Why was it important to tell this story before the quote unquote Americans even came onto the scene?

Well, I think this story is so important because most of us in this country know nothing about it.

I was raised with the whole notion of the Underground Railroad and the heroes that worked to escape to the north.

And so I just assumed that was always the way that the narrative unfolded.

And so when I moved down to St. Augustine and wandered into this place called Fort Mose, which is not very far from downtown, it's not heavily marked.

There's a small sign.

And I'm there and I'm looking around and going, oh, my God, you know, where was this in any part of the American experience that I had ever heard? And so when I was brought down to help launch the new cinematic arts program at Feigler, and they asked me what story would I like to tell, I did sort of have this in the back of my mind, and I had some colleagues that also knew of this story.

Can you tell us a little bit about how this film came to be?