Thelma Straight’s brother was just 16 when he was shot and killed, a tragedy that had a crippling effect on her family life. Straight – a teacher, author and mother of three – is the main storyteller in the documentary series “Road Scholars.” In 2009 her own son was turning 13 and the odds were stacked heavily against young Black men – even as pop culture was glamorizing drugs, prison, violence, and gang life.

Straight wanted to help the next generation of Black men to find a less treacherous life path. Armed with an oral history grant, she taught 12 at-risk adolescent boys how to conduct audio interviews and took them on the road to record conversations with older African American men from all walks of life. The 40 interviewees included recovering addicts and former felons, a mental health counselor, a Tuskegee Airman, as well as an Air Force hero-turned-civil rights leader and the first Black sheriff elected in Florida since the Reconstruction era – both men also survivors of a bloody attack by white supremacists.

Nowadays the young men have different questions as they come of age in an America that is turning back the clock. In 2023 “Road Scholars” reunites the two generations seeking answers for how to survive as a Black man in America. Some of the older and younger participants come together for conversations about what they learned over the years, and what they need to know in order to navigate an America that increasingly resembles the world that confronted the older generations.

Watch the series:    • Road Scholars  

“Road Scholars” is a four-part digital series produced by Investigative Media Group, Inc. in association with The WNET Group's Chasing the Dream initiative.

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The WNET Group is the parent organization of THIRTEEN, WLIW21, NJ Spotlight News, ALL ARTS and operator of NJ PBS – media made possible by all of you.

Chasing the Dream: Poverty and Opportunity in America is a multiplatform public media initiative reporting on poverty, justice, and economic opportunity, and showcasing promising solutions.

Major funding for Chasing the Dream is provided by The JPB Foundation with additional funding from Sue and Edgar Wachenheim III.

Additional support for "Road Scholars" was provided by the Community Foundation for Northeast Florida.

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