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

MSNBC MSNBC is an American cable news channel owned by the NBCUniversal News Group division of NBCUniversal, a subsidiary of Comcast. Launched on July 15, 1996, and headquartered at 30 Rockefeller Plaza in Manhattan, the channel primarily broadcasts r ...

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, the county seat of Essex County, New Jersey, Essex County, and a principal city of the New York metropolitan area. ...

, 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 is the ownership of a person as property, especially in regards to their labour. Slavery typically involves compulsory work, with the slave's location of work and residence dictated by the party that holds them in bondage. Enslavemen ...

. 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 known as Black Americans and formerly also called Afro-Americans, are an American racial and ethnic group that consists of Americans who have total or partial ancestry from any of the Black racial groups of Africa. ...

News website at

NBC News NBC News is the news division of the American broadcast television network NBC. The division operates under NBCUniversal Media Group, a division of NBCUniversal, which is itself a subsidiary of Comcast. The news division's various operations r ...

entitled The Grio.

Post-premiere discussion

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

Howard University Howard University is a private, historically black, federally chartered research university in Washington, D.C., United States. It is classified among "R1: Doctoral Universities – Very high research activity" and accredited by the Mid ...

a week before the broadcast.

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

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

Mike Barnicle Michael Barnicle (born October 13, 1943) is an American journalist and commentator who has worked in print, radio, and television. He is a senior contributor and the veteran columnist on MSNBC's ''Morning Joe''. He is also seen on NBC's ''Today ( ...

* Kriss Turner * DeForest Soaries * Greg Carr

References

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