Severed Souls

Produced by: 
Tina Morton
Year: 
1997
Duration: 
30 min

Did she do it?

In 1944, twenty-two year old Corrine Sykes was an illiterate housemaid accused of killing her employer, Freda Wodlinger -- and in 1946 she became the first African-American woman to be executed in Pennsylvania. But years after Corrine's death by electric chair, rumors circulated within the African-American community about a death-bed confession made by Wodlinger's husband that was published in an obscure corner of a local Philadelphia newspaper. Everyone remembers reading the confession but copies of the article were never found...

Director Tina Morton spent five years researching and recording the personal recollections of senior citizens who, as young men and women, closely followed the trial and swift execution of the young "colored" maid accused of murdering her employer. Now, more than 50 years later, a sense of mystery and non-closure still lingers around the story of the late Ms. Sykes.

Tina Morton is an award-winning and prolific film and videomaker whose previously completed films and videos, include: The Dance in Aunt Ida Lee [LINK TO SCRIBE CATALOG ENTRY], A Day's Work, We The People, OpnFlo: Investigation, If You Call Them, The Plan and A Promise Fulfilled, which documents a Vietnam veteran who made a promise to his fallen comrade to journey across country in a horse-drawn covered wagon in the tradition of the Buffalo Soldiers. Morton's work has been broadcast on public television, featured in film festivals, exhibited in galleries and museums, and taught in colleges and universities in numerous cities across the United States.

Tina divides her time between Philadelphia, PA and Washington, DC where she is an assistant professor in the Department of Radio, Television and Film at Howard University. In addition to her teaching experience at Howard University, she has taught several film/video production courses at Temple University and has served as a project facilitator for several Scribe Video Center community based projects.

Press: 

June 2, 2004 - "Soul Searching," by Kia Gregory, Philadelphia Weekly
May 16, 2001 - "Severed Souls - Wrongly Accused, Corrine Sykes, First Black Woman Executed," by Arlene Edwards, Philadelphia New Observer
May 15, 2001 - Philadelphia Tribune article
May 9, 2001 - The Leader article

Public Screenings, Broadcasts and Festivals: 

February 4, 2006 - Black Independent Film Festival, sponsored by Quinnipiac’s Multicultural Affairs Committee and the School of Communications, Quinnipiac University (Hamden, CT)
May & June 2004 - Art Showcase Gallery (Philadelphia, PA)
March 4 & 5, 2004 - Sisters Defining Sisters Conference (Philadelphia, PA)
March 2002 - Sedgwick Cultural Center (Philadelphia, PA)
2002 & 2003 - Part of Women in the Directors Chair Touring Festival
November 2002 - International Black Women's Film Festival (San Francisco, CA)
November 2002 - DocSide Film Festival (San Antonio, TX)
October 2002 - University of Chicago, Gender Studies screening (Chicago, IL)
October 2002 - Northwestern University (Chicago, IL)
August 2002 - Broadcast on DUTV, Cable 54 (Philadelphia, PA)
June 2002 - Manhattan Neighborhood Network Channel 34 (New York, NY)
March 2002 - Women in the Director's Chair (Chicago, IL)
March 2002 - DC Independent Film Festival (Washington DC)
March 2002 - Color of Violence Conference (Chicago, IL)
March 2002 - Future Faculty Fellowship Presentation (Philadelphia, PA)
March 2002 - Gene Siskel Black Harvest Film Festival (Chicago, IL)
February 2002 - Hollywood Black Film Festival (Los Angeles, CA)
December 2001 - McCallister College (St. Paul, MN)
November 2001 - "Independent Women Filmmakers: Viewpoints From Within" at the African American Museum of Philadelphia (Philadelphia, PA)
October 2001 - Oral History and Video: Oral History Mid-Atlantic Region Conference (Philadelphia, PA)
September 2001 - "Prison Breaks: Redemption, Revolution and Reality" at Prince Music Theater (Philadelphia, PA)
August 2001 - Street Movies! sponsored by Scribe Video Center (Philadelphia, PA)
May 2001 - "Philadelphia Stories" broadcast on WYBE-TV35 (Philadelphia, PA)
April 30, 2001 - 10th Annual Philadelphia Festival of World Cinema (Philadelphia, PA)