Songs of Black Folk co-director Haley Watson found herself drawn to the stories of Pacific Northwest natives Rev. Dr. Leslie Braxton and his nephew, Ramón Bryant Braxton for many reasons. But one reason kept rising to the surface.

“It was a chance to shine a light on Black culture in the Pacific Northwest that has traditionally been underrepresented or ignored,” Watson tells Seattle magazine from an airport lounge in Dallas. 

That impulse led to Songs of Black Folk, the 26-minute documentary she co-directed with Justin Emeka — and which premiered at the Tribeca Film Festival in June.

“The Pacific Northwest is not necessarily a place where you think of Black culture, but here were these two people taking on the task of wanting to create tradition around America’s newest holiday.”

Watson admits she was somewhat naïve to the full cultural weight of the holiday commemorating the emancipation of enslaved African Americans. She was moved by Rev. Braxton and his nephew’s efforts to create Seattle’s first official Juneteenth celebration in 2021 — but knew she needed help telling the story.

Ramón Bryant Braxton (left) and Rev. Dr. Leslie Braxton (right), creators of the Seattle Juneteenth concert that inspired the short film Songs of Black Folk.

That’s where award-winning filmmaker Justin Emeka comes in.

“I wanted to make sure to have someone like Justin who is not only Black, but who also has history with the area,” says Watson, who had previously collaborated with Emeka on the short film Biological. “I wanted to make sure that the story was told in a way that was going to feel authentic to the community that I don’t necessarily represent.”

In 2022, Watson and Emeka began filming the second annual Songs of Black Folk concert in Seattle, A Juneteenth Celebration: Music of Resistance and Hope, determined to tell the story with the depth and care it deserved. 

And while footage of the annual music program — featuring the largest gathering of Black musical talent on a single stage in the Pacific Northwest — could easily carry the film, it’s the grainy old videotape footage that delivers some of Songs of Black Folk’s most beautiful moments.

“Aunties and grandmas are a great place to start for archival footage because they always want to show off,” chuckles Emeka. “The opening footage is actually from Claudette Nash, who is Ramón’s paternal grandmother. We also highlight his maternal grandmother, Eileen Ton, in the film.”

In fact, it’s the story of Braxton’s maternal grandmother that gave the filmmakers a storyline they didn’t see coming.

“Going into a documentary early on, we didn’t know what we had exactly — all we knew was that we felt there was something really exciting and rich and profound happening, and we wanted to capture it,” says Emeka. “But then, we really landed on the heart of the piece.”

That heart is the relationship between Braxton and his grandmother, who was fighting for her life in a nearby hospital on the same night he took the stage to honor Juneteenth in song. 

“For me as an artist, I’m drawn towards projects that are rooted in love,” says Emeka. “When I’m directing a play or a film, I’m always trying to find the love that ties the people here, that inspire us to sing, dance or do whatever. And then when she was gone, we knew we wanted to pay tribute to her. The grandmother’s spirit was the foundation. That’s the love that drove all of this from my standpoint.”

There’s also the love both filmmakers share for the Pacific Northwest — a love portrayed beautifully, critically, and intentionally throughout Songs of Black Folk. 

“I wanted the audience to fall in love with the area,” says Emeka, who also collaborated on the documentary with executive producer and Seattle native Michael Bartley. “It’s such a beautiful area. And then getting specific with Tacoma, because Tacoma is different from Seattle. They have similar history, but they also have very unique histories. And so, from very early on, we knew we really wanted to do justice visually to those images.”

The film itself could easily have run longer.

“What’s important to me as an artist is to leave people with that feeling of not only wanting more but also wanting to go see the show because it’s a three-hour epic long orchestra performance that is truly amazing to see in person,” says Emeka. “We hope we’ve encapsulated it in a way that people will feel and believe this is something that needs to be supported, and also be an inspiration for how people think about celebrating Juneteenth.”

Next up for Songs of Black Folk is a July 24 screening at the Indy Shorts International Film Festival in Indianapolis, part of a six-day lineup of more than 250 short films. Streaming details are here.

“I’m personally really looking forward to when it can play in the Pacific Northwest,” says Watson. “We are very excited to bring the film to a home audience.”

For the latest updates on the film, follow @songsofblackfolkdoc on Instagram.