Pioneers
in social
justice media
creating award-winning content driven by hidden truths and exposing stories needing to be told.
24 years before the declaration of the federal holiday, Juneteenth Productions chose its name to symbolize our mission to tell little known and untold stories of human struggle, strength and perseverance. We develop and produce non-fiction narratives that engage, inspire and empower social justice and systemic change.
Through empathetic storytelling, we bring to light little known and marginalized experiences that transform ideas and behaviors towards positive social change.
Producing award-winning documentaries and videos since 1997, Juneteenth Productions uses media as an effective tool for social justice and communicating to diverse communities. With expertise in state of the art communication vehicles and technology, we develop, produce and provide documentaries, podcasts, production workshops, and media consulting.
Social justice
is the measure of a
society's health.
Our focus and mission
is on the health of the individual, communities, environment — and the human condition and spirit.
Our work
combines storytelling and messaging to craft visually and emotionally compelling media that heightens awareness, promotes understanding and inspires behavioral change.
Our goal
is to produce media that impacts quantifiable improvements in individuals’ and communities’ health, respect for the environment, and personal empowerment.
“It is through stories that we begin to change our beliefs. That we begin to see with new eyes. Everything that we believe is because of a story we heard.”
Judith McCray
Judith McCray is a multiple Emmy award-winning broadcast journalist, documentary filmmaker and media activist with over 30 years in television and media production.
Her experience includes working both fulltime and as an independent producer for public broadcasting stations WNET/New York, WTTW/Chicago, WBEZ/Chicago, WYCC/Chicago, WSIU/Carbondale, and Common Ground/weekly radio series on world affairs.
She’s also written, directed and produced independent documentaries for PBS Primetime and national public television. She has long embraced using media as a vehicle to examine social justice issues and advocate social change. Her passion for finding the “ah-hah” moment in every story that can inspire and compel deeper understanding has taken her to the Sudan, Egypt, Kenya, Switzerland, Brazil and across the U.S. to uncover hidden truths, the unheard and little recognized.
Born and raised on a family farm in eastern Iowa, on land her grandfather purchased after fleeing Jim Crow racism in Mississippi, she has always fought for social justice with the media as her primary tool. She holds a B.S. degree from Northwestern University’s Medill School of Journalism, and a M.A. degree in politics and public policy from Rutgers University’s Eagleton Institute of Politics.
Maurice Bisaillon
Maurice Bisaillon has been a documentary filmmaker and media educator for more than 20 years.
Maurice's first experience in nonfiction film was as a researcher on Juneteenth Production’s Mississippi, America. While working on the film, he met civil rights heroes John Lewis, Bob Moses, Aaron Henry, George Crocket and others. The experience instilled in him a deep sense of social justice. After graduating from Southern Illinois University with a degree in Film and Television Production, his first full time job was with Chicago’s Community Television Network, teaching students in the city’s underserved communities to produce their own video documentaries.
Maurice honed his skills as a documentary film producer working for networks like History Channel, A&E, Discovery, PBS and others. He has produced 11 episodes of the Emmy Award winning series A&E Biography, profiling Bruce Springsteen, Mel Gibson, the Jackson 5, Barack Obama and others.
His work has taken him to the Sudan to explore ancient pyramids, brought him into the inner-sanctum of America’s skinhead movement to examine its history and embedded him with the Texas national guard as they mobilized response and rescue teams during Hurricane Rita.
The work inspires him as much now as it did when he began his career.