A conversation that changed a movement.
In 1958 Martin Luther King Jr. was stabbed in the chest by a deranged woman at a Harlem book signing. His recovery and three hour conversation with the black mystic Howard Thurman changed the course of civil rights history. This six-part podcast miniseries explores this conversation and the decades of research, revolution, community building, and lived experiences that preceded it.
“Day of Days” is funded by the National Endowment for the Humanities and produced in partnership with Brandeis University. It features a companion mobile device experience that immerses audiences in the key settings of the podcast.
Produced in partnership with Brandeis University and The Truth Podcast.
Impact
Prototype launched on WBUR Boston garnering critical acclaim and thousands of downloads.
Winner of a $300,000 NEH Digital Projects for the Public Production Grant.
Embedded into Brandeis’ MakerLab and trained several cohorts of student researchers on applied Humanities and interactive journalism.
About the Experience
Immersive Civil Rights Storytelling
This project is based on what it’s like to produce and augment a highly “spatialized.” The story of King and Thurman is set in a Harlem hospital room, but their conversation ranges to India to the segregated Deep South, to experimental churches in San Francisco, to the pews of a university chapel. The podcast will recreate these scenes in studio and in spaces where it makes the listeners feel like they are being transported to these various settings. Both men were masters of public speaking and to be on the pulpit with them will give audiences insights into the visions and leadership challenges they faced. In addition, the project uses photogrammetry to recreate models of key spaces featured in the podcast and offer them up on the website as prompts for further exploration into the sites, time period, and ideas behind the podcast.
Technology
The podcast will be available on most major podcasting channels (Apple Podcasts, Spotify, etc.) There will be a special version of the podcast available on the website that integrated the 3D spatializations of the podcasts’ sites into the audio experience. The techniques being used include photogrammetry (to capture the spaces in three dimensions,) spatial audio (recorded in three dimensions,) and html integration of 3D spaces.
Podcast
3-D/Photogrammetry
Media Sample
In this sample video you see a photogrammetric scan of the New England Seafarer’s Mission where cruise ship workers can get both supplies that remind them of home, send a moneygram, and encounter God.
Photo Gallery
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Here King sits with staff from the bookstore where he was stabbed in Harlem
The stabbing was committed with a letter opener that still protrudes from his chest.
PHOTO CREDIT: WALKING CINEMA
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The Day King was released from the Harlem Hospital. He stands with his wife Coretta
The conversation with Thurman impacted King’s approach to the Civil Rights Movement from the moment he left the hospital.
PHOTO CREDIT: WALKING CINEMA
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Entrance to the Howard Thurman Center for Common Ground on Boston University’s Campus
Much of his work and provocations still linger and are honored on BU’s campus.
PHOTO CREDIT: WALKING CINEMA
Awards
Digital Project for the Public
Prototyping Grant
Digital Project for the Public
Production Grant
Production Team
Michael Epstein, Principal Investigator, Writer and Executive Producer
Michael is a journalist and professor at the California College of Art. He wrote, directed, and co-produced the audio. He is currently a Reynolds Journalism Institute fellow.
Wendy Cadge, Research Director
Prof. Cadge is the Dean of the School of Arts and Sciences at Brandeis University. She formed the seed of this project with her project “Boston’s Hidden Sacred Spaces” which has expanded into this digital spatial exploration of the humanities.
Ian Roy, Director of Photogrammetry
Ian is the founder and director of Brandeis’ MakerLab. He helped develop the 3D visuals for the project and managed the student researchers.
Sasha Mandel, Soundtrack, Audio Editing
Sasha is a sound designer with a passion for interactivity and deep listening. He mixed the audio for this tour and created the soundscapes you hear throughout the experience.
Walter Wuthmann, Reporter
Walter is a reporter for WBUR and produced the radio pieces for the prototype of the project.
Anthony Marquette, Developer
Anthony and his team and Pixels and Polygons produced the photogrammetry for the prototype.
Alexa Burke, Audio Producer
Alexa was the audio producer for the prototype. She was an assistant producer at Walking Cinema for two years and now produces true crime podcasts.
Maxim Antinori, Platform Developer
Max is a web and mobile app developer specializing in interactive educational media. Before joining Walking Cinema, Max worked at Tom Snyder Productions, Inc.
Ryan Madeiros, UX and Graphic Designer
Ryan is a professor of Graphic Design at the Academy of Art in San Francisco. In this project he helped with the user experience and graphic design of the mobile app.
Elissa Mardiney, Producer
Elissa is an audio producer for Walking Cinema. She researched, project-managed, and produced the story.
Darren Canady, Writer
Darren is a playwright and professor of dramatic writing at Kansas University. He wrote the script for the podcast “Day of Days.”
Press & Articles
NEH awards $300,000 to Professor Wendy Cadge’s Boston Hidden Sacred Spaces project
As our movement has been restricted over the past year due to the pandemic, there has been a rising interest in immersive storytelling: audio, zoom performances, and augmented reality…
At The Hebrew SeniorLife Synagogue, The Sacred Is Found In Song
Before the pandemic shuttered many houses of worship, WBUR, in partnership with Brandeis University and Walking Cinema, embarked on a project to explore non-traditional religious spaces throughout Greater Boston…
For Nearly 140 Years, A Seaside Mission Has Offered Ship Workers Small Comforts And Spiritual Support
WBUR’s companion piece to Walking Cinema’s audio and photogrammetry experience of the Seafarers Mission…
Travelers Find Refuge In Our Lady Of The Airways, The Nation's Oldest Airport Chapel
WBUR’s companion piece to Walking Cinema’s audio and photogrammetry experience of the Seafarers Mission…