{"id":31340,"date":"2021-02-24T14:00:00","date_gmt":"2021-02-24T19:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.sinclairclarion.com\/home\/?p=31340"},"modified":"2021-03-16T13:13:45","modified_gmt":"2021-03-16T18:13:45","slug":"caesar-an-american-maroon","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.sinclairclarion.com\/home\/tartan-news\/2021\/02\/24\/caesar-an-american-maroon\/","title":{"rendered":"Caesar: An American Maroon"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"has-drop-cap\">The stories of some Black Ohioans like <a href=\"https:\/\/www.poetryfoundation.org\/poets\/paul-laurence-dunbar\" data-type=\"URL\" data-id=\"https:\/\/www.poetryfoundation.org\/poets\/paul-laurence-dunbar\">Paul Laurence Dunbar<\/a> are well known.&nbsp; For others, the historical details are harder to find but no less important.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Caesar was a runaway slave who joined the Shawnee tribe in Ohio in the late 1700s. <a href=\"http:\/\/www.caesarcreekstatepark.com\/\" data-type=\"URL\" data-id=\"http:\/\/www.caesarcreekstatepark.com\/\">Caesar Creek<\/a> in Waynesville is named after him, but his story is not well known. Kane Stratton of Yellow Springs is hoping to change that.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>His short film, \u201cCaesar: An American Maroon,\u201d depicts a fictionalized key moment in Caesar\u2019s life.&nbsp; The vignette was written as part of a full-length historic drama that Stratton hopes to produce at <a href=\"http:\/\/www.caesarsford.com\/\">Caesar\u2019s Ford Theater<\/a> in Xenia.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-block-embed-youtube wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<span class=\"embed-youtube\" style=\"text-align:center; display: block;\"><iframe loading=\"lazy\" class=\"youtube-player\" width=\"640\" height=\"360\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/xFMX2HhZPLA?version=3&#038;rel=1&#038;showsearch=0&#038;showinfo=1&#038;iv_load_policy=1&#038;fs=1&#038;hl=en-US&#038;autohide=2&#038;wmode=transparent\" allowfullscreen=\"true\" style=\"border:0;\" sandbox=\"allow-scripts allow-same-origin allow-popups allow-presentation allow-popups-to-escape-sandbox\"><\/iframe><\/span>\n<\/div><figcaption>(Source: Youtube\/OhioDNR)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>When COVID hit, hopes for performing the new drama this year for audiences vanished and he opted to produce part of the play as a film.&nbsp; While the drama is based on Caesar\u2019s life, historical documents about him are sparse and the play is a work of fiction.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Intrigued by the runaway slave narrative and seeking an original story, Stratton discovered <a href=\"https:\/\/ysnews.com\/news\/2020\/12\/caesars-redemption-local-history-authentically-imagined\" data-type=\"URL\" data-id=\"https:\/\/ysnews.com\/news\/2020\/12\/caesars-redemption-local-history-authentically-imagined\">Caesar\u2019s story<\/a> through his brief mention in primary sources.&nbsp;&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201c[A missionary\u2019s journal] contains the original mention of Caesar living with the Shawnee in 1773,\u201d Stratton said. There, Caesar is listed as an interpreter.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Originally, he planned for a younger man to play Caesar, but casting Vince Moorman, 60, added gravitas to the role.&nbsp; The film was shot at Caesar Creek, where Caesar spent a significant portion of his life.&nbsp; Documents list him as living in the area for at least 20 years, although written records from this period are difficult to come by.&nbsp;&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>As part of his commitment to authenticity, he recruited Native American actors from federally recognized tribes to play the Shawnee.&nbsp; He strove to portray every character in the film as multidimensional to avoid stereotypes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large is-resized\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" data-attachment-id=\"31372\" data-permalink=\"https:\/\/www.sinclairclarion.com\/home\/tartan-news\/2021\/02\/24\/caesar-an-american-maroon\/attachment\/pexels-pixabay-279467\/\" data-orig-file=\"https:\/\/www.sinclairclarion.com\/home\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/02\/pexels-pixabay-279467.jpg\" data-orig-size=\"2048,1365\" data-comments-opened=\"0\" data-image-meta=\"{&quot;aperture&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;credit&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;camera&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;caption&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;created_timestamp&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;copyright&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;focal_length&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;iso&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;shutter_speed&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;title&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;orientation&quot;:&quot;0&quot;}\" data-image-title=\"pexels-pixabay-279467\" data-image-description=\"\" data-image-caption=\"\" data-medium-file=\"https:\/\/www.sinclairclarion.com\/home\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/02\/pexels-pixabay-279467-300x200.jpg\" data-large-file=\"https:\/\/www.sinclairclarion.com\/home\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/02\/pexels-pixabay-279467-1024x683.jpg\" src=\"https:\/\/www.sinclairclarion.com\/home\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/02\/pexels-pixabay-279467-1024x683.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-31372\" width=\"700\" height=\"466\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.sinclairclarion.com\/home\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/02\/pexels-pixabay-279467-1024x683.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/www.sinclairclarion.com\/home\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/02\/pexels-pixabay-279467-300x200.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.sinclairclarion.com\/home\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/02\/pexels-pixabay-279467-768x512.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.sinclairclarion.com\/home\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/02\/pexels-pixabay-279467-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https:\/\/www.sinclairclarion.com\/home\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/02\/pexels-pixabay-279467.jpg 2048w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 700px) 100vw, 700px\" \/><figcaption>(Source:Pexels\/Pixabay)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cI wanted to tell the story of Caesar as somebody trying to figure out where he belongs,\u201d Stratton said,&nbsp; \u201cHis number one driving force is to be self-reliant and provide for his family on his own terms, to stick to his principles and to be himself.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The details of the lives of many of the first Black Ohioans may have been lost to time, but their contributions to our history remain important.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cI hope that people from any background who don\u2019t have a great understanding of our Ohio history can be energized to do their own research after they watch something like this,\u201d Stratton said.&nbsp; As new information on the life of Caesar and other black Ohioans continues to come to light, it broadens our historical perspective and helps us better understand what it means to be Ohioan.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/vimeo.com\/483331351\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">\u201cCaesar: An American Maroon\u201d can be viewed on Vimeo.<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>MacKenzie Tastan<br><\/strong>Reporter<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The stories of some Black Ohioans like Paul Laurence Dunbar are well known.&nbsp; For others, the historical details are harder to find but no less important. Caesar was a runaway slave who joined the Shawnee tribe in Ohio in the late 1700s. Caesar Creek in Waynesville is named after him, but his story is not [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10416,"featured_media":31373,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_active":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_note":"","_exactmetrics_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[3],"tags":[1761,205,4845,4844,4842,4843],"class_list":["post-31340","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-tartan-news","tag-black-history","tag-black-history-month","tag-caesar","tag-caesar-creek","tag-mackenzie-tastan","tag-waynesville"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"cc_featured_image_caption":{"caption_text":false,"source_text":false,"source_url":false},"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.sinclairclarion.com\/home\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/02\/indian-557261_1920.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p5s3vR-89u","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sinclairclarion.com\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31340","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sinclairclarion.com\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sinclairclarion.com\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sinclairclarion.com\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/10416"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sinclairclarion.com\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=31340"}],"version-history":[{"count":9,"href":"https:\/\/www.sinclairclarion.com\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31340\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":31561,"href":"https:\/\/www.sinclairclarion.com\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31340\/revisions\/31561"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sinclairclarion.com\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/31373"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sinclairclarion.com\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=31340"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sinclairclarion.com\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=31340"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sinclairclarion.com\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=31340"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}