The Learning Tree

The Learning Tree, written and directed by Gordon Parks, is a 1969 drama film produced and released by Warner Bros.Seven Arts. The film tells the story of a young African American growing up in rural Kansas during the late 1920s and early 1930s, when racial discrimination was a social norm and legally sanctioned in parts of the United States. The Learning Tree is based upon Parks 1964 semiautobiographical novel of the same name. It is the first Hollywood studio film to be directed by an African American.

Newt Winger Kyle Johnson is an AfricanAmerican teenager living in rural Kansas in the late 1920s and early 1930s. He generally confronts the prejudices of the era with pride and an even temper, unlike his hotheaded friend Marcus Savage Alex Clarke. As circumstances slowly pull Newt and Marcus further apart, Newt witnesses a murder one committed by Marcus father Booker Richard Ward.When Newts decision to come forward as a witness leads to Bookers suicide, Marcus ambushes and confronts Newt with a gun resulting in a vicious fight. Newt wins the fight but spares Marcus life, only to watch helplessly as Marcus is shot and killed by a racist sheriff Dana Elcar. ........

Source: Wikipedia