“You can’t be what you can’t see. We were told to prepare ourselves to become maids.”
– Dr. Joycelyn Elders on becoming a doctor
On October 5th, 2023, at the Clinton Library in Little Rock, AR, we will be celebrating the life of Dr. Joycelyn Elders and showcasing a film on her brilliant career and unique accomplishments to public health and social justice.
From the Cotton Fields to the White House
Produced and directed by a team of filmmakers who have won multiple Academy and Emmy awards, From the Cotton Fields to the White House tells the inspirational story of Dr. Joycelyn Elders, the daughter of sharecroppers and granddaughter of an escaped slave, who became the first black woman to serve as Surgeon General of the United States.
The film explores Dr. Elders’ extraordinary journey as the first Black woman to become U.S. Surgeon general, and her tireless advocacy for reproductive and sexual health and freedom. The film features interviews with her colleagues, family, patients and political friends and foes, providing an intimate and personal look into the life and work of one of America’s most remarkable public health leaders.
Woven through the documentary is Dr. Elders’ powerful account of how she overcame poverty, racism and sexism on her path to becoming Surgeon General, including stories exclusive to our film, which Dr. Elders has never told before.
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Dr. Elders describes the hostility she faced during her confirmation hearings when many of her Senate questioners didn’t seem to realize that she was actually an M.D. And she relates this experience to the disrespect often shown to prominent Black women, including Michelle Obama, Anita Hill and recently appointed Supreme Court Justice, Ketanji Brown Jackson.
With a level of depth and specificity that she told us she has never gone into before in an interview, Dr. Elders takes us through the controversies that arose out of her controversial positions on teenage pregnancy, sex education, the distribution of condoms (she responds to being labeled the “Condom Queen”), and the legalization of drugs – when she became Surgeon General.
And she speaks with extraordinary candor about personal tragedies, including her son’s drug addiction and arrest for selling drugs to a friend who has become a paid police informant – possibly part of a political hit on President Clinton.
We also filmed Dr. Elders speaking to a group of young black women, who are current Medical School graduates inspired by her story. And the interview will bring the story up-to-date and full circle. Since leaving her post as Surgeon General, Dr. Elders has returned to the University of Arkansas still fighting to educate policymakers and the nation on a broad range of medical issues, including social justice for the LGBTQ community, and racial equity in medicine – she is the spokesperson for the organization Changing the Face of Medicine, working to increase the percentage of black doctors in the United States.
Additionally, we filmed interviews with Dr. Elders husband Oliver and her brother Chester, which beautifully augment and fill out her biography. We filmed Dr. Elders birthplace and the fields where she picked cotton in Schaal, AK, at the school where she was valedictorian, and we captured the signs at Philander Smith college announcing the Joycelyn Elders School of Medicine.
Dr. Elders finally gives us the inside story of how she was ultimately forced to resign from her position as Surgeon General due to the fallout from her outspoken views.
“It is often easier for our children to obtain a gun than it is to find a good school.”
Dr. Joycelyn Elders
From the Cotton Fields to the White House is very much a contemporary story. Dr. Elders’ role as a modern visionary, and the controversy generated by her views on a wide range of public health issues, including abortion and reproductive health, echo across society today. The film is our opportunity to create the definitive account of Dr. Elders’ life and work, which led Time Magazine to name her one of the 100 most influential women of the 20th century.
The project is proud to bring together a distinguished group of filmmakers. Stuart Sender and Malcolm Clarke, who have won and been nominated for multiple Academy and Emmy awards are producing and directing the film.
The film’s Co-producer, Sonnee Weedn, PHD, is a Clinical and Forensic Psychologist and the author of Many Blessings, A Tapestry of African American Women which features a chapter about Dr. Elders that was the inspiration for this project.
Director of Photography Nick Higgins filmed the Academy-Award winning OJ: Made in America. And Atanas Gorgiev, producer and editor of Honeyland, the only film ever to be nominated for Academy Awards for best documentary and best international feature, will edit the movie.
The project has raised initial funds and conducted interviews with Dr. Elders and her family in Little Rock. Our goal is to raise funds to complete the project, which includes money for marketing and distribution. Contributions can be made as tax deductible contributions or equity investment through our fiscal sponsor, Partnership For Change.