In August 1965, Regina Jones was just 21 years old. She and her husband Ken, an aspiring news reporter, had five small children and they were broke.
Ken worked a series of odd jobs. "He was a dreamer," Regina says. And he aspired to be the first Black news anchor in Los Angeles. Meanwhile, Regina worked as an LAPD dispatcher on the second shift. On August 11th, 1965, she took a call she'd never forget. "I can still feel it in my chest." It was the first distress call in what would become the Watts Rebellion - six days of violent turmoil, an uprising by a long disenfranchised and brutalized community that became a defining moment of urban unrest in the 20th century. Neither Regina nor her family's lives would ever be the same again.
On that night, recognizing an opportunity, she told Ken to go out in the streets and be the reporter he so badly wanted to be. Throughout the six days of rioting, Ken's reporting would appear on the radio. As he veered out among the flames that were devouring his neighborhood, Regina recalls, "he wondered what he could do for his people in his neighborhood that would bring them some hope.”
Less than a year later, SOUL newspaper was born. In 1966, Ken and Regina started SOUL newspaper in the dining room of their home to showcase the musical achievement of the Black community with Black leadership running the show. SOUL, of course, predated the creation of Rolling Stone and Creem. By the 1970s, SOUL newspaper was a nationwide publication, scoring scoop after scoop with some of the era's biggest artists, like Aretha Franklin, James Brown, Diana Ross, Gladys Knight, and Stevie Wonder. SOUL was where Black artists could get coverage. But by the early 1980's, SOUL would be shuttered and her relationship with Ken, over.
Regina, resilient as ever, was left to pick up the pieces, to pick herself back up, a process she was no stranger to. She'd been knocked down before and she was going to get back up again.
- Runtime102 minutes
- DirectorSoraya Sélène and Billy Miossi
In August 1965, Regina Jones was just 21 years old. She and her husband Ken, an aspiring news reporter, had five small children and they were broke.
Ken worked a series of odd jobs. "He was a dreamer," Regina says. And he aspired to be the first Black news anchor in Los Angeles. Meanwhile, Regina worked as an LAPD dispatcher on the second shift. On August 11th, 1965, she took a call she'd never forget. "I can still feel it in my chest." It was the first distress call in what would become the Watts Rebellion - six days of violent turmoil, an uprising by a long disenfranchised and brutalized community that became a defining moment of urban unrest in the 20th century. Neither Regina nor her family's lives would ever be the same again.
On that night, recognizing an opportunity, she told Ken to go out in the streets and be the reporter he so badly wanted to be. Throughout the six days of rioting, Ken's reporting would appear on the radio. As he veered out among the flames that were devouring his neighborhood, Regina recalls, "he wondered what he could do for his people in his neighborhood that would bring them some hope.”
Less than a year later, SOUL newspaper was born. In 1966, Ken and Regina started SOUL newspaper in the dining room of their home to showcase the musical achievement of the Black community with Black leadership running the show. SOUL, of course, predated the creation of Rolling Stone and Creem. By the 1970s, SOUL newspaper was a nationwide publication, scoring scoop after scoop with some of the era's biggest artists, like Aretha Franklin, James Brown, Diana Ross, Gladys Knight, and Stevie Wonder. SOUL was where Black artists could get coverage. But by the early 1980's, SOUL would be shuttered and her relationship with Ken, over.
Regina, resilient as ever, was left to pick up the pieces, to pick herself back up, a process she was no stranger to. She'd been knocked down before and she was going to get back up again.
- Runtime102 minutes
- DirectorSoraya Sélène and Billy Miossi