CLAY1613-An American Family in Black & White

Leontyne Peck is organizing this fundraiser.

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CLAY1613
An American Family in Black and White

A Documentary Film by
Michael Jones, Director, Independent Film Fund
Leontyne Clay, Executive Producer
Wallace Roney, Jr. Original Musical Score

WE NEED YOUR SUPPORT!
We are creating a documentary film about the Black, White, known, unknown, free, enslaved, rich, and poor descendants of JOHN CLAY, an Ancient Virginia planter. We need your support in completing our film. We are almost at the finished line in collecting donations. We have a NEW director and vision for our film!! We appreciate any amount of your kind donation.

PLEASE DONATE https://gofund.me/f00ac8fe Thanks!!

WHO ARE THE CLAYS?
We are the descendants of the ancient planter John Clay who arrived in Jamestown, Virginia in 1613. This is a unique opportunity to explain the development of the race-relations in America through family stories, DNA and new kinships.

Among the descendants of John Clay, a simple man and pioneer, we find names such as Cassius Marcellus Clay, Senator Henry Clay, Muhammed Ali, Suffragette Laura Clay, Philanthropist Buckner Clay and poet Langston Hughes.

WHY A FILM?
Film is a media that engages all of the senses in storytelling. In telling difficult stories, film provides a unique format for sharing, exploring and engaging an audience. The Clay Family, like many American families arrived in Colonial America and their ancestors (free and enslaved) were instrumental in building and sustaining America. We want our film to inspire other families to share their stories.

WHY THE BUDGET?
Clay1613 will be produced thanks to the generosity of individuals like you. We appreciate any amount of donation that we can use toward production, editing and distribution.

WHEN WILL THE FILM BE READY?
Fall 2021

WHO IS THE DIRECTOR? Michael Jones, of Independent Film Fund. He is a Charlottesville-based filmmaker, photographer, and writer. He is a native of the Shenandoah Valley and a graduate of the University of Virginia (BA History '11, MA Linguistics '16).
Some of his past films include The Propagation of Sheep (2017) The View from the Porch (2019), and KINFOLK (2021).

WHO IS THE PRODUCER?
Leontyne Clay Peck is the Executive Producer.

WHO’S IDEA for the film?
The force behind this project is LEONTYNE CLAY PECK, herself a descendant of John Clay. This project has been her dream since 1967. In her own words:

“I was nine years old and a student at Piedmont Elementary School in West Virginia. We were learning a history lesson about slavery. In the textbook, there was a picture of Senator Henry Clay. I was curious about him because we shared the same surname. I asked my teacher if she thought that I could be related to him and she said no.

It was at that very moment in time that I knew that I had to find my CLAY family. My life long journey in finding and connecting with my long-lost family has been an awesome and rewarding one! I want to share this story with others so that they too will be inspired to find their ancestors. During the past seventeen years; I have connected with both Black and White Family members. I want to connect to more of them.

My teacher was wrong, I discovered many years later that I was the biological cousin of not only Senator Henry Clay but also Muhammad Ali, Langston Hughes and Cassius Marcellus Clay. We all descend from John Clay.

My elementary school in Piedmont, WV. I learned in my research that Senator Henry Gassaway Davis ( a self-made millionaire) provided the funding for the school. His mentor and friend was Senator Henry Clay!