Excerpt of Review of 
Sister Becky's Baby 

. . . Linda Carter and the Neuse Community Screen Players have given us a live-action video of one of Charles Chesnutt's short stories, Sister Becky's Baby.

Chesnutt, along with Paul Laurence Dunbar, was one of the first African-American authors to gain national recognition.  He lived and worked in Fayetteville from 1866 to 1884.  Many of his short stories are based on folktales told by North Carolina slaves and illustrate the resourcefulness slaves used when dealing with their masters. . . .

The Neuse Community Screen Players, a group modeled after community theater but formed expressly to make films and videos, has done an excellent job in bringing the story to video.  Tolya Adams, as Becky, and Alicia Alexander, as the Conjure Woman, are particularly good in their roles.

. . . [The production] is technically and artistically well above many non-theatrical videos.  Libraries building North Carolina video collections should definitely consider purchase of Sister Becky's Baby.   Students will enjoy hearing the actors use local place names like Robeson Count, Bladen Country, and the Wilmington Road as they enjoy a good story well told.  Programmers could pair this video with Direct Cinema's similar Gullah Tales, or use it with one of Tom Davenport's Appalachian Jack Tales videos to compare and contrast the white and the African-American viewpoints in folktales.  Public librarians interested in material expressing the African-American experience will want the video to circulate to patrons.

Ms. Carter and the Screen Players are to be commended for their efforts, as are the North Carolina Arts Council and the Kinston Community Council for the Arts, which helped with funding.  We need more North Carolina productions like this one.

Sherrie Antonowicz,
Greensboro Public library.
North Carolina Library Association,
Audio Visual Committee.
Fall issue, 1996, North Carolina Libraries

Reviews from Educators and Librarians

• I will be teaching American Literature with an emphasis on folklore at Christ Church College in Canterbury, England in the Fall of '96.  I will be taking this with me. It possesses a directness and, at the same time, subtlety, which means that I don't get bored showing it, and that it works on all kinds of levels, making it appropriate for grade schoolers all the way to graduate students.  Karen Keres, MA, Professor of English, William Rainey Harper College, Palatine, IL. 

• You've created a beautiful and valuable interpretation of this material that I'm sure will find its way into classrooms around the country. Sandra Stone, MA, Educator, Suder Elementary School, Chicago, IL.

• I watched the tape with my class . . . they were mesmerized by the story!  I think the issue of separation from family is a major one for many children these days.  Susan Jicha, MA, Educator, Dawes Elementary School. Evanston, IL.

• Thank you for a worthwhile video. Kay Stockdale, AV Librarian, Accelerated Learning Center, Asheville, NC.

Reviews from Children

•  I liked the part when it showed how the slaves felt when they lost their  family.  My favorite part is when Becky got her baby back.  Chelsea Short, Dawes Elem., Evanston, IL.
• I thought this was a much better movie for Black History Month than anything else we've seen.  Melissa Best, West Greene Elementary School, Snow Hill, NC. 
• Sister Becky's Baby was an emotional film.  I'm emotional myself.  I nearly cried. Latacia, Dawes Elem., Evanston, IL.
• I like how it was filmed in famous historical places in North Carolina. Ryan Hilliard, Dawes Elem., Evanston, IL.
• It's interesting and very emotional.  I really felt upset when Becky was sold, and happy when Becky was reunited with her baby.  Blair Devine, Dawes Elem., Evanston, IL. 
• It was a prejetest (sic) time.  They traded horses for black people.  Taylor Lambert, Dawes Elem., Evanston, IL. 
• I think that the story was sad, yet happy and easy to understand.  Stephanie Hawkins, Dawes Elem., Evanston, IL.

Institutions Circulating
Sister Becky's Baby

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