Across the Tracks
2015, 15 minutes
Two African American sisters grow up in racially charged 1960s Georgia, but one is born with fair skin. And when schools integrate in their small town, she decides to change her destiny - by passing for white.
Set in rural Georgia, Across the Tracks follows two sisters as they deal with the racial aggression that was rampant in 1960s America – and still is in a lot of the world today. Ella and Tara were born to African American parents, but Ella was born with fair skin. After a childhood of prejudice and bullying due to their “blackness”, Ella saw her chance to change her destiny when her school integrated with the white schools -- by passing for white. This shift was much more than the innocent exploration of teen identity. It fell across a highly volatile political landscape where black America was daily taking a stand against racial injustice with restaurant sit-ins and freedom rides. And more than that, her choice to become white went against everything her father, a civil rights activist, lived and died for. This film tackles issues of identity, colorism, peer pressure and bullying and explores the damage that one momentary lapse in judgement can have on an entire life.
