The Color of Friendship
Encyclopedia
The Color of Friendship is a 2000 television film based on actual events about the friendship between two girls; Mahree & Piper, one from the United States
and the other from apartheid South Africa
, who learn about tolerance and friendship. The film was directed by Kevin Hooks
, based on a script by Paris Qualles
, and stars Lindsey Haun
and Shadia Simmons
.
) is a white South African who lives in a mansion
with her parents and little brother. They comfortably benefit from the system of apartheid without questioning its morality; Mahree's father, Pieter Bok, is a South African policeman who cannot hide his joy when Steve Biko
(a black South African man fighting against apartheid) is caught by the South African authorities.
They also have a black maid
, Flora (Melanie Nicholls-King), whom Mahree, in her racial unawareness, considers her best friend, not realizing that Flora is not satisfied with her life under apartheid. It is from Flora that Mahree hears about the weaver bird and its communal nest-building, which is used as a metaphor for the possibility of racial harmony that Mahree does not understand at the time.
Piper Dellums
(Shadia Simmons
) is a black girl who lives in Washington, D.C.
with her father, Congressman Ron Dellums
(Carl Lumbly), an outspoken opponent of the South African apartheid system and the oppression of black South Africans, her mother Roscoe Dellums (Penny Johnson) and two younger twin brothers Brandy (Anthony Burnett) and Erik (Erron Jackson). Piper is eager to play host to an African exchange student, who she assumes will be black; Mahree is likewise excited about spending a semester in America, where she assumes her host family will be white.
Their assumptions are not corrected until Piper and her mother meet Mahree at the airport and bring her home. They try to be welcoming despite their surprise, but Mahree reacts with horror bordering on panic, locking herself in Piper's bedroom and refusing to come out. Only the prospect of having to admit to her parents that the exchange program was a bad idea prevents her from going home.
Meanwhile, Piper is bitterly disappointed and disillusioned, and her father thinks the situation of having a racist white South African stay at their house is like "being a Jew and having the Gestapo
over." Eventually, Piper picks the lock on the door to bring Mahree some fries and a chocolate shake. While in the room, she lets Mahree know how angry she is, which gives Mahree her first notion of how offensive her behavior has been.
Mahree eventually decides to stay and in time Congressman Dellums gets used to the idea of Mahree staying. During her stay, Mahree sees people of different races getting along and realizes how much she and Piper have in common. The two become good friends. The two of them continue on to having a wonderful time at the mall, trying on different clothes and such.
Mahree is also forced to overcome her own inclination to see her host family as servants and strange black people as threatening, and learns to live among them day to day. However, she still refuses to admit that the system in her own country is oppressive and wrong, or that her own family has a hand in perpetuating it.
When Steve Biko
, an African working for equality in South Africa, is killed by South African police, there are mass protests around the world, including at the South African embassy in Washington, D.C.
Embassy diplomats come to the Dellumses' house while Mr. Dellums is at work and take Mahree with the intention of sending her back to South Africa, presumably to prevent her seeing the protests and rallying against the South African government.
In response, Congressman Dellums goes to the South African embassy threatening to announce to the press that the embassy kidnapped Mahree from her host family, and successfully gets her back. Mahree expects everything to be back to normal after this incident, not realizing the significance of Biko's killing or what it means to Piper.
The two have a fight about whether Mahree has really changed at all, and Mahree finally sees the connection between her experiences in America and the situation in South Africa. When she returns home at the end of the school semester and is greeted by her family, she shows Flora a freedom flag sewn inside her coat, signifying her decision to side with the black liberation movement.
An epilogue-like scene at the end of the movie shows Mahree with the Dellumses at an African pride event back in America. Ron Dellums delivers a speech that includes the weaver-bird story, as told to him by "a new friend from South Africa."
The weaver bird story is about a bird who makes nests all throughout the trees of South Africa. In these nest families of all different colored birds care for each other and took care of each other, even though they had no relation. This story was told by Flora to Mahree, who then passed on the story to Mr. Dellums.
. Then, is mostly played every year during Black History Month
A VHS was released late in 2000, and included the film, as well as the music video for "Galaxy is Ours" from Zenon: The Zequel
. This has been long out of circulation, and Disney Channel rarely airs or sells DCOMS from before 2004.
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
and the other from apartheid South Africa
South Africa
The Republic of South Africa is a country in southern Africa. Located at the southern tip of Africa, it is divided into nine provinces, with of coastline on the Atlantic and Indian oceans...
, who learn about tolerance and friendship. The film was directed by Kevin Hooks
Kevin Hooks
Kevin Hooks is an American actor, and a television and film director; he is notable from his roles in Aaron Loves Angela and Sounder, but may be best known as Morris Thorpe from TV's The White Shadow....
, based on a script by Paris Qualles
Paris Qualles
Paris Qualles is an American screenwriter and television producer.Qualles was born in Harlem in New York City and raised in Long Branch, New Jersey. He attended Rutgers College where he majored in English literature and minored in Photography. He then went to UCLA for graduate school...
, and stars Lindsey Haun
Lindsey Haun
Lindsey Haun is an American actress and singer. She was nominated for a Young Artist Award for her role in the 2000 Disney Channel original movie The Color of Friendship as Mahree Bok, and has starred in the film Broken Bridges, for which she also recorded a portion of the soundtrack.- Personal...
and Shadia Simmons
Shadia Simmons
Shadia Simmons is a Canadian actress.-Career:Her first movie was Moonlight and Valentino, where she played the part of "Jenny Morrow", the daughter of a character played by Whoopi Goldberg. She played in the Disney production A Saintly Switch and was cast in a number of Disney Channel Original...
.
Plot
Set in 1977, Mahree Bok (Lindsey HaunLindsey Haun
Lindsey Haun is an American actress and singer. She was nominated for a Young Artist Award for her role in the 2000 Disney Channel original movie The Color of Friendship as Mahree Bok, and has starred in the film Broken Bridges, for which she also recorded a portion of the soundtrack.- Personal...
) is a white South African who lives in a mansion
Mansion
A mansion is a very large dwelling house. U.S. real estate brokers define a mansion as a dwelling of over . A traditional European mansion was defined as a house which contained a ballroom and tens of bedrooms...
with her parents and little brother. They comfortably benefit from the system of apartheid without questioning its morality; Mahree's father, Pieter Bok, is a South African policeman who cannot hide his joy when Steve Biko
Steve Biko
Stephen Biko was a noted anti-apartheid activist in South Africa in the 1960s and 1970s. A student leader, he later founded the Black Consciousness Movement which would empower and mobilize much of the urban black population. Since his death in police custody, he has been called a martyr of the...
(a black South African man fighting against apartheid) is caught by the South African authorities.
They also have a black maid
Maid
A maidservant or in current usage housemaid or maid is a female employed in domestic service.-Description:Once part of an elaborate hierarchy in great houses, today a single maid may be the only domestic worker that upper and even middle-income households can afford, as was historically the case...
, Flora (Melanie Nicholls-King), whom Mahree, in her racial unawareness, considers her best friend, not realizing that Flora is not satisfied with her life under apartheid. It is from Flora that Mahree hears about the weaver bird and its communal nest-building, which is used as a metaphor for the possibility of racial harmony that Mahree does not understand at the time.
Piper Dellums
Piper Dellums
Piper Dellums is an author and producer, and the daughter of United States politician Ron Dellums.Her story about a white South African girl coming to live with her family in the 1970s titled "Simunye", Which is the Zulu word for "We Are One" was the basis for the Disney movie The Color of...
(Shadia Simmons
Shadia Simmons
Shadia Simmons is a Canadian actress.-Career:Her first movie was Moonlight and Valentino, where she played the part of "Jenny Morrow", the daughter of a character played by Whoopi Goldberg. She played in the Disney production A Saintly Switch and was cast in a number of Disney Channel Original...
) is a black girl who lives in Washington, D.C.
Washington, D.C.
Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly referred to as Washington, "the District", or simply D.C., is the capital of the United States. On July 16, 1790, the United States Congress approved the creation of a permanent national capital as permitted by the U.S. Constitution....
with her father, Congressman Ron Dellums
Ron Dellums
Ronald Vernie "Ron" Dellums served as Oakland's forty-fifth mayor. From 1971 to 1998, he was elected to thirteen terms as a Member of the U.S...
(Carl Lumbly), an outspoken opponent of the South African apartheid system and the oppression of black South Africans, her mother Roscoe Dellums (Penny Johnson) and two younger twin brothers Brandy (Anthony Burnett) and Erik (Erron Jackson). Piper is eager to play host to an African exchange student, who she assumes will be black; Mahree is likewise excited about spending a semester in America, where she assumes her host family will be white.
Their assumptions are not corrected until Piper and her mother meet Mahree at the airport and bring her home. They try to be welcoming despite their surprise, but Mahree reacts with horror bordering on panic, locking herself in Piper's bedroom and refusing to come out. Only the prospect of having to admit to her parents that the exchange program was a bad idea prevents her from going home.
Meanwhile, Piper is bitterly disappointed and disillusioned, and her father thinks the situation of having a racist white South African stay at their house is like "being a Jew and having the Gestapo
Gestapo
The Gestapo was the official secret police of Nazi Germany. Beginning on 20 April 1934, it was under the administration of the SS leader Heinrich Himmler in his position as Chief of German Police...
over." Eventually, Piper picks the lock on the door to bring Mahree some fries and a chocolate shake. While in the room, she lets Mahree know how angry she is, which gives Mahree her first notion of how offensive her behavior has been.
Mahree eventually decides to stay and in time Congressman Dellums gets used to the idea of Mahree staying. During her stay, Mahree sees people of different races getting along and realizes how much she and Piper have in common. The two become good friends. The two of them continue on to having a wonderful time at the mall, trying on different clothes and such.
Mahree is also forced to overcome her own inclination to see her host family as servants and strange black people as threatening, and learns to live among them day to day. However, she still refuses to admit that the system in her own country is oppressive and wrong, or that her own family has a hand in perpetuating it.
When Steve Biko
Steve Biko
Stephen Biko was a noted anti-apartheid activist in South Africa in the 1960s and 1970s. A student leader, he later founded the Black Consciousness Movement which would empower and mobilize much of the urban black population. Since his death in police custody, he has been called a martyr of the...
, an African working for equality in South Africa, is killed by South African police, there are mass protests around the world, including at the South African embassy in Washington, D.C.
Washington, D.C.
Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly referred to as Washington, "the District", or simply D.C., is the capital of the United States. On July 16, 1790, the United States Congress approved the creation of a permanent national capital as permitted by the U.S. Constitution....
Embassy diplomats come to the Dellumses' house while Mr. Dellums is at work and take Mahree with the intention of sending her back to South Africa, presumably to prevent her seeing the protests and rallying against the South African government.
In response, Congressman Dellums goes to the South African embassy threatening to announce to the press that the embassy kidnapped Mahree from her host family, and successfully gets her back. Mahree expects everything to be back to normal after this incident, not realizing the significance of Biko's killing or what it means to Piper.
The two have a fight about whether Mahree has really changed at all, and Mahree finally sees the connection between her experiences in America and the situation in South Africa. When she returns home at the end of the school semester and is greeted by her family, she shows Flora a freedom flag sewn inside her coat, signifying her decision to side with the black liberation movement.
An epilogue-like scene at the end of the movie shows Mahree with the Dellumses at an African pride event back in America. Ron Dellums delivers a speech that includes the weaver-bird story, as told to him by "a new friend from South Africa."
The weaver bird story is about a bird who makes nests all throughout the trees of South Africa. In these nest families of all different colored birds care for each other and took care of each other, even though they had no relation. This story was told by Flora to Mahree, who then passed on the story to Mr. Dellums.
Anachronisms
- The movie is set in 1977, but the first shot of the movie shows the Washington Monument with the scaffolding used for its renovation in 2000.
- In the final scene when Mahree returns to the farm, the car arriving at the farmhouse has the newer, yellow number plates. During the 1970s South African vehicle number plates were white text on a black background. Transvaal province was the first to use the new black on yellow plates in 1978.
- The light switches on the walls throughout the Dellums' home are all "Decora" rocker-style versus the classic toggle style, despite rocker wall switches being very uncommon for home installation during the time period of the movie.
Other Mistakes
- Mahree's home in South Africa appears to be next to an ocean, while Dundee, South Africa, located in KwaZulu-Natal where she is supposedly from, is not near the ocean.
TV and VHS Release
The movie was met with overwhelming praise, and was played on the Disney Channel several times throughout 2000 and 2001. After this, the channel stopped airing the movie for unknown reasons. However, beginning in 2006, Disney Channel began airing the movie annually in early February, to correlate with Black History MonthBlack History Month
Black History Month is an observance of the history of the African diaspora in a number of countries outside of Africa. Since 1976, it is observed annually in the United States and Canada in February, while in the United Kingdom it is observed in October...
. Then, is mostly played every year during Black History Month
Black History Month
Black History Month is an observance of the history of the African diaspora in a number of countries outside of Africa. Since 1976, it is observed annually in the United States and Canada in February, while in the United Kingdom it is observed in October...
A VHS was released late in 2000, and included the film, as well as the music video for "Galaxy is Ours" from Zenon: The Zequel
Zenon: The Zequel
Zenon: The Zequel is a 2001 Disney Channel Original Movie and the second installment of the Disney Channel's "Zenon" television film series, following the first installment, Zenon: Girl of the 21st Century, and preceding Zenon: Z3.-Plot:...
. This has been long out of circulation, and Disney Channel rarely airs or sells DCOMS from before 2004.
2001
- NAACP Image AwardNAACP Image AwardAn NAACP Image Award is an accolade presented by the American National Association for the Advancement of Colored People to honor outstanding people of color in film, television, music, and literature....
- Outstanding Youth or Children's Series/Special
- WGA AwardWriters Guild of AmericaThe Writers Guild of America is a generic term referring to the joint efforts of two different US labor unions:* The Writers Guild of America, East , representing TV and film writers East of the Mississippi....
- Children's Script Category, Paris Qualles
- Young Artist Awards
- Best Performance in a TV Movie (Drama) - Leading Young Actress, Shadia SimmonsShadia SimmonsShadia Simmons is a Canadian actress.-Career:Her first movie was Moonlight and Valentino, where she played the part of "Jenny Morrow", the daughter of a character played by Whoopi Goldberg. She played in the Disney production A Saintly Switch and was cast in a number of Disney Channel Original...
- Best Performance in a TV Movie (Drama) - Leading Young Actress, Shadia Simmons
2001
- DGA AwardDirectors Guild of AmericaDirectors Guild of America is an entertainment labor union which represents the interests of film and television directors in the United States motion picture industry...
- Outstanding Directorial Achievement in Children's Programs, Kevin Hooks
- Young Artist Awards
- Best Family TV Movie/Pilot/Mini-Series - Cable
- Best Performance in a TV Movie (Drama) - Leading Young Actress, Lindsey HaunLindsey HaunLindsey Haun is an American actress and singer. She was nominated for a Young Artist Award for her role in the 2000 Disney Channel original movie The Color of Friendship as Mahree Bok, and has starred in the film Broken Bridges, for which she also recorded a portion of the soundtrack.- Personal...