Editing The Learning Tree (section)

{{Short description|1969 semi-autobiographical film by Gordon Parks}}
{{redirect|Learning Tree}}
{{Use American English|date=January 2025}}
{{Infobox film
| name           = The Learning Tree
| image          = The Learning Tree Poster.jpg

| caption        =
| director       = [[Gordon Parks]]
| producer       = Gordon Parks
| screenplay     = Gordon Parks
| based_on       = {{Based on|''The Learning Tree''<br>1963 novel|Gordon Parks}}
| starring       = [[Kyle Johnson (actor)|Kyle Johnson]]<br>Alex Clarke<br>[[Estelle Evans]]<br>[[Dana Elcar]]<br>Mira Waters<br>[[Joel Fluellen]]<br>[[Malcolm Atterbury]]<br>[[Richard Ward (American actor)|Richard Ward]]
| music          = Gordon Parks
| cinematography = [[Burnett Guffey]]
| editing        = George R. Rohrs
|studio          = [[Warner Bros.-Seven Arts]]
| distributor    = Warner Bros.-Seven Arts
| released       = {{Film date|1969|08|06}}
| runtime        = 107 minutes
| country        = United States
| language       = English
| gross          = $1.5 million <small>(rentals)</small><ref>"Big Rental Films of 1969", ''[[Variety (magazine)|Variety]]'', 7 January 1970, pg 15.</ref>
}}

'''''The Learning Tree''''' is a 1969 American [[Coming-of-age story|coming-of-age]] film written, produced and directed by [[Gordon Parks]], who also scored the film. It depicts the life of Newt Winger, a teenager growing up in Cherokee Flats, Kansas, in the 1920s and chronicles his journey into manhood marked with tragic events. Based on Parks' 1963 semi-autobiographical novel of the same name, ''The Learning Tree'' was the first film directed by a black filmmaker for a [[Major film studios|major American film studio]], [[Warner Bros.-Seven Arts]].<ref name="mitchellinterview" />

In 1989, ''The Learning Tree'' was among the first group of 25 films selected by the [[Library of Congress]] for preservation in the United States [[National Film Registry]] for being "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant".<ref>{{cite news|date=September 19, 1989|title=ENTERTAINMENT: Film Registry Picks First 25 Movies|url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1989-09-19-mn-347-story.html|work=[[Los Angeles Times]]|location=Washington, D.C.|access-date=April 22, 2020}}</ref>