by Hal Erickson
synopsis
Based on the story by Richard Wright, Almos' a Man stars LeVar Burton as a black teenager in the South of the 1930s. Working as a field hand, Burton is frustrated at being considered inferior to the local whites. Perhaps if he purchases a gun, he can prove his manhood. This is the decision he makes-much to the anguish of his mother, played by Madge Sinclair. Originally a PBS American Short Story presentation, Almos' a Man was first telecast April 26, 1977. Running some 45 minutes, it was offered in tandem with a dramatizaton of Ernest Hemingway's Soldier's Home.
characteristics
- Only Human
- Race-relations
- Social Injustice
- Teen
- Mother
- Gun
- Coming-of-age
- Farmhand
- Food For Thought