A Chester Story, a documentary by Ulysses “Butch” Slaughter depicting the life and times of the people of Chester, debuted on Martin Luther King Jr. Day to a sold-out crowd at the MJ Freed Theater on the Avenue of the States in Chester, writes Rick Kauffman for the Daily Times.

Slaughter, project manager for Chester Made, a humanities-based initiative to recognize and promote arts and culture in Chester, joined forces with the Pennsylvania Humanities Council on the project. The documentary looks at the city from 2004 to the present, and examines issues it has faced for decades, such as poverty, crime, drugs, and murder.

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“In 2004, a student of mine was shot and killed, and it was such a devastating situation that I felt like the best way to remember him and remember some of the other people I had known here and lost here was to compile it into a documentary,” Slaughter said.

The unveiling of the film on MLK Jr. Day held significance not just because of the holiday honoring the civil-rights leader. It was also significant because, this year, the holiday fell on King’s Jan. 15 birthday and because King lived in Chester between 1948 and 1951, when he studied at Crozer Theological Seminary.

Read more about A Chester Story in the Daily Times by clicking here.

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