海角大神

For Karyn Parsons, storytelling has always been in her blood 鈥� even during her days playing the charmingly highfalutin Hilary Banks, older cousin of Will Smith, on the TV series 鈥淭he Fresh Prince of Bel-Air,鈥� and living in glossy Los Angeles as a successful 20-something actress.

It was her craving for tales of tenacious protagonists that led Ms. Parsons to create Sweet Blackberry, a children鈥檚 film production company dedicated to telling the unfamiliar but true stories of black Americans and bringing them to life through animation.

Her third and latest film, 鈥淒ancing in the Light,鈥� for instance, is about Janet Collins, who became the first and only African-American prima ballerina at New York鈥檚 Metropolitan Opera more than 60 years ago.

鈥淭hings that are really painful in history, in African-American history, I think a lot of people just shut [them] out,鈥� Parsons says while talking over cups of Earl Grey tea. Because Sweet Blackberry is still more or less a one-woman operation, she works mostly out of her home in the Brooklyn borough of New York. But on days like this, her fingers clack away on her laptop in the cafe down the street from her children鈥檚 school.

History can often seem dry and abstract , she says, 鈥渟o I wanted to do something that was engaging and pulled you in, in a way that kids know fairy tales.... I knew Little Red Riding Hood so well, but wouldn鈥檛 it be great if it was a story about a real person?鈥�

Unlike fairy tales, Parsons鈥檚 stories of little-known African-American heroes acknowledge the harsh historical contexts in which they take place. When writing the story of Collins, who grew up in the Jim Crow South, Parsons knew she had to delve into the complex issue of slavery in America, even though her intended audience is between the ages of 4 and 7.

At a time when schools rarely teach children anything about black Americans outside the Big Three 鈥� Frederick Douglass, Martin Luther King Jr., and Rosa Parks 鈥� Parsons wants to deepen and widen the scope of African-American narratives.

鈥淢ost [textbooks] cover times of great crisis and change for African-Americans 鈥� slavery, Reconstruction, and the civil rights movement,鈥� education expert Kathryn Walbert writes in a critique of Black History Month. 鈥淏ut they often fail to fully cover what happened in the lives of African-Americans in between those watershed events.鈥�

When black children grow up lacking a full knowledge of their history and culture, there are consequences, Parsons says. Few African-Americans work in science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) fields. According to the National Science Foundation, the percentage of black PhD candidates in the years between 2003 and 2013 has remained stagnant at just under 4 percent.

More than half a century after Collins performed on Broadway and the stage of the Metropolitan Opera, few ballet dancers are black. At the American Ballet Theatre, for example, only a handful are black out of the nearly 90 dancers. (In a big step forward, in 2015 Misty Copeland became the first African-American female principal dancer at the ABT.)

鈥淭here is a vacuum where certain elements of history and culture have not been shared鈥� with the next generation, says Collette Hopkins, former education director of the National Black Arts Festival. She now works with Parsons in community outreach for Sweet Blackberry.

鈥淚 hoped that my own children [wouldn鈥檛] have to wait until they were older to be exposed to African-American and African history and culture,鈥� she says.

As a child in Santa Monica, Calif., Parsons wasn鈥檛 a very good student, she says. She especially disliked history. But according to her mother, she was an avid reader. When Parsons was in her mid-20s, she finally read about the black poets and artists of the early 20th-century Harlem Renaissance, and she was galvanized.

鈥淢y husband knows so much about his history, about his Russian background,鈥� Parsons says of Alexandre Rockwell, who is an independent filmmaker. 鈥淎nd he feels empowered by the accomplishments of his ancestors. He knows so much about who they were and what they did, and he carries that with him. And for a lot of black people, that doesn鈥檛 exist.鈥�

鈥淏ut if you give that to people, and they can hold onto the champions that came before them,鈥� she says, 鈥渢hey feel like, 鈥楬ey, that鈥檚 me. I can do that, too. That鈥檚 what I come from. That鈥檚 what I鈥檓 made of.鈥� 鈥�

It was in the early 1990s when she first heard the story of Henry 鈥淏ox鈥� Brown from her mother. Louise Parsons, a librarian in Los Angeles, had just learned about the remarkable story of Brown, a slave who cleverly shipped himself to freedom in a box from Virginia to Philadelphia.

But it wasn鈥檛 until Karyn became pregnant with her first child, Lana, that the idea for Sweet Blackberry came to fruition. With her elated maternal instincts, and some help from the cast of 鈥淔resh Prince,鈥� she started the company and produced its first film, 鈥淪weet Blackberry Presents: Henry 鈥楤ox鈥� Brown鈥� in 2005. Two years later, she released 鈥淕arrett鈥檚 Gift,鈥� the story of Garrett Morgan, inventor of the modern traffic stoplight.

The films combine African-American history with lessons about overcoming obstacles, all in a format suitable for children.

Parsons has since assembled an impressive advisory board of experts in child psychology and media programming. Among them is Sherryl Graves, a psychology professor and dean at Hunter College in New York City.聽 鈥淜aryn鈥檚 approach of using real stories, real people 鈥� it鈥檚 tricky,鈥� Dr. Graves says. 鈥淵ou want these things to be ... positive but not saccharine.鈥�

R. Gregory Christie worked on the animation for two Sweet Blackberry films. 鈥淜aryn really digs deep. I鈥檓 honored to work with her,鈥� he says. 鈥淪he always has a vision.鈥�

But the animator would agree with Graves, who has consulted for many children鈥檚 TV shows including 鈥淪esame Street鈥� and 鈥淒iscovery Kids,鈥� that Sweet Blackberry鈥檚 most impressive feat is its universally appealing stories.

鈥淔ilms like these are important because they expand the universe of people that children can learn about,鈥� Graves says. 鈥淚t鈥檚 like there are three [famous black] people that every teacher knows, and they鈥檙e the three people that you get over and over and over again throughout your schooling when Black History Month comes along.鈥�

In this regard, the Sweet Blackberry movies, all three of which are now available for streaming on Netflix, are valuable to children of all races. 鈥淭hey鈥檙e not just African-American stories; they鈥檙e American stories,鈥� Parsons says.

鈥淭hese films,鈥� she goes on, 鈥渃an change children. They鈥檒l have a different view of the landscape of race. They look at their friends who look different from them, and they see the stories of people who are different from them.鈥�

Parsons and her team now are working on a fourth film about the aviator Bessie Coleman. But between fundraising, keeping up with social media, and doing myriad other tasks, the mother of two would also like to expand her efforts to get schools across the country to screen her movies. She has lesson plans drawn up to accompany the screenings.

鈥淭he truth is that African-Americans contributed tremendously to American history,鈥� says Louise in a phone conversation about her daughter鈥檚 work. 鈥淚t鈥檚 devastating when people don鈥檛 know [their history]. That鈥檚 why it鈥檚 important that these stories are documented and made available to everyone.鈥�

鈥� To learn more, visit .

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