The Center for the Study of Race, Politics and Culture presents the groundbreaking new documentary film, American Promise, by filmmakers Joe Brewster and Michèle Stephenson.  The film is an intimate and provocative account, recorded over 12 years, of the experiences of two middle-class African-American boys who entered a very prestigious–and historically white–private school on Manhattan’s Upper East Side. The boys were placed in a demanding environment that provided new opportunities and challenges, if little reflection of their cultural identities. The boys’ parents found themselves struggling not only with kids’ typical growing pains and the kinds of racial issues one might expect, but also with surprising class, gender and generational gaps.

American Promise, which traces the boys’ journey from kindergarten through high school graduation, finds the greatest challenge for the families–and perhaps the country–is to close the black male educational achievement gap, which has been called “the civil rights crusade of the 21st century.”  The screening will be followed by audience discussion with Professor Cathy Cohen and a panel of African-American parents of Lab School children.

Free and open to the public.

Sponsored by the Global Voices Series, the Center for the Study of Race, Politics, and Culture, and the Lab Parent Association Diversity Committee.