But Carey said his team of history lovers, including a former newspaper reporter, found so much compelling content that the project quickly morphed into a 30-minute documentary.
“Not many people knew the story of The Richmond Planet,” Carey said. “We said, ‘We’ve got to pick up this stone and polish it and tell this story.’”
The film reveals how freed slaves created The Richmond Planet to chronicle stories the white press avoided, like racism, oppression and the horror of ongoing lynchings. The newspaper caused such a stir, Carey said, that one of the founders, John Mitchell Jr., carried a pair of Colt 45 revolvers for protection.
Leaders of The Richmond Planet used their publication to advocate for Virginia’s Black community. The editors pursued clemency for a teen set to be hanged without due process, and they denounced the 1890 construction of the Robert E. Lee statue in Richmond. The Planet’s editorial declared the statue was not a war memorial, but instead a symbol of oppression.
One hundred and thirty years later, Richmond’s mainstream newspapers, media and politicians reached the same conclusion, and the statue was dismantled.
Telling the story of the Black entrepreneurs who – at risk to their own lives – gave a voice to Richmond’s African American population “was a labor of love for us,” Carey said. And it wasn’t lost on him as a Black businessman that he owed some level of gratitude to the founders of The Richmond Planet.
“I’ve said it numerous times to folks that Ron Carey and Tilt probably don’t exist but for John Mitchell Jr. and so many others that came before me and laid this foundation of opportunity,” he said. “I like to think (Mitchell) left the blueprint for how you manage these things, how you educate yourself, how you build a business and impact society.”
While Carey and his partners are working through a distribution plan for the documentary, they are also planning to host showings for students in the Richmond area at historically Black colleges and other universities.
And he’d really like to host an event at UVA.
“I would love to bring it to Charlottesville,” he said. “We want as many people as possible to see it. It’s a really powerful story that really resonates with folks. I have to reach out to the University to see how we can get that shown there.”
For more information about the project and to view a portion of the film, click here.
