University of Mississippi professor and documentary filmmaker Angela Tucker tries to highlight the accomplishments and legacies of Black women in much of her work, which includes roles as director, producer and creator. She often features underrepresented communities in unconventional ways through her films. Submitted photo
Angela Tucker to screen film about U.S. Rep. Barbara Jordan in February on campus
Filmmaker Angela Tucker knows how films have the power to change the world, a sentiment she shares with students as a new assistant professor of practice in documentary expression at the University of Mississippi‘s Center for the Study of Southern Culture.
The native New Yorker who called New Orleans home for the past 11 years features underrepresented communities in unconventional ways through her films, which include roles as director, producer and creator.
“Mississippi has a lot of stories that need to be told by local storytellers, and this program gives them the chance to do that,” said Tucker, who joined the Ole Miss faculty in August.
This fall, she co-taught SST 106: Introduction to Southern Documentary, alongside Melanie Ho, assistant professor of practice with the Southern Documentary Project.
“I taught a fairly large 65-person undergraduate class, and it was great to be able to hear their perspectives about what’s happening in the world,” Tucker said. “I felt the students were really engaged and I was appreciative of how open they were and how they really pushed themselves in terms of subject matter.”
Her documentary work is personal in nature, and shows the power of place and its effect on a body of work. She has won an Emmy Award, as well as a Webby Award, Amplifier Award, and Chicken and Egg Breakthrough Award. Her films have been screened at Sundance, the Film Forum in New York and Frameline, among many others.
Tucker has broadened the perspective and experience of the Southern Documentary Project staff, as she brings more than 20 years of experience producing and directing films largely focused on the African American experience, said Andy Harper, South Docs director.
“As excited as we are to have Angela joining SouthDocs as a storyteller, I am equally pleased that Southern studies students benefit from the experience of an Emmy Award-winner in the prime of her career,” Harper said. “Angela Tucker rounds out an already stellar SouthDocs staff with her years of experience in fundraising and distribution.”
Her most recent work is “The Inquisitor,” a feature documentary about U.S. Rep. Barbara Jordan, who made history as Texas‘s first Black state senator and the first Southern Black woman elected to the U.S. House of Representatives. The film premiered at the Tribeca Film Festival and won best documentary at the University Film and Video Association conference.
It will premiere in Oxford at 5 pm February 23, 2026, at The Inn at Ole Miss as part of the CSSC SouthTalks series, in conjunction with the fifth annual Race and Ethnicity Forum organized by the Coalition for the Study of Race and Racism. It also will air that day on PBS’s “Independent Lens.”
“It’s called ‘The Inquisitor’ because I want people to be inquisitors in their lives and to not sit back and let things happen to them, but to take action and ask questions when they see something that they believe is an injustice,” Tucker said. “That’s really what Barbara’s message was and you don’t have to be a politician to do that; you can do that in your everyday life.
“It is a huge honor to make work with such meaning and purpose.”
While Tucker worked on a series of films for PBS about Black women in political power in The South, she came across Jordan’s Watergate speech. After searching for a documentary to watch about Jordan and realizing one did not exist, it became clear to Tucker that this would be her next project.
Using archival footage, the film weaves Jordan’s inspiring personal story with key historical moments, highlighting her impact of civic engagement and the power of bipartisanship on American politics.
“I spent a lot of time watching archival footage of Barbara Jordan speaking, and it became clearer and clearer that the things she had to say then were things that we needed to hear now,” she said.
Tucker said she enjoyed reminding people of a time when there was such an inspiring Black woman who held office in the 1960s and ’70s with the ability to get people of varying political beliefs to communicate with one another.
“Overall, I really try to make work that highlights Black women in all different kinds of ways, in all formats,” she said. “And even in my Christmas movie, I want to highlight the interior lives of Black women that don’t really get to be seen.”
Though she practices mostly in the field of documentary expression, she makes fiction films as well. In 2022, she co-wrote and directed “A New Orleans Noel,” a holiday movie for Lifetime starring Patti LaBelle as a New Orleans praline icon.
The film was partially filmed in Natchez. It is available to stream or view on Lifetime.
“I really love holiday movies and I love how Christmas brings people together and it’s really special to contribute something to people’s holiday joy,” Tucker said.
By Rebecca Lauck Cleary
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