Leveling Lincoln
The doors are closed. There are no more screenings of this film.
Synopsis: Leveling Lincoln, tells the story of the children who lived the history behind the landmark desegregation case of Taylor vs. Board of Education of New Rochelle, NY – 1961. This case branded the city the “Little Rock of the North” in the press from California to Canada. It became a pivotal case that brought the Civil Rights struggle to the “tolerant” North East. With the best of intentions, parents sent their small children into white schools. Leveling Lincoln explores the intended and unintended consequences of this seminal case.
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Tinks Lovelace
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Director's Statement
Leveling Lincoln is an attempt to save a piece of Civil Rights History in and era of erasing these struggles from our classrooms. It is my small contribution to recording what I could and getting the stories to film. The Black children who rode the buses to my elementary school were part of the struggles to create equal opportunity in education in America wherever it was being denied. But with very little guidance, children were expected to shoulder the burden of social change and the painful consequences of social upheaval of the 1960s. They faced extraordinary circumstances and I for one was the better for it to have an integrated school experience from Kinder- 12th grade. I walk in gratitude every day for it. This film is only a small piece of this history. There are many more stories than 74 minutes can capture. I hope it start a research journey for many others to explore more, to read more, and to be more understanding.
Director's Bio
Arden Teresa Lewis’ first feature, Leveling Lincoln has been screened in over a dozen film festivals. It has won awards in half of them including the Harlem International Film Festival New York Vision Awards in 2022. We are actively searching for underwriters to prepare our PBS one hour version of our film for Educational Distribution through NETA. Her feature script, Gravel Road, was a 2019 finalist at Manhattan Film Fest, Big Apple Film Fest and the Lady Filmmakers Festival in Beverly Hills, and semi-finalist at the Ojai Film Festival 2022. She directed The Night Forlorn, Best Production of a Play at the 2018 Valley Theatre Awards. Her short films, Monday’s Child and Trellis & Vine have earned Laurels from London to Long Beach. She received the Lilian Nesburn Award from the Beverly Hills Theatre Guild for her play, Grandma Good and was a semi-finalist for the Jane Chambers Award with her play, Baby Dreams. Little Rhonda, was produced at Theatre Geo and is part of the Audrey Skirbal Kenis Theatre Archives at the Los Angeles Central Library. She teaches full time in the Los Angeles Unified School District and holds a BA in theatre from UCLA.
