The Sky is Gray

Source catalog description

This description refers to material held by Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture. Visual details below describe the original material.

A feature film with the title The Sky Is Gray. It consists of two reels of 16mm acetate film with color and sound. The film is a coming of age story about a young boy named James (James Bond III) from a sharecropper family in 1940s Louisiana. Through various encounters during a trip to see the dentist about a toothache, James learns about race, religion, gender, and poverty. The film opens with an introduction by actor Henry Fonda who describes life in the slave quarters and Ernest Gaines’ rise to prominence. In the next scene, James and another boy are seen in bed discussing James' toothache. Despite his companion’s suggestions, James refuses to inform the adults in the quarters of his discomfort. Later, James accompanies his mother, Octavia (Olivia Cole), to the cane fields but is still visibly in pain from his toothache.

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