Editing The Learning Tree (section)

==Background==
The film ''The Learning Tree'' is based on Gordon Parks's 1963 semi-autobiographical novel of the same name. Parks also wrote the screenplay, and as a result, the script for the film did not deviate much from the book, except for featuring fewer characters for the sake of running time.<ref name="mitchellinterview">{{Cite web|url=http://soldierofcinema.blogspot.com/2011/03/reflections-on-gordon-parks-and.html|title=Soldier of Cinema: Reflections on Gordon Parks and The Learning Tree. My Interview with Kyle Johnson|last=Mitchell|first=Robert A.|date=2011-03-11|website=Soldier of Cinema|access-date=2018-09-12}}</ref> In addition to being the screenwriter, he was the director, producer, and music composer. Burnett Guffey served as cinematographer, and Parks was assisted by Jack Aldworth and Fred Giles.<ref name="tcm">{{Cite web|url=https://www.tcm.com/tcmdb/title/81119/the-learning-tree#credits|title=The Learning Tree (1969) - Full Credits - TCM.com|website=Turner Classic Movies|language=en|access-date=2017-12-08}}</ref> Parks tried to include as many black technicians as possible on the film.<ref name="mitchellinterview" />

Parks personally chose Kyle Johnson to play the character of Newt after a brief meeting with him in a Beverly Hills hotel. However, during the meeting, he gave no indication that he wanted to cast Johnson. Johnson kept getting called for screen tests, and after the fourth test, he learned that he had been hired and that the tests were meant to gauge the abilities of the other actors, not him. Johnson characterized the audition process as "not normal".<ref name="mitchellinterview" />

According to Turner Classic Movies, the original name of the film was ''Learn, Baby, Learn'', then it was changed to its current name.<ref name="tcm" /> The current title appears to be taken from a line in the film, one that Sarah Winger tells her son Newt: "Let Cherokee Flats be your learning tree."