''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 most populous city in the U.S. state of New Jersey and the seat of Essex County and the second largest city within the New York metropolitan area.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 Race and ethnicity in the United States, ethnic group consisting of Americans with partial or total ancestry from sub-Saharan Africa. The term "African American ...

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 var ...

entitled The Grio.

Post-premiere discussion

The initial cable-TV broadcast was followed by a 90-minute "town hall" discussion recorded at Howard University 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 the event, and the following also participated: * Cathy L. Lanier *

Michael Dyson Michael may refer to: People * Michael (given name), a given name * Michael (surname), including a list of people with the surname Michael Given name "Michael" * Michael (archangel), ''first'' of God's archangels in the Jewish, Christian and ...

* Kevin Powell *

Mike Barnicle Michael Barnicle (born October 13, 1943) is an American print and broadcast journalist, and a social and political commentator. He is a senior contributor and the veteran columnist on MSNBC's '' Morning Joe''. He is also seen on NBC's ''Today Sh ...

* Kriss Turner *

DeForest Soaries Reverend DeForest Blake "Buster" Soaries, Jr. (born August 20, 1951) is an African-American Baptist minister, author and public advocate, from Montclair, New Jersey. He is the former Secretary of State of New Jersey and former chairman of the f ...

* 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