On Sunday night, Tyler Perry accepted the Icon Award at the 2019 BET Awards. During his speech, he revealed some gripping history about the land that occupies his Atlanta studio.
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The filmmaker said he purposely picked one of the most destitute neighborhoods in the city to construct his studio to inspire youth.
“When I built my studio, I built it in a neighborhood that is one of the poorest black neighborhoods in Atlanta so that young black kids can see that a black man did that and they can do it too,” he said.
He then shared another reason why the property is special.
He explained that the land in southwest Atlanta, known as Fort McPherson, was once a Confederate army base during the Civil War. The war, which was fought from 1861 to 1865 between the Union and Confederacy states, primarily began over the disagreement of the institution of slavery.
“The studio was once a Confederate army base,” he said, “which meant that there were Confederate soldiers on that base plotting and planning on how to keep 3.9 million Negros enslaved. Now that land is owned by one Negro.”
About four years ago, Perry paid $30 million for 330 acres of the property. It's now one of the largest soundstages in the Southeast. Since it opened, several television shows and flicks have filmed there, including many of Perry's projects and "Black Panther."
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