History Film / TheLearningTree

''The Learning Tree'' is a 1969 [[ComingOfAgeStory coming-of-age]] drama film written and directed by Gordon Parks, [[TheFilmOfTheBook adapted from]] his own semi-autobiographical 1963 novel about his life growing up in 1920s Kansas.

* GreaterScopeVillain: Mr. Hornsby, the previous principal of Newt's school, was stated to be a racist against blacks himself and was responsible for Miss McClintock's hatred of black students and their exclusion from various school activities.

* AngryBlackMan: Marcus. He's poor, his mother is gone, his father's an alcoholic, and he's a young black man in Kansas in the 1920s, so he has reason to be angry.

* ShoutOut: So... a film set in Kansas that begins with a giant tornado... [[Film/TheWizardOfOz Where have we seen that before?]] This is an intentional case as it quickly establishes the film's grim world, and lets the audience know right off the bat the

* ShoutOut: So... a film set in Kansas that begins with a giant tornado... [[Film/TheWizardOfOz Where have we seen that before?]]

[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/learningtree1969_81119_678x380_12042013010741.jpg]]

'''Sarah:''' Don't you like it here son?\\
'''Newt:''' I don't know, I ain't been no place else.\\
'''Sarah:''' Well, I hope you won't have to live here all your life. It's not all good place, not all bad place either. Sort of like fruit on a tree, some good, some bad. Understand? (Newt nods his head) No matter if you go or stay, think of Cherokee Flats like that 'til the day you die. Let it be your learning tree.

''The Learning Tree'' is a 1969 film directed by Gordon Parks, based on his semi-autobiographical novel of his life growing up in Kansas. Newt Winger is a black teenager growing up in Cherokee Flats, Kansas some time between 1923 and 1929 (note the UsefulNotes/CalvinCoolidge photo in the courthouse). Cherokee Flats has a fairly sizeable black community, and Newt's family is doing fairly well for themselves, owning their own farm. However, Newt still has to deal with racism and prejudice in the white community, like the condescending schoolteacher who tells him not to bother with college prep courses but to study to be a railroad porter. Or the viciously racist Sheriff Kirky, who believes he has NWordPrivileges and has a habit of shooting black men InTheBack.

Contrasted with Newt is Marcus Savage, who is quite a bit more angry than Newt, and with reason. Unlike Newt's supportive, relatively prosperous two-parent home, Marcus lives with his alcoholic, shiftless father Booker in a shack, his mother having departed for parts unknown. One day, Newt, Marcus, and some of the other black teenage boys in town go to steal some apples from the orchard of local farmer Mr. Kirby. Unfortunately Mr. Kirby catches them in the act and whips Marcus. Marcus rips the whip out of Mr. Kirby's hand and beats him with it. This sets in motion a tragic chain of events.

* GreaterScopeVillain: Mr. Hornsby, the previous principal of Newt's school was stated to be a racist against blacks himself and was responsible for Miss McClintock's hatred of black students and their exclusion from various school activities.

-->'''Newt:''' Are we gonna live here all our lives?
-->'''Sarah:''' Don't you like it here son?
-->'''Newt:''' I don't know, I ain't been no place else.
-->'''Sarah:''' Well, I hope you won't have to live here all your life. It's not all good place, not all bad place either. Sort of like fruit on a tree, some good, some bad. Understand? (Newt nods his head) No matter if you go or stay, think of Cherokee Flats like that 'til the day you die. Let it be your learning tree.[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/learningtree1969_81119_678x380_12042013010741.jpg]]

* WhatYouAreInTheDark: Newt knows that Silas Newhall didn't kill Mr. Kiner--he was up in the hayloft, and saw Booker Savage beat Mr. Kiner to death after Kiner knocked Newhall out. In response to a guarded comment from Newt, his older brother said that it's good a black man didn't kill Kiner, citing another Kansas town where a black-on-white murder led to a lynching and the whites burning down the black neighborhood. Newt tells his story anyway.

* MatchCut: From the spots on the wings of a butterfly to Newt's eyes.

[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/learningtree1969_81119_678x380_12042013010741.jpg]]

* HelloNurse: The curvaceous Mabel draws looks and inspires comments from most of the young black men in town.

* PoliticallyCorrectHistory: To an extent. There are definitely some very racist people in Cherokee Flats. But there are also some unrealistically enlightened people, like the liberal high school principal who sides with Newt against his teacher, or the noble judge. Marcus serves a surprisingly short stint in jail, just six months, for badly beating a white man. And the school is integrated, which is surprising, considering the RealLife ''Brown vs. the Board of Education'' case was about a school in Kansas.

Although African-Americans had been making movies for decades (see ''Film/WithinOurGates'', 1920), Gordon Parks was the first black director to be hired by one of the major Hollywood studios. He went on to direct the blaxploitation classic ''Film/{{Shaft}}''. It was one of the first 25 films admitted to the UsefulNotes/NationalFilmRegistry with the inaugural class of 1989.

Although African-Americans had been making movies for decades (see ''Film/WithinOurGates'', 1920), Gordon Parks was the first black director to be hired by one of the major Hollywood studios. He went on to direct the blaxploitation classic ''Film/{{Shaft}}''. ''Film/TheLearningTree'' was one of the first 25 films admitted to the UsefulNotes/NationalFilmRegistry with the inaugural class of 1989.

''The Learning Tree'' is a 1969 film directed by Gordon Parks, based on his semi-autobiographical novel of his life growing up in Kansas. Newt Winger is a black teenager growing up in Cherokee Flats, Kansas some time between 1923 and 1929 (note the UsefulNotes/CalvinCoolidge photo in the courthouse). The small town Newt lives in has a fairly sizeable black community, and Newt's family is doing fairly well for themselves, owning their own farm. However, Newt still has to deal with racism and prejudice in the white community, like the condescending schoolteacher who tells him not to bother with college prep courses but to study to be a railroad porter. Or the viciously racist Sheriff Kirky, who believes he has NWordPrivileges and has a habit of shooting black men InTheBack.