Ohio University alumna Christina Paolucci won an Emmy. . .What was her documentary about?
After three years of production and a year of screenings, a documentary about pre-Civil War Ohio is getting recognition.
“A Higher Law: The Oberlin-Wellington Rescue of 1858” won a 2024 regional Emmy. The documentary was made by Scott Spears and Christina Paolucci , who earned her Masters degree from Ohio University ’s School of Visual Communication in 2009.
“A Higher Law” would interest multiple audiences:
History buffs
The film tells the story of John Price, who was enslaved in Kentucky and fled to Oberlin, Ohio in 1856. He was kidnapped by slave catchers two years later. They took Price to Wellington, Ohio, planning to return him to slavery in Kentucky.
Abolitionists intervened and eventually escorted Price to Canada.
Lawyers / legal scholars
The rescuers were charged with violation of the Fugitive Slave Act of 1850. Their legal defense claimed “higher law,” the theory that moral law is superior to enacted legislation.
The Fugitive Slave Act was part of the growing polarization over the issue of slavery prior to the Civil War.
Filmmakers
“A Higher Law” won a regional Emmy from the Ohio Valley Chapter of The National Academy of Television Arts & Sciences . The category: Documentary: Historical/Nostalgia.