Vicki Wright Hamilton, Ph.D. is the director of the Diary of Successful Black Single Mothers. Having experienced raising kids as a single Black mother, she felt the need to tell this story. The documentary will premiere on Thursday, March 20, at Atlantic Station’s Regal Theater at 6 p.m. Tickets are live on Eventbrite now. Hamilton took her seat in the director’s chair to tell us more about her upcoming documentary.
Why did you feel the need to tell this story?
Well, you know, I appreciate that question, because I was a single mother at one time, and I truly believe that there are stories out there of resilience, courage and strength, and they need to be told. I work with a lot of single mothers, and it is my community project of love, and I want to share the successes that they all have had.
Can you share a powerful moment from the film that personally moved you?
Well, you know, that’s a little difficult, because all of these stories are so unique. My vision was to have multiple generations, multiple challenges, because I wanted a single mom to look at the screen and see themselves. But there’s one story that truly stood out for me that I thought, wow, what resilience you had to have. And it was a single mom that had a baby, and the father of her baby was shot and killed. And I thought to myself, Oh, my goodness. How would I have dealt with that in moving forward?
What are skills that single mothers develop that people are really sleeping on?
Strength, a lot of strength. Creativity, the ability to make something out of nothing. And let me tell you, they are the best researchers out there. Okay, they can research and find things you never, ever knew was possible. They will find programs you didn’t even know existed. They work with each other. You know, they talk to each other. You know the number of things that have happened in my single mother’s community that I still carry on today. They’re like my babies. I love them. I love all of them, and they take the time to help one another, to share information, to continue to move forward. So that community spirit is teamwork, that community spirit is helping people to do what they need to do within business. Did you know they’re the best project managers out there, and they’ve never been taught a project management class? But you tell them the things that need to get done and a schedule has to happen, they make it happen. They find a way to get that resolution. I think we sleep on all of those skills at one point in time or another, because we think the resume of the job has to show it, not the resume of the individual.
What is the main thing you hope people take away from this documentary?
One of the reasons that I did this is because I want to provide hope. Those that are sitting in the audience, people that may see this documentary and see that person that tells the story that’s like theirs, that person that shares successes of what they did to resolve issues and to make things go forward. I want you to know you’re not alone. There is hope. There is hope out there, and the solution in the community is to reach out. Let’s not be ashamed to share our stories. Let’s get strength from our stories. Let’s not be one of those that says, You know what? I can’t let anybody know this. I can’t let them know that; the more that we hold within, the more damage it does to our physical, mental, emotional and spiritual wellbeing. We’ve got to be able to embrace one another, but that’s what I’m hoping that people take away and we can begin having more conversations. We can share more resources. We can help each other.
