"The Learning Tree:” A Literary and Cinematic Masterpiece
"The Learning Tree" (1969) is a coming-of-age book and film written, directed, composed, and produced by Gordon Parks.
Parks was a writer, composer, and photographer who turned into a filmmaker, which led him to become the first Black American director to make a Hollywood studio film.
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The film is an adaptation of Parks' semi-autobiography under the same title.
Audio of Gordon Parks reading his book, The Learning Tree
https://youtu.be/fYttW9hvgEw
Director: Gordon Parks
Writers: Gordon Parks (novel), Genevieve Young (story consultant)
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The Learning Tree Storyline
Set in Kansas in the 1920s, the story covers less than a year in the life of a black teenager and documents the deluge of events that force him into sudden manhood. Family relationships and enmities, fears, frustrations, and ambitions of a Black teenager in small-town America are explored with a strong statement of human values.
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Film Trailer
https://youtu.be/hnnv5BsNxTM
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Cast of The Learning Tree
* Kyle Johnson (the late Nichelle Nichol’s son) as Newt Winger
* Alex Clarke as Marcus Savage
* Estelle Evans as Sarah Winger
* Mira Waters as Arcella Jefferson
* George Mitchell as Jake Kiner
* Richard Ward Booker Savage
* Malcolm Attenbury as Silas Newhall
* Russell Thomson Judge Cavanaugh
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Entire Film on YouTube
https://youtu.be/J5Fam_cHMVQ
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Dr. D. Elisabeth Glassco
Sean Gonsalves