GULFPORT, Miss. (WLOX) — A Gulfport filmmaker released an exclusive preview of an upcoming feature-length documentary on Saturday, July 4, that challenges one of America’s oldest historical mysteries.
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Anthony Williams and A.J. Williams Media released the sneak peek of “The First Shot” publicly via A.J. Williams Media’s official platforms.
The project is described as bridging regional storytelling with national history, with local communities on the Mississippi Gulf Coast and in historical districts of Massachusetts among those invited to view it.
Questioning a long-held historical uncertainty
Mainstream history has long held that the origin of the gunfire that started the Revolutionary War at Lexington and Concord is permanently lost to time. “The First Shot” aims to prove otherwise.
The “shot heard ‘round the world” is moving from the page to the screen, with a documentary project aimed at bringing viewers back to Lexington and back to the evidence.(WLOX)
Inspired by the book “A Tale of Two Cannons,” the film examines overlooked voices, forgotten journals, and historical evidence to investigate whether that long-held uncertainty still stands.
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“Mainstream history tells us that we don’t know who fired the first shot,” said director Anthony Williams. “This film explores whether that uncertainty still holds when we take a closer look at overlooked voices and historical evidence.”
Three underrepresented perspectives
The documentary investigates the dawn of the American Revolution through three lenses described as underrepresented in traditional accounts:
Pastors who stepped out of the pulpit to lead local militiasChildren who experienced the conflict firsthand while serving as spiesBlack Patriots whose contributions on the battlefield are frequently omitted from traditional textbooksHistorians guiding the production
The film’s research is led by historian and writer Jeff Wallace. Dr. Robert A. Bellinger, described as a nationally recognized scholar of African American history, is joining the production on location in Massachusetts. Dr. Bellinger’s research into 18th-century Black soldiers and communities in Massachusetts is said to guide the documentary’s exploration of how those figures shaped the nation’s founding.
To watch the sneak peek, click here.
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