Wilmington-made Disney movie at center of Florida controversy after parent complains

A Disney movie about a civil rights icon that filmed in Wilmington a quarter-century ago is at the center of a controversy in Florida after a white parent complained about the film being shown to elementary school students.

Last week, multiple news outlets, including USA Today, The New York Times, CNN and NBC, reported that the movie "Ruby Bridges" could possibly be removed from the school curriculum in Pinellas County, home to the city of St. Petersburg.

The 1998 film is based on the real-life story of a 6-year-old girl in New Orleans who in 1960 became one of the first Black students to attend a white elementary school in the Crescent City. It depicts the ferocious pushback of white parents who did not want their children attending school with Blacks.

How a Wilmington-shot TV movie that originally aired Jan. 18, 1998, on ABC's "The Wonderful World of Disney" landed in the center of controversy more than 25 years later is quite the saga.

According to The Tampa Bay Times, a woman identified as Emily Conklin, who is the mother of a second grader in Pinellas County, filed a formal complaint saying "Ruby Bridges" teaches children that white people hate Black people and should not be shown to elementary school students. Conklin had already opted not to have her own child watch the movie in school when she made the complaint, according to reports.

According to the Tampa Bay Times, a school superintendent emailed Conklin saying the school system would no longer be showing the movie. Late last week the school system walked back that statement, according to the Times, saying it was a "miscommunication" and that the movie can continue to be shown until a "review committee" makes a recommendation on the issue.

According to a report from CNN, the review board voted Tuesday to allow the movie to continue to be shown.

The movie, directed by Euzhan Palcy from a script by Toni Ann Johnson, does show several scenes of angry white protestors using racial slurs and threatening violence against a 6-year-old Ruby Bridges, who is played by Chaz Monet. Those scenes were shot outside Williston Middle School and Gregory Elementary School in Wilmington, ironic considering that Williston was a high school for Black students during segregation.

"Ruby Bridges" also stars Lela Rochon and Michael Beach as Ruby's parents; Kevin Pollock as a military psychiatrist trying to help Ruby and her family through the ordeal; and Penelope Ann Miller as Ruby's kindly teacher.

The movie opens on the exterior of the Shuffler Center on Carolina Beach Road, which is currently the headquarters of Opera House Theatre Co. but was formerly an elementary school. In "Ruby Bridges" the building portrays a school for Black children.

Some Wilmington faces show up in the movie as well, including late Port City bluesman Charlie Lucas, who's in several scenes, and the actor Robin Dale Robertson, who plays a TV reporter.

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Robertson said he remembers boning up on his Louisiana accent to play the reporter, and he was especially excited to have the movie premiere on network TV.

"Being on a network television channel gave my parents, siblings, relatives and friends without cable the ability to see it," he said. "I was not expecting the presentation to be opened by President Bill Clinton and Disney's then-CEO Michael Eisner. That aspect in itself gave the story more import to me and I'll assume the viewing audience, as well."

He's gotten residual payments for his role ever since, Robertson said, like clockwork every February.

New Hanover County Schools spokesperson Russell Clark said he doesn't have a record of how often "Ruby Bridges" has been shown in area schools over the years, or if it has been shown at all.

This article originally appeared on Wilmington StarNews: Disney civil rights movie Ruby Bridges is 'under review' in Florida