Miller, Danny, 1949-

Persistence of the Spirit, directed by Ken Hubbell, was an interpretive study of the people and events that contributed to the black experience in Arkansas.

Oratory was a very important part of Native American culture. They had no written language, and events, knowledge and myths had to be orally passed on over generations. There have been several hundred Native American speeches and statements interpreted by Euro-Americans, and, even though there may have been inclusion of Western values and religious thought into the Native American's messages, there is much value in them to the ethnohistorian. One oration, by Chief Seattle, is markedly different from his other speeches. The long oration by Chief Seattle in December 1854 was translated into the literary verbiage of a Victorian-age poet which made it unique among translations. Also, there have been subsequent versions in which the wording has been changed to apply to common language usage. One of these, appearing in the 1970's and barely resembling the original oration of Chief Seattle, has become the gospel to many environmentalists. How and why this happened has been a puzzle, and this documentary attempted to reveal a clearer picture of Chief Seattle's message.