The Ernest Green Story

Welcome back everyone to my fourth annual “Black History Movie Month.” Today we’re going to kick the month off with a movie that I saw when I was in High School, “The Ernest Green Story,” released in 1995 DocuDrama, “The Ernest Green Story.”

The year is 1957 at Central High School in Little Rock, Arkansas. On the first day of school, the protagonists should be high school students excited about the new school year, some graduating that year, some starting high school, and some ready to be back with their friends. Instead of excitement and delight, the place has hatred and fear. The angry Caucasian mob and the National Guard take the focus off of children starting a new school year and instead are towards the characters that do not belong in a high school environment.

What do you think is going on in Ernest Green’s (Morris Chestnut) head? The previous day, he was your typical teenager trying to enjoy a basketball game with his friends before the first day of school. Did he know that the next day, on his first day, he would be met at the front door by National Guards, hearing livid adults calling him racial slurs, and being dared by one of his soon to be classmates to enter the building? Just overnight, his life changed that was beyond his wildest thoughts along with the other eight African students that are with him that day.

This was the beginning of change, a change that was started by hate. A HubPages user that goes by the name of sybol said, “I’m sure he was aware of the hate but was he aware of how strong this hate could be. In just trying to make life better for himself and others like him, just ordinary teenagers, did he understand the pain and life threatening experiences that he and his friends would suffer.”

How could something as important as getting a good education comes with this amount of pain?

“The Ernest Green Story” is a very good movie. It is hard to watch and brings many emotions in all races. However, by watching it, you are able to get a better understanding of the environment of that time, the mindset of those who played importance in the civil rights movement no matter which race they were siding with and make decisions when confronted with people who are different. Race is one difference but there are many differences.

Desegregations would allow black and white students to go to school together regardless of their differences. These nine black students were the archetypes in the desegregation of Central High School. They encountered strong conflict from the community and the governor of Arkansas, Orval Faubus (James Harper), who was responsible for the National Guard preventing the nine from entering the school. President Eisenhower said that whatever the mob did was outrageous and federalized the National Guards and sent the U.S. Army’s 101^st Airborne Division to Little Rock to take the nine black students into the school on September 25, 1957. The Airborne Division was with them throughout the school year.

Eight of the nine students finished the year at Central high and Ernest Green was the first black student to graduate from Central High School. Green said that he had first handedly dealt with human relations.

Alone and surrounded by the mob, Elizabeth Eckford (Lisa Marie Russell) later said, “I tried to see a friendly face somewhere in the mob, someone who maybe would help. I looked into the face of an old woman and it seemed a kind face, but when I looked at her again, she spat on me.”

Sybol is right when they said, “Working with children, you see that children are aware of difference but the differences does not make them not want to play with those who are different. Mistreating others because of their color is a learned behavior. I believe that children should be allowed to watch movies which illustrated unjustified hate even though they are intense. People need to feel and somewhat experience how hate hurts. They need to recognize that hate targets people who do not deserve to be a target. People need to see both sides of the destructive force better known as racism.” Just as some of those who targeted Ernest Green and his friends now recognize that something was very wrong with their actions at that time, movies can play a role in people seeing and understanding history. Should history repeat itself? They are times that you can say yes and times you can say no.

In the end, I say to watch this movie if you can find it. It was made for TV, but it leaves a huge impact on you. This is definitely a good movie to check out in the month of February.

Well, I hope everyone liked by first post. Stay tuned next week for the next installment in “Black History Month Movie Reviews.”