Parents' Guide to Silver Dollar Road

Shot with tenderness and intimacy, this documentary does the Reels family justice, showing their humanity, patience, and suffering. The racism on display in Silver Dollar Road is tragic, infuriating, and not surprising. It's clear that the Adams Creek Associates company that claims they own the land in question feels no remorse about unfairly treating the Reels family and feels no shame over making sure that two members of the Reels family, Melvin Davis and Licurtis Reels, spent 8 years in jail because of their dispute. The Adams Creek Associates company certainly wants the land so they can develop it and make money, completely without regard to the family who has lived on the land for generations. The Reels family also has faced decades of difficulty getting legal representation and has spent thousands of dollars occasionally getting help, but often only for a short amount of time. The case became so well known around the area that many attorneys simply took advantage of the family, milking them for what little money they could provide, over decades.

Hopefully, this film gives their story some traction and attention and raises awareness so that some justice might still happen, but the battle continues, even though Melvin and Licurtis were finally released from jail. As a film, it's a little long. It's also difficult to get a grasp on who is who in the family, at first, as the case spans generations and many time periods. Some viewers may wish for a clearer explication, and earlier on, of what exactly the case entails. A lot of time is spent on family members sharing their memories of the land, of childhood, and of previous "good times," but perhaps more time could've been spent on detailing exactly how companies and greedy developers succeeded in claiming over 90% of Black-owned land during the 20th century.