LOOKING FOR LAURA NELSON

A Bruce Nelson Film

Learning her name was just the beginning

the trailer

Bruce’s Story

After receiving an email from someone claiming to be my 3rd or 4th cousin through Ancestry DNA testing; I decided to answer the email. After about an hour of conversation I discovered that we are in fact… cousins. Our family is from Oklahoma the two of us exchange names of grandfathers, uncles, aunts and our formerly enslaved great grandfather David Nelson. Our conversation was filled with laughter, surprise and wonderment, as the conversation is coming to a close Shirley asks, “Do you know the story of Okemah?”  “I know of Okemah, but what is the story you know?” I asked. Shirley told me to Google “Laura Nelson” and left it at that.
I found her on Wikipedia. It tells story of an African-American mother and son who were lynched on May 25, 1911, near Okemah, Okfuskee County, Oklahoma. They had been seized from their cells in the Okemah county jail the night before by a group of up to 40 white men, reportedly including Charley Guthrie, father of the folk singer Woody Guthrie. Laura was raped, here infant Carrie was stripped form her. Laura and Lawrence D. Nelson were then hanged from a bridge over the North Canadian River.” Austin Nelson was imprisoned in the McAllister State Prison. “They are our relatives,” stated Shirley.  Now connecting with new relatives through DNA testing I am on a journey to find Aunt Laura Nelson, Uncle Austin Nelson and the infant, Carrie.

The Locations

  • Boley, OK

  • McAllister State Prison

  • Okemah Court House, OK

  • Greenleaf Cemetery

  • Museum Of Social Justice

    The Lynching Museum, Nkyinkyim Installation by Kwame Akoto-Bamfo

  • Sandstone Grave Marker

  • WGC Center

The Impact Mission

Focusing on the lynching of Laura Nelson, this documentary strives to expose the persistent violence against Black women and girls and their overlooked suffering in the narrative of police brutality and social justice in America.

“Police violence against black women is marginalized in the public’s understanding of American policing. There is a perception among many Americans that black women are somehow shielded from the threat of police violence. This could not be further from the truth.”

-Keisha N. Blain, Professor of History and Africana Studies, Brown University.

“Her Name Was Laura Nelson.”

-From The Lynch Quilt’s Project- LaShawnda Crowe Storm

The Film

Independent documentary filmmaker Bruce Nelson has been creating historical works focusing on other people’s stories. His work has never about himself, however after learning about the lynching of his Aunt Laura Nelson and her 12-year-old son, L. D. Nelson in 1911. He is now turning the focus on his own personal story. Nelson will interview a host of historians, visual artists, news journalists, and use his newly discovered cousin Shirley’s home as “Ground Zero” in Oklahoma to interview and visit with his new family members on his patriarchal side. By spotlighting the lynching of Laura Nelson, this documentary seeks to reveal the historical and ongoing underrepresentation of Black women and girls as victims of police brutality within social justice movements.
Nelson is taking a journey that will take him to Waco, Texas.  Boley, Tulsa, Okemah, and McAllester State Prison, and in Oklahoma. New York. The Legacy Museum The National Memorial For Peace & Justice in Alabama (AKA The Lynching Museum). Nelson will walk around the location of the very site of the horrifying act to discover the roots of this violent act perpetrated on his Aunt Laura Nelson, her 12-year-old son L.D. Nelson and what happened to her one-year-old baby infant Carrie. Also, what of Uncle Austin Nelson?

Join us in bringing this film to the world

Producer/Director Bruce Nelson

Bruce decided he would employ his storytelling experience to shed light on this often-overlooked dark chapter in American history.  Nelsons’ award-winning documentary short Gospel Radio Man will roll out on national PBS the fall of 2022.  He won a Telly Award for his first short film, Tales of Tobacco. His film Raglin Tales was an official selection of the Arizona Black Film Showcase, Phoenix Film Festival, San Francisco Black Film Festival, Mid-Atlantic Black Film Festival and Rhode Island International Film Festival. Raglin Tales was awarded Special Mention at the I-Filmmaker International Film Festival (Marbella, Spain).  Bruce’s’ feature length documentary North Town was an official selection of the Jerome Independent Film & Music Festival, the American Online Film Awards Festival and The Sir Charles Darwin Film Festival (UK) TruDocumentary Film Festival 2016, and Docs Without Borders Film Festival 2016 (Exceptional Merit award winner). North Town is streaming on Amazon.  

Contact Email: nebproductions1@gmail.com