And the Children Shall Lead

I remember seeing this movie on HBO as a kid in the 80's. I can't really say the acting was great but I do remember wishing I could have live through that time to experience civil rights. The movie is told through the eyes of children, black and white who all got along, played together but also knew their place. When outsiders come to there town to register black voters friendships are tested and inevitable change is to come.

I was happy to find this movie on DVD and plan to show this to my class of 4th graders who I hope will enjoy this movie as much as I did when I was that age.

I was introduced to this movie by my late brother-in-law, "Kevin." We laughed hysterically at how badly his acting was (particularly his last scene. Rest in Peace.

The movie itself sends a great message. Set in the time of segregation, there is a group of kids who are blind to racism within their own group until they are affected by the adults around them. "And the children Shall Lead" shows us how the colorblind love of children could teach the adults a lesson or two. The children are so genuine, it gives hope to the future of segregated America, and made me feel truly happy to be born much later.

I thought this hour-long HBO special was going to be stereotypical and rather silly. After all, how much about the Voting Rights Act can really fit into one hour? I was wrong! It was a very good sixty minutes, fitting in quite a bit of feelings and explanations on both sides of the argument.

The reason this tv movie is able to condense so much into so little time is because of the microcosm setting: two families in Mississippi. This isn't one giant history lesson covering years of the Civil Rights Movement. Instead, two neighboring families in a small town are featured. In one family, patriarch Danny Glover is against the Freedom Riders coming into town and stirring up the black community. He believes it will only lead to trouble and violence, and he flat-out refuses to attend the meetings when leader Levar Burton invites him. Danny's children are friends with their white neighbor's children, and while they are all aware of the laws (like separate bathrooms), they don't see much point to them. In fact, just stating that it is the law is the only argument the kids can come up with, hence the title. The children lead the real Civil Rights Movement because they grow up without the prejudice of their parents. The neighbor family is headed by Andrew Prine, the sheriff in town. He was actually raised by Danny Glover's mother, who still works in his house as their domestic servant - which adds another layer altogether to their feelings on equal rights.

While you can tell that this is a tv-movie, it is worth watching. If you have a child studying that time period in school, I would recommend it as supplemental viewing so they can explore the relationship between the two families. Textbooks only teach so much, and it's often helpful to discuss feelings as well as facts.

First, a fact check. And the Children Shall Lead, contrary to a couple of posters, first ran on PBS's Wonderworks series not on HBO. It aired for the first time on PBS on 4 January, 1985.

Like so many of the programmes that aired on Wonderworks, including The Girl From the Limberlost, an updated version of the Canterville Ghost, The Chronicles of Narnia, Jacob Have I Loved You, and Ollie Hopnoodle's Haven of Bliss these TV movies were a coproduction between WQED-Pittsburgh, KCET-Los Angeles, KTCA-St. Paul/Minneapolis, WHRO-Hampton-Norfolk/Virginia, South Carolina Educational Television, WETA-Washington, D. C. and KERA-Dallas/Fort Worth and Disney; The Chronicles of Narnia were done with the BBC. All of them are more than worth checking out.