more information about the film, visit the website www.bodproductions.com or contact Eric Calhoun at eric.2birds1stone@gmail.com.
