After growing up in inner city Los Angeles, Joe became the first member of his family to go to college when he enrolled at Stanford University. A practicing psychiatrist, Joe now lives in Brooklyn with his wife Michèle and his two sons.
A documentary 13 years in the making, American Promise provides a rare look into the lives of two middle class Black families as they navigate the ups and down of parenting and educating their sons.
trailer
Our goal is to empower boys, their parents, caregivers, and educators to help close the Black male achievement gap.
Age:
Topic:
Choose an age to jump in
Or use one of these tools to get involved
GreatSchools
"Our mission is to inspire and support families to champion their children's education - at school, at home and in their community."
GreatSchools uses the internet to engage parents in their child’s education. The national nonprofit maintains a website where parents can obtain information on issues related to finding schools, developing educated related parenting skills and accessing community resources.
Pages
Good Morning
close
Consistency of Activities
When a child sees that home activities and school activities are consistently important to the parent, it becomes consistently important to the child. - Dr. Chris Hickey, Sr.
close
When something has to give, what does your family do for a rushed breakfast?
close
Have Patience
"Be patient, remember that they’re children, and show them you love them."
close
Consistency of Activities
When a child sees that home activities and school activities are consistently important to the parent, it becomes consistently important to the child. - Dr. Chris Hickey, Sr.
close
When something has to give, what does your family do for a rushed breakfast?
close
Have Patience
"Be patient, remember that they’re children, and show them you love them."
Pages
Promises kept
Raising Black Boys to Succeed in School and in Life (Random House, 2014) by Joe Brewster, M.D., and Michele Stephenson with Hilary Beard
In this book we share what we learned along our journey that helped us to support our son in fulfilling his promise. We also reached out to more than 60 of the most accomplished researchers in the nation, experts who are performing cutting-edge studies on a wide variety of issues that impact the intellectual, social and emotional well-being of Black boys. Indeed a lot is known about how to create an environment in which a Black male will succeed.
Promises Kept presents 10 parenting and educational strategies that researchers have discovered can assist parents, educators, and other members of their proverbial Village to help Black boys become the happy, healthy, well-educated, well-developed people they are capable of being.
Available now on Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Indiebound, and iBookstore.
What is a promise club?
a group of parents committed to meeting together on a regular basis to support each other so that they can empower their own children to achieve success — academically, socially, and emotionally.
What is a Promise Club?
The Promises to Keep handbook will provide you with tools and tips on how to start a club.
Find a promise club
Register your group through Meetup for more tips, guidance, and communications with other clubs throughout the US.
The Promise Tracker
“We were sure that our son would encounter racial prejudice, issues related to socioeconomic class, and other difference-related challenges. But we had overcome those issues, and Idris could too. We would help him. We promised.”
— Joe Brewster, M.D., and Michele Stephenson
In 2014, American Promise will launch the Promise Tracker, a mobile app to support parents and caregivers of African-American boys. The Promise Tracker will allow parents to create teams and collaboratively set and monitor goals that will encourage the academic success of our young men.
Experience a video workshop for young men of color
Youth module
Designed to help build a more positive sense of identity, leadership, and academic success.
Resources
Need a curriculum, parenting tips, or some ways to start a dialogue about the film? Choose from the categories below to quickly find the resources that are right for you.
Parents
Educators
About American Promise
A documentary 13 years in the making, American Promise provides a rare look into the lives of two middle class black families as they navigate the ups and down of parenting and educating their sons.
Our goal is to empower boys, their parents, and educators to help close the Black male achievement gap.
The film will be release on PBS along with our parenting book, “Promises Kept: How to Help Black Boys Succeed in School and in Life,” by Random House in 2013.
About the Movement for Black Male Achievement
Help us tell this unique story that explores the specific challenges that middle class black boys face as they come of age. As we come to understand the challenges that are weighing on black middle class boys, we begin to understand how to set them on a stronger path moving forward, and that’s when we start to really make the American Promise come true.
Black boys in America are in crisis right now – particularly academically. The issues they are facing are bigger than public vs. private school. American Promise holds a magnifying glass to our son and his best friend to really explore the unique factors that they face as middle-class black boys coming of age at home, at school and in their community. Partner with us to tell this story, and help us shine a light on these issues. American Promise will be an important tool in encouraging all educational institutions to critically examine their approach with young men of color. We can’t solve problems until we understand the issues.
Meet The Filmmakers
Joe Brewster, M.D.
Michèle Stephenson
Born in Haiti to a Haitian father and Panamanian mother, Michèle is a first-generation college graduate who juggles her time between filmmaking, new media projects, and keeping tabs on her two energetic boys.
Supporting Partners
Made with the generous support of Impact Partners and its following members:
Brook & Shawn Byers
Chicken & Egg Pictures
Ian Darling
Abby Disney & Pierre Hauser
Embrey Family Foundation
Juliette Feeney-Timsit & Caroleen Feeney
Kevin & Donna Gruneich
Michael J. Levinthal
Russell Long
Debbie McLeod & Jay Sears
Gib & Susan Myers
Joan Platt & Hillary Margolis
Beth Sackle
Elizabeth & Margo King
John & Michael Steiner
Wadsworth & Wadsworth
Jamie Wolf
The Jacquelyn and Gregory Zehner Foundation
Advance the Promise Tour
a deep dive with the American Promise assets to discuss education equity and black male achievement. Want the tour to come to you city?Fill out your information here.Learn more here.
October 16, 2013
"Two incredibly rich coming-of-age tales... shining a light on both how far we have come in terms of race in America and how very far we still have to go.
"
October 17, 2013
"A new documentary, American Promise, follows the lives of two African-American families as they try to navigate a path for their young sons at The Dalton School—a prestigious, private school in New York City with predominately white student body.
"
October 31, 2013
"Sitting across from filmmakers Michele Stephenson and Joe Brewster is like being in the presence of the real-life Huxtables.
"
November 23, 2013
"...a truly powerful film, a nuanced discussion of race, parenting, child psychology, and the meaning of success.
"
November 27, 2013
"Ebony talks with the directors of the powerful film which examines the challenges our kids face in search of education.
"
December 17, 2013
"American Documentary | POV, as part of American Graduate: Let's Make It Happen, has awarded grants totaling $150,000 to 17 PBS stations to support local programming and community activities connected with the award-winning documentaries American Promise and Brooklyn Castle.
"
December 17, 2013
"Best Documentary “American Promise” (Rada Film Group)
"
February 19, 2014
"Through their son’s journey, the hardships of being an African-American boy growing up in today’s society are documented, and struggles of parenting are examined through an entirely new lens.
"
March 21, 2014
"Documentary charts struggle for fairness in elite US school
"
April 24, 2014
"The film exposes issues of racism and classism within the United States.
"
May 23, 2014
"Think of American Promise as an academic Hoop Dreams.
"
June 13, 2014
"Johns’ job is to identify the best practices to improve African American student achievement and then use those findings to dramatically improve outcomes across the country
"
Press Room
Choose from Trailers, Clips, and High-resolution photos or Download the press kit.
