Earnest Johnson of Aliceville, pictured above, is the focus of a new documentary from UA's Center for Public Television.

Tuscaloosa, Ala. – An Alabamian who became a national figure in developing low income credit unions is profiled in “Where Credit is Due,” a new documentary from the award-winning producers at The University of Alabama Center for Public Television. It airs Feb. 14 at 8 p.m. on Alabama Public Television.

A lifetime of effort promoting economic power and self-sufficiency for low-income Southerners is the focus of the documentary on Earnest Johnson of Aliceville. Enraged by the economic exploitation of blacks in the state’s plantation belt during the 1950’s, Johnson applied his Civil Rights Movement experience and commitment to developing low income credit unions and became a national figure in that effort. His fight continues in an era in which sub prime and often predatory finance has become a mainstream industry.

Three ambitious middle class African-American entrepreneurs, credit union members all, preface the documentary as examples of economic self-sufficiency that the community development credit union movement envisioned in the era of Civil Rights campaigns.

In that context Johnson and the effort to perpetuate his work are introduced as Johnson and his biographer, Joan Browning, retrace his roots – and those of the movement – across Black Belt Alabama, and in the process recall the conditions that compelled change.

The documentary details and demonstrates Johnson’s methods and his contributions and significance to the development of community development credit unions nationally and further illustrates the impact through additional brief profiles.

The proliferation of sub prime lending and the regulatory changes that prompted it shift the focus of the film to present day and highlight the importance of perpetrating community based credit institutions.

Predatory lending practices are outlined by Gene Marsh, a UA professor of law and a national authority on consumer protection law, and are illustrated by the experiences of people victimized by it.

“High interest rate loans have been around since Biblical times, but they have become mainstream in the last few years,” says Marsh. “High interest, sub prime or predatory lending used to be in the back streets of the back alleys. Now it is on Main Street and Wall Street.

“By law in Alabama, it is permissible for pawn shops to charge 300 percent per year for loans and for pay day lenders to charge an even higher rate,” Marsh said. “People that don’t have a traditional bank or credit union account borrow money and soon discover that they are in the pawn shop or pay day lenders books forever.”

The educational role played by the credit union movement and by local credit unions returns the focus of the film in its conclusion to Johnson’s legacy and the efforts of the Earnest Johnson Project to secure it.

“I think taking control of your life is one of the most important things in the world you can do,” explains Johnson. “My whole life has been about people helping people to help themselves.”

“Where Credit is Due” will air again at 10 p.m. on Feb. 15 on Alabama Public Television. The documentary is made possible through a grant from the Ford Foundation.

The Center for Public Television & Radio is located with UA’s College of Communication and Information Sciences. It’s the mission of the Center for Public Television & Radio to inspire, educate, inform and entertain the listeners in Alabama with high quality public affairs, cultural, instructional and entertainment programming and services in television and radio. A strong secondary mission is to provide a professional real-world education to students interested in broadcasting. In October 1995, the University reorganized the public radio operation, combining it with the Center for Public Television to form the Center for Public Television & Radio.