East St. Louis native produces film about secret military experiments on Black people
Edwin Morrow got his big break in 1995, when he landed the role of Young Willie Mays in “Soul of the Game,” an HBO movie about the Negro baseball league, at age 14.
The East St. Louis native has been working in the entertainment industry ever since, expanding into hip-hop under the stage name “EdVanzd.”
Now 40 and living in Chicago, Morrow is promoting “Target: St. Louis, Vol. 1,” a documentary that he co-produced. It’s being screened Nov. 5 at Washington University as part of the St. Louis International Film Festival.
“I’ve always wanted to get into the other side — producing, directing and writing,” Morrow said in a phone interview this week.
The one-hour film tells the story of secret U.S. military experiments conducted in the 1950s and ‘60s on mostly poor and Black residents of a north St. Louis neighborhood. They were sprayed with potentially toxic chemicals that could be used in war with the Soviet Union.
The experiments, which also occurred in other cities as part of Operation Large Area Coverage, included motorized blowers on the roofs of buildings in the massive Pruitt-Igoe housing complex.
Many people who lived in the complex developed cancer and other illnesses, according to Morrow.
“They were basically guinea pigs,” he said. “They were testing on them without their knowledge, and this was happening at the same time they were doing the Tuskegee experiments.”
Morrow was referring to a decades-long syphilis study in which U.S. health agencies withheld treatment from hundreds of Black men in Alabama to monitor disease progression.
Father lived in complex
For Morrow, the military experiments in St. Louis were personal.
“My father (the late Dwayne Morrow) grew up in the Pruitt-Igoe housing complex at the time,” he said. “He witnessed it first-hand. I never spoke with him about it, but I talked to his siblings.”
“Target: St. Louis, Vol. 1” is the first in a series being developed by former St. Louis resident Damien D. Smith, who wrote and directed it. He and Edwin Morrow became friends after the two met in Los Angeles.
The film won the Best Documentary Feature award at the Urbanworld Film Festival in New York City, where it premiered in September.
“’Target: St. Louis, Vol. 1’ shares the disturbing, tear-jerking story of how one of many Cold War experiments affected the lives of innocent people of color,” according to its synopsis.
“The film examines the actions (or lack thereof) of the U.S. military that extended beyond the guarantees of public safety promised to U.S. citizens under the guise of the Constitution.”
Mom served as manager
As a child, Morrow performed with Muny First Stage in St. Louis and the Katherine Dunham Center for the Performing Arts at Southern Illinois University Edwardsville.
Morrow graduated in 1998 from the old Lincoln High School in East St. Louis and moved to Los Angeles with his mother, Sheila Morrow, who served as his manager for years.
“She lets you know when you’re slacking,” Edwin Morrow told the BND in 2002, noting his mother is a former Army soldier who taught him the importance of discipline and hard work.
Sheila Morrow returned to her family’s home in East St. Louis after her parents died, but she hopes to live in California again someday. Edwin Morrow’s sister, Erica Muhammad, also remains in the metro-east.
Morrow appeared in the 2002 movie “We Were Soldiers” with Mel Gibson, Sam Elliott, Greg Kinnear, Barry Pepper and Chris Klein. He played Pvt. Willie Godboldt, a rifleman in the Vietnam War.
Morrow later turned to music but continued with small roles in short films, plays and TV shows, including episodes of “E.R.” and “The District.” He has credits as a producer, writer, graphic designer and sound mixer and also serves as a “ghost writer” for other hip-hop artists.
Morrow and his wife, Shyla Genair, live in Chicago with their 3-year-old son, Maverick Suphero Morrow.
“Target: St. Louis” will be screened at 7:30 p.m. Nov. 5 in Brown Hall Auditorium at Washington University as part of the St. Louis International Film Festival. Admission is free. Proof of COVID-19 vaccination is required.
The documentary also can be viewed online. Tickets cost $5.
This story was originally published November 5, 2021 at 5:00 AM with the headline "East St. Louis native produces film about secret military experiments on Black people."
