Kathryn Frye

An award-winning director and producer, Kathryn Frye is a UNC-Chapel Hill graduate and a Charlotte native. Her many projects include the Emmy-nominated John & Andy, a moving UNC-TV program that chronicled the life and deaths of two Charlotte community police officers killed in the line of duty. A Colored School is the fourth project Frye has produced for UNC-TV.

Frye decided to produce A Colored School while researching and producing a CD-ROM project for the public library in Charlotte. As she conducted her own research, community volunteers brought in a piece of 16mm film--silent footage that featured a long-lost African American neighborhood and school named Second Ward. 

Frye grew up only blocks away from the site, and found the film, featuring the school, surrounding homes, and businesses like “opening a window to the past.”   Working with former neighborhood residents, she collected stories from former students and people in the community. The film’s title comes from the diploma given to students at graduation.

A former teacher and mother to teenagers, Frye is currently producing a regional multimedia photo exhibit featuring images and stories from The Charlotte Observer and The Charlotte News photojournalists.