''Meeting David Wilson'' is a 2008 American documentary film. It is a 90-minute video produced for initial presentation on the

MSNBC MSNBC (originally the Microsoft National Broadcasting Company) is an American news-based pay television cable channel. It is owned by NBCUniversala subsidiary of Comcast. Headquartered in New York City, it provides news coverage and political ...

cable channel. Its focus is the encounter between David A. Wilson, a black American filmmaker who grew up in

Newark, New Jersey Newark ( , ) is the List of municipalities in New Jersey, most populous City (New Jersey), city in the U.S. state of New Jersey and the county seat, seat of Essex County, New Jersey, Essex County and the second largest city within the New Yo ...

, and David B. Wilson, a descendant of a white American

tobacco Tobacco is the common name of several plants in the genus '' Nicotiana'' of the family Solanaceae, and the general term for any product prepared from the cured leaves of these plants. More than 70 species of tobacco are known, but the ...

- planter who had owned some of the black Wilsons’ ancestors as

slaves Slavery and enslavement are both the state and the condition of being a slave—someone forbidden to quit one's service for an enslaver, and who is treated by the enslaver as property. Slavery typically involves slaves being made to perf ...

. The film was directed by Daniel Woolsey and David A. Wilson and produced by Barion Grant. The Wilsons and Barion founded an

African-American African Americans (also referred to as Black Americans and Afro-Americans) are an ethnic group consisting of Americans with partial or total ancestry from sub-Saharan Africa. The term "African American" generally denotes descendants of ensl ...

News website at

NBC News NBC News is the news division of the American broadcast television network NBC. The division operates under NBCUniversal Television and Streaming, a division of NBCUniversal, which is, in turn, a subsidiary of Comcast. The news division's v ...

entitled

The Grio TheGrio, styled as thegrio, is an American television network and website with news, opinion, entertainment and video content geared toward Black Americans. The website originally launched in June 2009 as a division of NBC News, it became a di ...

Post-premiere discussion

The initial cable-TV broadcast was followed by a 90-minute "town hall" discussion recorded at

Howard University Howard University (Howard) is a Private university, private, University charter#Federal, federally chartered historically black research university in Washington, D.C. It is Carnegie Classification of Institutions of Higher Education, classifie ...

a week before the broadcast.

Brian Williams Brian Douglas Williams (born May 5, 1959) is an American retired journalist and television news anchor. He was a reporter for '' NBC Nightly News'' starting in 1993, before his promotion to anchor and managing editor of the broadcast in 2004. ...

moderated Moderation is the process of eliminating or lessening extremes. It is used to ensure normality throughout the medium on which it is being conducted. Common uses of moderation include: *Ensuring consistency and accuracy in the marking of stud ...

the event, and the following also participated: * Cathy L. Lanier * Michael Dyson *

Kevin Powell Kevin Powell (born April 24, 1966) is an American writer, activist, and television personality. Powell is the author of 14 books, including ''The Education of Kevin Powell: A Boy's Journey into Manhood'' and ''When We Free the World'' publis ...

* Mike Barnicle *

Kriss Turner Kriss Turner is an American screenwriter and producer. Turner has written and produced episodes for the television series '' Sister, Sister'', ''Living Single'', '' The Bernie Mac Show'', '' Cosby'', ''Everybody Hates Chris'', '' Whoopi'' and ' ...

* DeForest Soaries * Greg Carr

External links

MSNBC coverage

theGrio at NBC News
* Documentary films about African Americans 2008 television films 2008 films Documentary films about slavery in the United States American documentary television films 2008 documentary films MSNBC original programming 2000s American films {{documentary-tv-film-stub