Staring at the glowing screen of Ron Robinson Theater downtown, “Teaching America,” premiered in its hometown of Little Rock, Wed., Oct. 14. Piloted in 60 high schools across the nation in the 2022-2023 school year, the Advanced Placement (AP) African American Studies course is the focus of the documentary short film, shedding light on local students and their experiences in the class. The premiere included a showing of the 22-minute long film followed by a panel discussion with the director as well as the students and teachers featured in the film. Open to the public, many students, parents, and alumni joined to celebrate its success, including one of the Little Rock Nine, Elizabeth Eckford. 

The film first premiered in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania Aug. 1 at Blackstar Film Festival. It then went on to the Chicago South Asian Film Festival Sep. 18 where it won the Audience Choice Award for Documentary Short. Now, the film has been presented all over the country in the past months, but its journey started years ago. Director Anurima Bhargava had the idea for the film and immediately knew she wanted the school to be featured. 

“Central was obviously going to be part of the story because it was one of the first schools that piloted the AP African American Studies course,” Bhargava said. “Part of it was also that the spark from the Little Rock Nine is the same spark for now. It’s a curiosity. It’s a desire to learn. It’s someone who wants to protect the freedom to learn. And so that’s the through line, and it’s the anchor throughout, which is the importance of recognizing that this has been the movement for all of these years.” 

After the class had been piloted for a year, the Arkansas Department of Education contacted local high schools offering the course and informed them that the department would not recognize the course for credit. This was in direct action of Governor Sarah Huckabee Sanders’ executive order prohibiting “indoctrination and critical race theory in schools.” 

“I think the fact that you have the governor of the state–who went to Central–who’s questioning whether or not you want to teach the history of her own high school is just something that a lot of people didn’t even really know, right?” Bhargava said.

Bhargava first met with Principal Nancy Rousseau and AP African American Studies and African American History teacher Ruthie Walls about the idea for the film at the beginning of the 2023-24 school year. Filming started after Walls’ students signed waivers. With the crew limited to a couple of cameramen and Bhargava, she informed them that class would be conducted as usual. 

“At first, I was just a little bit weary because I didn’t really know what she was looking for, but as we spoke about it, we were ready to video,” Walls said. “I felt quite comfortable. I tried to keep in mind that we were not necessarily filming or staging. It’s just class, right?”

Junior Sadie Belle Reynolds eventually figured out how to work around the filming of their classes. Even with two cameras stationed behind her desk and occasionally a microphone on her, Reynolds felt that the class continued as normal.

“It was weird, but at one point I definitely forgot the cameras were there because it was just another lecture of Mrs. Walls’,” Reynolds said. 

Because it was important to Bhargava to capture the real essence of the class dynamic, she focused on filming normal classroom activities–Walls lecturing and the class answering questions. 

“The students and teachers are this film,” Bhargava said. “The magic of the film is the students and teachers and what [they’re] doing every day which is is creating a community where people can learn, make mistakes, find joy, find grace, be brilliant, and be goofy, and that’s something that’s celebrated.”

A featured student, alumna Symone Bishop (25), still reflects on her experience in the class even in her time away removed from the class. She emphasizes the value in having diverse, high-level courses for students in all aspects of their lives. 

“There are very few classes that you take in your whole high school career that you can have a good time and also feel like you’re really pushing it for the workload,” Bishop said. “The history of my people in this country in relation to now, to the past, to everything–it matters. It makes you more motivated to learn, and it really just brings people together. You see your friends asking questions that they typically wouldn’t ask. You see people who may not have been your friends ask a question, and you can answer the question–now y’all are friends.”

Bhargava wanted to capture those relationships that are made in classes like this to feature in the film. Through class discussions and field trips to the Central High Museum, Bhargava was able to convey how the class worked together and bonded.  

“[Students are] smart; they’re direct. They cut through all of the BS that everybody else is doing. They cut through the political stuff, and they get to the heart of it. They know exactly what is going on here, and they know exactly why the forces might not want them to learn everything coming for them,” Bhargava said. “And I think it’s really important for everyone to hear that, and hear it from them as we talk around it a little bit.” 

Similarly, other students echoed Bishop’s sentiment of how the experience reshaped their understanding on how they can stand up for their beliefs. 

“I think it’s really cool, and it demonstrates how just promoting your opinion and saying what you believe is right and standing up for justice can lead you to something you never expected,” Reynolds said. 

For Walls, seeing students discover their own power was especially meaningful. 

“It made me feel great,” Walls said. “The kids had already been advocating for the class, like well before the video, and I just was really proud of them.” 

Beyond celebrating student advocacy, the film also helps address public misconceptions about the course itself. 

“I think there were so many questions about the class, and I think it shows the everyday workings of the class and how positive it is,” Walls said. “And I think that goes a long way in just helping the general public know about the class.” 

For Reynolds, the message of the film is part of a larger goal to inspire others to speak up about their beliefs.

“I hope they gain some courage to embody or voice their opinions because something so small can become something great, and you just never know. It’s not going to be every time, but if you plant enough seeds, one of them is sure to grow,” Reynolds said. 

These students, who have traveled around the country because of this film and their experience in the class, want to continue to see its impacts. 

“I pray that more and more people can see [the film] because I believe that the biggest societal impact that [it] could have is really on the youth who are currently in high school, rising up to be in high school, or younger than high school. Just people in school in general can learn that you don’t have to be Greta Thunberg to go out and make a difference,” Bishop said. 

The film aims to encourage students of all ages to take action with hopes of transcending generations. 

“Your little brain and your little voice is all it takes to be great, to make a change, to threaten evils that are trying to take away [your] freedoms. All it takes is you and your friends to be together and stay steadfast and strong,” Bishop said. “We were literally just going to class–that’s what it felt like–but seeing it put like this shows us that we weren’t just going to class; we were fighting a real battle, and I want everyone to know that you can fight real battles as well by just going to class.”