June 25, 1978: The Journey Begins
On June 25, 1978, 12-year-old Ulysses "Butch" Slaughter listened as his mother, Clarice, was shot by his father Ulysses Sr. He emerged from his bedroom to find his mother dying in a pool of blood. Soon police and paramedics would arrive. Soon young Ulysses would take the witness stand against his father. The gallery below features actual police and court documents Ulysses recovered on his journey towards reconciliation and redemption.
Odyssey To Save Ulysses
Odyssey To Save Ulysses is a collection of stories that represents three phases in the journey of Ulysses “Butch” Slaughter. The first phase is captured through the collection of childhood memories leading up to his mother’s murder. The three-part documentary My Father’s Sins is the anchor of these memories. Various reflections like “Evil Hero” supplement My Father’s Sins and gives the audience a deeper understanding of the violence Ulysses witnessed as a child.
Dear Daddy, I hate you: letters to my mother’s killer represents the entire second phase of Odyssey To Save Ulysses. This e-book expresses the anguish Ulysses felt as a father living without the grandmother of his children.
Odyssey To Save Ulysses is the name of the third phase of the journey. In this phase, Ulysses has a change of heart about his life. He goes to Chicago on June 25, 2011 and takes his father to his mother’s gravesite for the first and only time. This phase includes video of Ulysses Sr. going to Philadelphia to conduct a public reconciliation and meet his grandchildren for the first and only time.
Though the third phase is filled with inspiration and possibilities, Ulysses reveals how deadly thoughts of revenge persistently threatened to spoil his reconciliation.
My Father Sins
The picture above shows Ulysses Sr. sitting at his wife's gravesite on June 25, 2011, exactly 33 years to the date of Clarice's death.
