Los Angeles, CA: How could one of the most-celebrated nineteenth century authors become a figure so reviled, so controversial that her best-selling books were stomped into the dirt and burned in the streets? To pioneering slavery abolitionist and civil rights advocate Lydia Maria Child, such wrath was clear proof of the need for drastic social reform, strengthening her convictions and inspiring others in the battle for racial equality that led to the American Civil War and Civil Rights Movement of the 1950s and 1960s.

Child’s amazing story is now available to the general public in documentary film and book form: Over The River...Life of Lydia Maria Child, Abolitionist for Freedom. Theatrically released in 2008 in Los Angeles and Philadelphia and narrated by television star Diahann Carroll, Over the River navigates Child’s many challenges and triumphs, from the untimely death of her mother and rocky marriage to her literary success and enduring social impact. Using archival photos and illustrations, rarely-seen documentary footage and film, scholarly interviews and dramatic reenactments, Over the River rescues Child from obscurity and brings her spirit vividly to life. Famous today for her poem-turned-song, “Over the River and Through the Woods to Grandmother’s House We Go,” Child risked her career for her belief that “people should be judged as individuals, not as members of groups,” according to author and professor Lori Kenschaft. Learn how this courageous woman of humble beginnings came to support the inalienable rights for Native Americans, Slaves and Women. Child’s literary influence changed opinions about slavery, recruiting legislators, ministers, families and even President Lincoln to the belief that slaves should be freed.

“Superbly researched, written, and presented in word, sound and images,” says the National Abolition Hall of Fame and Museum. “It is a MAGNIFICENT achievement. The visuals bring every aspect of the story to life, and the narrative does justice to all the complexities and subtleties both of Child’s biography and of the abolitionist movement,” raves renowned historian Carolyn L. Karcher.

Constance L. Jackson is an author, documentary filmmaker and founder of Los Angeles-based publishing company Permanent Productions, Inc. (SAN 8566348), which specializes in niche independent films about the tough issues that make up the nuances of American culture, including the unique concerns of women and children. Jackson’s other feature-length film, Blitz Attack: The Andrea Hines Story, Part I and II, investigates the brutal child-on-child murder in Holtville, California (coined the Nicole Brown Simpson copycat murder) and its enduring legacy that includes identification of and intervention for uniquely gifted, At-Risk youth. For more information contact Permanent Productions, Inc. at (310) 366-4996 or visit OverTheRiverMovie.com or Blitz-AttackMovie.com.

The DVD Over The River...Life of Lydia Maria Child, Abolitionist for Freedom (2008, RT 140 min., ISBN 978-0-9818204-2-2) and companion book of the same title (2008, 160 pp., paperback, ISBN 978-0-9818204-0-8) are distributed by Ingram, Amazon and PermProductions.com.