FILM-RELATED WEBSITES
Homegoings: Filmmaker Website
In addition to information about the film and filmmakers, the site includes a listing of upcoming screenings.
Isaiah Owens
The New York Times: "Living by a Creed: Death Be Not Ugly; Harlem Undertaker Softens Grief By Taking Great Care in His Work"
This article is a portrait of Isaiah Owens.
Owens Funeral Home
The website of Owens Funeral Home includes history about Isaiah Owens and the business, as well as information about available services.
RESOURCES
Funerals and Funeral Homes
AARP
This website page offers information on supporting people who are grieving, as well as on preparing both legally and emotionally for end-of-life care and burial/cremation.
Dying in America: A Chronology
One of the resources developed for the POV film A Family Undertaking, this is an overview of how funeral practices have changed over time.
Funeral Consumers Alliance
This source of references on death care and funerals includes planning guides for families in both English and Spanish, state-by-state rights and regulations and an excellent list of links to related organizations.
The Harlem Book of the Dead. (Camile Billops and James Van Der Zee. Dobbs Ferry, New York: Morgan & Morgan, 1978.) James Van Der Zee was a photographer from Harlem who specialized in portraits of the dead mostly from the 1920s and 1930s. With a forward by Toni Morrison, this work also incorporates poems and text reflective of the Harlem culture and past.
Passed On: African American Mourning. (Karla Holloway. Duke University Press, 2002.) Karla FC Holloway explores the logistics of the "death-care" industry of twentieth-century African America as well as the customs, traditions and stories of the community. The author uses her own personal experience to guide her research and reflection.
To Serve the Living: Funeral Directors and the African American Way of Death.. (Suzanne Smith. Belknap Press of Harvard University Press, 2010.) From antebellum slavery to the 21st century, African American funeral directors have orchestrated funerals or "homegoing" ceremonies with dignity and pageantry. To Serve the Living offers a fascinating history of how African American funeral directors have been integral to the fight for freedom.