Local, USA

Road Scholars

By Robbie Gordon. A production of Investigative Media Group, Inc. in association with The WNET Group’s Chasing the Dream initiative.

PREMIERING MONDAY, JANUARY 13 at 9/8c

In 2009, twelve at-risk Black teenage boys traveled the country to interview Black men from all walks of life, hoping the lessons they learned might keep them from the streets. More than 14 years later, they're coming of age in a changing America, and they want to know how they can avoid becoming another statistic.

When the Road Scholars project first began, the odds were stacked heavily against young Black males. Thelma Straight, an educator and mother, knew what they were up against -- her brother had been shot and killed when he was 16 and the tragedy had a crippling effect on her family. She wanted to help the next generation avoid the same fate, and so she chose 12 boys who were all vulnerable to peer pressure. She taught them how to conduct interviews, and took them on the road to record conversations with older Black men who might serve as role models…or cautionary tales.

Now that these boys are young men, they have very different questions when they reunite with the older generation -- what will it take to survive as a Black man in a country trying to turn back the clock on tolerance and race?