Between 1976 and 1981, KWSU-TV produced South by Northwest, an award-winning series of eight docudramas highlighting the role of African Americans in the northwest.
The eight half-hour programs are:
York. This program reenacts the story of York, a black servant of William Clark, who was part of the Lewis and Clark Expedition in 1804-1805. VIEW
Homesteaders. This looks at black homesteaders who came to the Pacific Northwest, focusing on the stories of George Bush. George Washington, and Joseph Wells. VIEW
Montana Bound I. This program looks at the roles of black cowboys in cattle drives, drawing from the stories of Walter Jackson, himself a Montana cowboy and a son of a cowboy. VIEW
Montana Bound II. This program looks at women of Montana, notably Cattle Kate, who was lynched for rustling cattle, and Mary Fields, a postal carrier and protector of children at a mission. VIEW
Roslyn Migration. The last of the original five programs tells the story of blacks brought in to Roslyn, Washington, to help break a coal mining strike there, and looks at their issues in becoming part of the Roslyn community. VIEW
Aunt Tish. Tish Nevins was a mulatto woman from Missouri who operated a boarding house in Montana in the very early 1900s, raising her former employer's white children. VIEW
The Cayton Family. At the end of the 19th century, Horace Cayton was editor and publisher of the Republican, a major Seattle newspaper, and Cayton and his family struggled with their financial and moral responsibilities as newspaper publisher and black activist. VIEW
Holmes vs. Ford. Robin Holmes was a slave who accompanied his owner to Oregon and, after being freed himself, sued his former owner in 1853 and successfully won his family's freedom in court. VIEW
Also produced in this period was a 56 page booklet, produced ca. 1977 and simply titled South by Northwest which discussed the project and which included an eight page Guide to classroom use of the South by Northwest television series. VIEW
The initial $248,000 contract was awarded to Washington State University's KWSU-TV to produce five docudramas based upon the stories of black Americans in the early northwest, to be aimed at middle-school students. Based upon research headed by WSU Professors Quintard Taylor and Talmadge Anderson, and produced by media expert Nate Long, five initial half-hour television programs were completed in 1976, and three more programs followed in 1981. South by Northwest was cited for "outstanding participation" by the American Revolution Bicentennial Administration, and won a Corporation for Public Broadcasting Award and a New York Film Festival Award.
In 2010, Washington State University Libraries' Manuscripts, Archives, and Special Collections (MASC) converted videocassettes of these eight productions into online flash files and made them available through their digital collections; they were moved onto YouTube in late 2011 to increase access. The project was conducted by University Archivist Mark O'English.
Information presented here about these programs was drawn primarily from "South by Northwest: An Educational Television Series Designed to Teach Regional Black History," Integrated Education v. 18, pg. 94-96, 1980, by Dennis A. Warner, et al, as well as from KWSU's Radio and Television Services Records: http://www.wsulibs.wsu.edu/masc/finders/ua237.htm and http://www.wsulibs.wsu.edu/MASC/finders/ua191.htm#a13.