The Intolerable Burden

In the autumn of 1965, sharecroppers Mae Bertha and Matthew Carter enrolled the youngest eight of their 13 children in the public schools of Drew, Mississippi, in response to a “freedom of choice” plan. The plan was designed by the Drew school board to place the district in compliance with the provisions of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, essential since without compliance, the district would no longer be eligible for financial support from the Federal government. Given the prevailing attitudes, blacks were not expected to choose white schools. This proved true for all but the Carters.

The Intolerable Burden, a 56-minute color film directed by Chea Prince and produced by Constance Curry, places the Carter’s commitment to obtaining a quality education in context by examining the conditions of segregation prior to 1965, the hardships the family faced during desegregation, and the massive white resistance, which led to resegregation.

While the town of Drew is geographically isolated, the patterns of segregation, desegregation, and resegregation are increasingly apparent throughout public education systems in the United States. The result often poses the dilemma of “education vs. incarceration,”a particular threat to youth of color.

The Intolerable Burden is partially based on Curry’s account of the Carter family in her 1995 award-winning book Silver Rights. The book was called a “sure-to-be-classic account of 1960s desegregation” by the Los Angeles Times, and the film is earning great praise, too. Educational Media Reviews Online, for example, describes it as “an outstanding documentary,” “a powerful oral history and visual record of how racism affected one family and one town, but with patterns that can be seen throughout the entire nation.”

For additional information, contact First Run / Icarus Films,32 Court Street, 21st Floor, Brooklyn, NY 11201. Telephone: 718-488-8900 or 800-876-710. Fax: 718-488-8642. E-mail: mail@frif.com. Web: www.frif.com.