Morgan Butler interview video, 2022
Content Description
4 oral history interviews (approx 60 minutes each) and the full 23-minute short film “Feed/Back”, a short experimental documentary released in 2022 in partnership with the Center for Story-based Strategy and Village X Studio. The film wove together a futurist narrative of escape with present-day stories of food service workers, many formerly employed at Busboys and Poets, a cultural centerpiece in the DMV community. It was awarded Best Director (DMV Short Film Festival) and honorable mention for Best Documentary Short (Workers Unite Film Festival) following its release and premiered in three cities across the East Coast. These recordings offer first-hand accounts of sexual harassment, wage theft, and employee intimidation in the workplace, and echo the call for elimination of the tipped wage system coming from grassroots organizers locally and across the United States.
Dates
- Creation: 2022
Creator
- Butler, Morgan (Person)
- Foy, MacKenzie River, 1997- (Person)
Conditions Governing Access
There are no known restrictions to accessing this collection.
Biographical / Historical
Morgan “Mo” Butler (she/they) grew up in and around Washington, DC, with family ties in Baltimore, MD and Alabama. They are a writer, multimedia artist, postpartum doula and an internationally recognized poet and performer. They were an open mic host at Busboys and Poets Brookland location before resigning in 2020.
Extent
1 Files (Length: 01:19:00)
Language of Materials
English
Abstract
Butler (she/they) narrates their experiences at Busboys and Poets, first as a child and later as a poet and employee. She explores the cultural role that Busboys has played in DC along with gentrification in the city and how it has impacted arts spaces. Butler describes their understanding of the responsibility that business owners have toward the communities that they serve, in particular DC’s local Black community.
Repository Details
Part of the The People's Archive, Martin Luther King, Jr. Memorial Library Repository