12/02/2025
GIVING TUESDAY!
PLEASE SUPPORT -- Vision, Voice, Victory: The Dr. Joycelyn Elders’ Story
The Evolution of an Inspirational Story
In 2011, I wrote a book entitled, Many Blessings: A Tapestry of Accomplished African American Women. The book was an anthology of stories of the lives of thirty amazing women. The stories were all wonderful in their own diversity, and I divided them into several themes. One of the stories that particularly stood out was that of our former Surgeon General, Dr. Joycelyn Elders.
Her story of being the eldest of eight children born to sharecroppers in rural Arkansas, the granddaughter of an escaped slave, graduating first in her high school class, which brought her a scholarship to Philander Smith College in Little Rock, where she had never been; and her amazing journey through college, the Army, medical school, pediatric research at the University of Arkansas, and eventual appointments to direct the Arkansas Health Department and ultimately to become the first Black Surgeon General of the United States of America, seems to be a story that needs to be told to a larger audience.
Dr. Elders’ groundbreaking work in public health: her efforts to combat HIV/AIDS, reduce teenage pregnancy, promote health education, distribute condoms, advocate for gun control and sensible drug legalization, led then-Governor Bill Clinton to appoint her Director of the Arkansas Department of Health - and then to nominate her for Surgeon General when he became president.
I began thinking about a documentary film, but how to do it? I didn’t know. I was introduced to two men who helped me enormously as I fumbled to make this dream a reality. The first was the former Dallas Cowboys football star, Thomas “Hollywood” Henderson. Thomas said he would contact his own filmmaker and make a deal that I could afford. The second was Robert Rooks, who was introduced to me by a high school football coach. Robert said he would help me get the money to make a brief film about Dr. Elders. He was a fan of hers.
A 16-minute film was made, but the larger dream of a full documentary was still waiting. Philander Smith College called and asked if I would premiere my short film at the kick-off for their fund-raising for the Dr. Joycelyn Elders School of Allied and Public Health. I agreed, and on December 16, 2021, the premiere took place with the President of Philander Smith College, the Chancellor of the medical school at the University of Arkansas and other luminaries speaking.
It was a particular joy to receive a letter from President Bill Clinton congratulating Dr. Elders on the making of this film and saying that he and Hilary had watched it. It was the first time that he had spoken to her since asking for her resignation so long ago.
When I got home from that event, Deborah Santana contacted me and said that she would help me with the task of forming an advisory board, getting a fiscal sponsor and an accomplished filmmaker. I did all of that, forming an impressive board, asking The Partnerships for Change in San Francisco to be our fiscal sponsor and asking Stuart Sender and Malcolm Clarke of Balcony Films to create this documentary.
Stuart has been nominated for Academy Awards, been nominated for and received Emmy Awards and has interviewed and worked with such people as Nelson Mandela and Prince (now King) Charles, to name just two.
I was able to raise sufficient funds to hire Academy Award winning cinematographer, Nick Higgins, and his sound engineer, Eugene Thompson, and assistant, David Smoler, to accompany Stuart Sender and I to Little Rock to spend five days filming Dr. Elders, her husband, Coach Oliver Elders, and brother, the Rev. Chester Jones. The crew filmed with a drone over Dr. Elders’ childhood home, the cotton fields, her high school and Philander Smith University. We got excellent footage for the documentary.
The film offers the opportunity to tell the story of how Dr. Elders has lived her unique version of the American dream: attending the (segregated at that time) University of Arkansas Medical School as just one of three Black students, allowed to attend classes with her fellow white students, but not to eat with them in the ‘whites-only’ dining room. Incredibly, Dr. Elders would later become the Medical School’s first Black professor.
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.
Dr. Elders also gives us the inside story of how she ultimately was forced to resign from her position as Surgeon General due to the fallout from her outspoken views.
This documentary is a compelling story, a history lesson, a source of hope and inspiration for a general audience, and marginalized people everywhere. The Tawani Foundation in Chicago, IL, has provided a Challenge Grant of $300,000. My Advisory Board and I are busy raising money to receive this match. It is for this reason that I am reaching out to you in hopes that you and/or your organization can help to provide funds toward this matching grant.
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 our society today. The film is an 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.
If you have further questions, please contact me. On this Giving Tuesday I am asking you to make a tax-deductible contribution for the completion of this important work, please go to:
www.4giving.com/donation/BEF3
Thank-you for the support you can offer. This is a crucial time in our nation’s history and it seems to me that it is time for a story of vision and courage, which Dr. Elders, at 92 years of age, embodies. Whenever we put our various monies together for a particular cause, we become more effective than any one person because our money carries our energy and represents our own work in the world.
If you are interested in seeing a sample of the movie in the making, please go to my website, www.drsonneeweedn.com and choose Elders Movie under publications and media in the menu. We have changed the title, but the initial 16-minute video is there. If you even want more, check out the trailer! https://vimeo.com/1131813580 with password: SURGEN6 I’d love to have your thoughts!
I’m grateful for all or YOU!
