REDSTONE ARSENAL, Ala. -- An award winning author and reporter will share his experiences of the making of "The Butler" -- a movie chronicling the life of a man who served with eight U.S. presidents -- with the Team Redstone community.
Wil Haygood, author of "The Butler: A Witness to History," will speak at the U.S. Army Materiel Command and Team Redstone's Black History Month Observance, Feb. 20 at 10 a.m. at the Bob Jones Auditorium here.
Haygood has worked as a journalist for 30 years with The Boston Globe and The Washington Post. During that time he witnessed Nelson Mandela's release after 27 years of imprisonment, was taken hostage by Somalian rebels, covered New Orleans post-Hurricane Katrina, and traveled with President Barack Obama.
"As a journalist over the years, I've wanted to go after the stories that were hidden in the shadows," said Haygood. "I've tracked down sanitation workers in Memphis, Tennessee, who were employed in the sixties and could recount organizing strikes with Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr."
Haygood reflected on his 33 straight days of reporting where he witnessed New Orleans grandmothers, displaced after Hurricane Katrina, standing in lines for food and feverishly searching for their grandchildren.
"These grandmothers were the matriarchs and glue of their families," Haygood said, explaining why this and many of these stories have gripped and changed him as a person, and shaped his work.
"I was a very poor kid from a single family household," Haygood said. "Those stories are very moving to me, and I've truly empathized with them."
Eugene Allen's story is one of those stories.
"A figure in the tiniest of print. The man in the kitchen. He was there while America's racial history was being remade," wrote Haygood in his 2008 feature article that would become the motion picture, "The Butler."
"He presented a very moving story for me to write about. Often at our peril we will ignore the stories the lesser of these. It does us well to know those stories," Haygood said. "I tracked him down during the then Senator Barak Obama's campaign trail to presidency. It was one of those once-in-a-lifetime stories that every journalist dreams of."
Within 10 hours of Haygood posting the article, he began receiving calls about turning Allen's story into a movie.
Like every motion picture, the funds had to be raised, and Shelia Johnson, co-founder of Black Entertainment Television, ran with the story and recruited investors.
"It was sort of like a dream hearing all of these big names in the film industry bouncing around my story," Haygood said.
Haygood remembers the day Pam Williams, owner of Pam Williams Productions, called to tell him they had hired Oscar winner Forrest Whitaker to play the butler and Oprah Winfrey, who had chosen to not grace the big screen for 15 years, to play his wife.
Cuba Gooding Jr., Terrence Howard, Robin Williams, and Alan Rickman also joined the cast.
"It was simply unbelievable," Haygood said. "It was an all-star cast with six Oscar winners. This has never happened before."
Haygood witnessed the filming in New Orleans, calling it a magical experience. The film has been played in theaters worldwide including Denmark, France, and Australia, and grossed over $176 million against a budget of just $30 million.
Haygood supported more than 48 speaking engagements last year and traveled all over the United States telling the story of the butler. But he said Redstone Arsenal and this keynote address will have a special significance to him since his roots are in Alabama and in the military.
"I don't think those places will hold the attraction that Redstone Arsenal will," Haygood said.
His mother was born in Selma, Alabama, and his father served in WWII.
"It is very meaningful to me and to the legacy of my father, who is no longer with us," Haygood said. "I don't think there is enough I can do to thank the military for what you do 24 hours a day, seven days a week."
All of Team Redstone is invited to attend to hear Haygood speak at the Black History Month Observance, Feb. 20 at 10 a.m. at the Bob Jones Auditorium. While books will not be available for purchase, Haygood will sign personal copies following the event.
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