The African American Midwest

When a team of filmmakers and professors decided to explore the history of the American Midwest, Big Yellow Taxi was the immediate recommendation of neighboring universities.

The Midwest is an epicenter in the fight for racial justice. So it has been for centuries. It is one of American history’s most remarkable, important, yet overlooked stories — until now. The African American Midwest: A 400 Year Fight for Freedom is a digital broadcast documentary that aims to uproot the untold history of the Midwest experience for African American people throughout the centuries.

Big Yellow Taxi was the clear choice for creating an attractive and professional-looking website to promote awareness, draw sponsors, and gain credibility. With an extremely tight deadline, Big Yellow Taxi designed a logo for the African American Midwest project, organized the content into comprehensive information architecture, and built a website with a seamless user experience. In addition to promoting the documentary, the African American Midwest is an expansive hub of untapped history and other resources.

Democracy Films

Democracy Films, headed by director Dan Manatt, has created critically acclaimed documentaries since 2006. Among the most notable filmography is Whiskey Cookers: The Amazing True Story of the Templeton Rye Bootleggers (2017), which won Best Documentary at the Iowa Independent, Wild Rose, and Oneota Film Festival, as well as awards for Best Documentary Editing, Outstanding Achievement in Documentary Direction, and Documentary Soundtrack.