"The Prep School Negro": film and discussion

On April 18, Friends School of Minnesota hosted a showing of  the film "The Prep School Negro" by Andre Robert Lee.  

A graduate of Germantown Friends School in Philadelphia, Lee received a full scholarship to the school at age 14. In the film, Andre journeys back to his adolescence and visits current day prep school students of color.  

During his April visit to the Twin Cities, Lee introduced his film to the evening audience and led a post-show discussion about his experiences. The event was open to the Twin Cities community.

The following day, Lee led a Friends School staff meeting and informal discussion with FSM's 7th and 8th grade students. This event was a wonderful opportunity for our community to talk openly about race, socio-economic status and privilege.  To learn more about the film, please visit Lee's website www.theprepschoolnegro.org

The Prep School Negro

André Robert Lee and his sister grew up in the ghettos of Philadelphia. Their mother struggled to support them by putting strings in the waistbands of track pants and swimsuits in a local factory. When Andre was 14 years old, he received what his family believed to be a golden ticket – a full scholarship to attend one of the most prestigious prep schools in the country. Elite education was Andre’s way up and out, but at what price? Yes, the exorbitant tuition was covered, but this new world cost him and his family much more than anyone could have anticipated.

 In The Prep School Negro, André takes a journey back in time to revisit the events of his adolescence while also spending time with current day prep school students of color and their classmates to see how much has really changed inside the ivory tower. What he discovers along the way is the poignant and unapologetic truth about who really pays the consequences for yesterday’s accelerated desegregation and today’s racial naiveté.