Two American Families Film Night

The Film Night

This is a poignant and powerful documentary.  In The New Yorker George Packer wrote that this film “…will take its place among the central documentaries of our time”,  while Brian Lowry in Variety declared that Two American Families  “demands to be seen and discussed”. 

The film documents the lives of two Milwaukee working class families from 1992 to 2012. With compassion and insight, Bill Moyers narrates the film and conducts the interviews. Their stories are the focus, but Moyers also locates their situation in the  local and national economic context. Their stories are the stories of many millions of Americans. 

Film Synopsis 

In 1992 we are introduced to two families, one black and one white, the Stanleys and the Neumans. They had been living comfortably and felt economically secure with plans and hopes for the future. Their jobs were in manufacturing, were unionized and offered good incomes and benefits. But their employers moved their operations overseas, and these once-secure jobs are lost.

The Stanleys are a black family of seven, headed by Claude and Jackie. Formerly employed at a major chassis-making company, Claude takes on a job waterproofing basements which pays half of what he was earning previously and without benefits.  Jackie loses her job at an engine manufacturer. After much struggle she gets a realtor’s license and tries to sell houses in a declining housing market. 

Claude Stanley is also a preacher, and throughout the film we see how the family is sustained by their religious beliefs. But faith doesn’t pay the bills, which mount further when Claude has an illness that leads to unexpected and costly medical bills.

Tony and Terry Neumann are a white family with three children. Tony, who used to work for the same manufacturer as Jackie Stanley, gets a factory job, working nights for low wages and hardly ever manages to see his family. Terry, who had been a stay-at-home Mom, takes on a variety of jobs, all of them low-waged and offering no benefits or prospect for advancement.

We watch their resouceful struggles to survive. Over the 20 years we encounter them, they remarkably show fearsome perseverance and amazing adaptability in undertaking training and new jobs in difficult economic conditions. But the American Dream they all believed in at the beginning continues to elude them.

About the film night speakers

Peter Kingstone (Ph.D. University of California, Berkeley. B.A. Swarthmore) was at the time of speaking, Professor and Co-Director of the International Development Institute at King’s College London. Prior to coming to King’s, he taught Political Science at the Universities of Connecticut and Vermont (where he  won the Kroepsch-Maurice Award for Outstanding Teaching). Before getting his Ph.D., he worked in the Canadian government as Parliamentary Advisor to the Honourable Jean Charest, Minister of State (Youth).

He is author of several books on Latin America, including Crafting Coalitions for Reform: Business Preferences, Political Institutions and Neoliberal Reform in Brazil, The Political Economy of Latin America: Reflections on Neoliberalism and Development, as well as co-editor of Democratic Brazil: Actors, Institutions and Processes, Democratic Brazil Revisited and the Handbook of Latin American Politics. He has published various articles and book chapters on the subject of democratisation and the politics of neoliberal economic reforms.

Alongside his research focus on Latin America, Professor Kingstone has had a continuing interest in the debates on American political economy and its relation to increasing inequality in the U.S. He has taught this subject to U.S. undergraduate students for over 10 years. He spoke and led the Q&As at the Film Night screening of Robert Reich’s Inequality For All. 

Dr. Antoine Rogers  was, at the time of speaking,  an Associate Professor in Sociology at London South Bank University. Antoine is a Chicago native; a qualified social worker and a survivor of the Illinois Department of Children and Family Services. The research leading to his PhD was a comparative analysis of urban social service charities in Chicago and Birmingham U.K. His work critically reflects on identity and personal experiences as a source of knowledge and understanding. He is especially interested in qualitative research methods and LGBT issues. His most current research project is with the London Metropolitan Archives and evaluates the role that an inclusive collaborative approach in digital platform design plays in the facilitation of greater virtual and real life engagement with cultural archives among members of marginalized communities.

Antoine’s most recent publication is an edited collection (2015) on Sexuality, Citizenship and Belonging: Trans/National and Intersectional Perspectives. He also wrote Crossing Deep Waters: Transatlantic Reflections Black Gay Men and Journeys influenced by ‘In The Life’ as part of the edited collection from Stephens and Fullwood (2015) Black Genius: Joseph Beam and In the Life. Antoine is diligently working on his first solo book, The Evidence of Existence which explores the intersection of race, sexuality and national identity. He spoke and led the Q&As after the Film Night screening of Streetfight.

Follow up:  What happened to the Two American Families?

Two months after the filming ended Terry Neuman was asked why she took part and she said, “I hope the film will make a difference. That people will stop sniping at one another and get together and come up with something that works for all people…I wish I could have a beer with President Obama and make him see what’s happening.”