Filmed over the course of six years and requiring two years of editing, “Raising Bertie,” a picture directed by Margaret Byrne, explores the lives of three young African-American men as they grow up in the small county of Bertie, North Carolina; an area where 62.5% of the population is African-American, 26% of the population lives below the poverty line and 27 prisons sit within a 100 mile radius. Byrne used the film to provide a window into the experiences of Bertie’s residents, noting a personal investment in the people and their situations. “They became like little brothers to me,” Byrne said, noting how difficult it could be to watch as the film’s subjects – “Junior”, Davonte and David – made detrimental life choices. However, Director of Photography and Co-Producer Jon Stuyvesant clarified that while the crew took an intimate interest in the film’s leads, they were nonetheless “documenting their lives … not there to ‘save the children.’” …show more content…
However, at one point in the film, the Hive is closed down, resulting in its student body being integrated into the public school system. While Superintendent Dr. William Crawford argues that Bertie County schools are capable of doing a better job educating young men than the Hive, the experiences of the students once they had transferred showed the contrary. This is supplemented by WalletHub’s data compilation, which confirmed that North Carolina is the worst state in the nation for teachers’ pay—something that has historically correlated with the quality of education of their