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Our America

2002 television film directed by Ernest Dickerson

Manuscripts, fine bindings, an engraving plate and preserved performance ephemera
Arts and lettersInterpretive dossier study · Crown Archives visual atlas
Record originEnglish Wikipedia
Text licenseCC BY-SA 4.0
Source revisionAug 7, 2026
Entity authorityQ7110551
Source-derived summary

Our America is a film based on the book by LeAlan Jones and Lloyd Newman, Our America: Life And Death on the South Side of Chicago that tells the story of the first 4 years of Ghetto Life 101, an Award Winning NPR Documentary Series of real life stories in South Side, Chicago, they created.

It premiered at the 2002 Sundance Film Festival, and aired on American television later that year.

This was the last performance of Brandon Hammond before his retirement from acting.

The film is Dedicated to Eric Morse, a 5 Year-Old Boy who was murdered in the Ida B. Wells Homes eight years earlier in 1994.

Cast

Josh Charles as Dave Isay

Brandon Hammond as Lloyd "Boo" Newman

Serena Lee as Janelle Jones

Roderick Pannell as LeAlan Jones

Irma P. Hall as June Jones

Peter Paige as Gary Covino

Vanessa Williams as Sandra Williams

Mykelti Williamson as Graham Ellis

Rukiya Bernard as Sophie Newman

Mark Taylor as Duane

K. C. Collins as James

Neil Crone as Paxton Wade

Jordan Duncan as Eric Morse

Jordan Francis as Derrick Morse

Maxine Guess as Mrs.

Editorial summary

The public source identifies “Our America” as 2002 television film directed by Ernest Dickerson. This brief keeps that definition visible, then builds a research path around America, television and film.

Editorial reviewA useful identification and reception guide that helps separate the work itself from editions, performances, ownership and later interpretation. The current lead gives the account dated anchors—2002, 1994—that can be checked directly. The linked authority record independently contributes the date 2002-01-01. Its value is orientation rather than verdict, with America, television and film providing the first useful test.
Editorial analysis

Why this record matters

A short description can identify a subject without explaining its stakes. For “Our America”, the useful work is to connect “2002 television film directed by Ernest Dickerson” to the records capable of establishing context and consequence.

Evidence profile

Object files, edition statements, performance records and contemporary criticism preserve different stages of the work’s history. The source revision retrieved here is dated Aug 7, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q7110551. 1 of 1 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 2002 and 1994.

Critical limits

Rights, attribution and provenance may remain disputed even when a general reference summary presents a stable account. The lead is largely declarative, so disagreement and counter-evidence require a deliberate search beyond the opening account. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.

How to read it

Separate the work, its editions or performances, and its later reception. Catalogue records, publication histories and object files often preserve different parts of that story.

Best used for
  • Identifying works and editions
  • Tracing reception history
  • Finding collection records
Verify next

The original object or edition, catalogue raisonné, performance record, rights file and holding institution.

Three-step research path

  1. Establish the record: confirm the title “Our America”, its source revision and the description used here.
  2. Expand the search: follow Our America primary sources, Our America archive and America research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
  3. Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.

Questions for further research

  1. Which source most directly establishes the central claim about “Our America”?
  2. Which edition, object, performance or recording is being described?
  3. How did later circulation or interpretation alter the work’s reception?
Subject index

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Source & attribution

This entry incorporates text from Our America” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.