# Our Friend, Martin

Our Friend, Martin is a 1999 American direct-to-video animated children's educational film about Martin Luther King Jr. and the Civil Rights Movement. Produced by DIC Entertainment, L.P. and Intellectual Properties Worldwide and distributed by 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment under the CBS/Fox Video label, it was released three days before Martin Luther King Jr.'s 70th birthday and was the final release under the CBS/Fox Video name before it was retired. The film follows two friends in middle school who travel through time, meeting Dr. King at several points throughout his life. It featured an all-star voice cast and was nominated for an Emmy Award in 1999 for "Outstanding Animated Program (For Programming More Than One Hour)".

## Plot

Miles Woodman, an African-American boy who is a fan of Hank Aaron and attends Martin Luther King Jr. Middle School, is doing poorly academically, and his teacher, Mrs. Clark, tells him that he may have to repeat sixth grade if his grades do not improve. Miles and his class visit Martin's childhood house, which has become a museum dedicated to him. He and his white best friend, Randy Smith, explore Martin's bedroom but are caught by the museum's curator, Mrs. Peck, who is winding an old watch.
After holding Martin's baseball glove, Miles and Randy are transported to 1941 and encounter a 12-year-old Martin playing with his white friends, Sam and Skip Dale, until their mother reprimands them for integrating with "coloreds". Martin explains to Miles and Randy that her hatred of black people is because she sees them as "different", but that violence would make things worse. They are then transported to 1944 and meet a 15-year-old Martin on a segregated train, who explains that blacks and whites cannot integrate and must be kept separate. While having dinner with Martin's family, they look in his room after he leaves to make rounds with his father and are transported to 1956, where they meet Martin in his 20s, working as a minister at a church. While holding a meeting about the Montgomery bus boycott, which began after Rosa Parks was arrested for refusing to give up her seat on a bus, he is informed that his house has been bombed and returns home to find that his wife and newborn daughter have escaped unharmed. His friend Turner announces his plan to attack the perpetrators in retaliation, but Martin stops him, reminding the crowd of Mahatma Gandhi peacefully standing his ground to drive the British colonies out of India and Jesus' teachings on loving one's enemies. Miles and Randy are then transported to the Birmingham riot of 1963 and witness firefighters and police officers, under the orders of Bull Connor, spraying black protesters with fire hoses and releasing German Shepherds to attack them before arresting them.
Miles and Randy are transported back to the museum; at school the next day, they tell Mrs. Clark about the events leading up to Martin's work before watching a videotape of his work. After school, their classmates, Latina girl Maria Ramirez and white boy Kyle Langon, decide to investigate how they got the information. When they arrive at the museum, Mrs. Peck allows them to stay, but warns them that interfering with the past can affect the present. Maria and Kyle are transported with them to the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom and meet Martin in his 30s, along with a young Mrs. Clark. When they return, they discover that Martin was assassinated; to save him from this fate, they travel to 1941 and bring a 12-year-old Martin to the present. However, only Miles and Martin return together and the present is altered: the museum is burnt down, Randy and Kyle are racists and no longer friends with or know Miles, Miles' bus driver, Mr. Willis, is racist and refuses to allow black students to ride the bus, their school is segregated and named after Robert E. Lee, its principal, Mr. Harris, is racist and mistreats Mrs. Clark, Maria works as a maid and does not speak English, and Miles and his mother live in poverty.
Martin surmises that him leaving his time created an alternate timeline where his civil rights work never happened. Realizing that he must return to his own time, Martin gives Miles his watch and bids him farewell despite him warning him of his assassination, and the timeline returns to normal after he is killed at the motel. Miles reunites with Randy, Maria, and Kyle, and Mrs. Peck tells him that while they cannot change the past, they can change the future for the better. Miles receives an A on his history project, allowing him to progress to seventh grade, and he and his friends vow to continue Martin's work.

## Voice cast

* Robert Ri'chard as Miles Woodman, a baseball fan who is struggling academically.
* Lucas Black as Randy Smith, Miles' white best friend.
* Dexter King as Martin Luther King Jr. at age 34, when he delivered his "I Have a Dream" speech on August 28, 1963, which in the film is shown through archival audio.
** LeVar Burton as Martin Luther King Jr. at age 27, when he worked as a minister and his house burnt down.
** Jaleel White as Martin Luther King Jr. at age 15, when he explained the boycott situation to Miles and Randy.
** Theodore Borders as Martin Luther King Jr. at age 12. This Martin is the one who encounters Miles, Randy, Maria, and Kyle Langon for the first time while playing baseball. He also is the one responsible for being brought to the future and changing and altering the events that should've happened and thus, knows his other selves from the following timelines and realizes he must go back to restore the timeline.
* Jessica Garcia as Maria Ramirez, Miles' Latina friend.
* Zachary Leigh as Kyle Langon, who bullies Miles but later becomes his friend.
* Ed Asner as Mr. Harris, the principal of Martin Luther King Middle School. Though not racist, except in the alternate timeline created by Martin traveling to the present, he disapproves of Miles' behavior when he realizes he is failing his grades and threatens to repeat 6th grade unless he passes history class.
* Angela Bassett as Mrs. Woodman, Miles' mother.
* Danny Glover as the Train Conductor of the segregated train that Martin took to get home in 1944.
* Whoopi Goldberg as Mrs. Peck, the owner of the Martin Luther King museum.
* Samuel L. Jackson as Turner, Martin's good friend.
* James Earl Jones as Martin Luther King Sr., Martin Luther King Jr.'s father.
* Ashley Judd as Mrs. Dale, a mother who disapproves her two sons playing with Martin due to his color.
* Richard Kind as Mr. Willis, the school's bus driver who is nicknamed "Wild Man Willis" due to his reckless driving when picking up students. The alternate universe has him forbid blacks from riding the bus, but is able to navigate safely through the streets.
* Yolanda King as Christine King, Martin Luther King Jr.'s sister.
* Susan Sarandon as Mrs. Joyce Clark, Miles' teacher.
* John Travolta as Mr. Langon, Kyle's father.
* Adam Wylie as Sam Dale/Skip Dale, a group of brothers who play with Martin until they're reprimanded by their mother for befriending "coloreds".
* Oprah Winfrey as Coretta Scott King, Martin Luther King Jr.'s wife.
* Frank Welker as Bull Connor/Chihuahua/German Shepherds; Bull Connor was the Commissioner of Public Safety who went against the Civil Rights Movement, as well as using police officers and firefighters to threaten protesters during the Birmingham Riot of 1963; the Chihuahua is a dog that scares off Kyle Langon whilst chasing Miles to the bus stop, while the German Shepherds are the dogs that attack the protesters during the riots.
* Nicole Palacio as Parker Marie
* Jess Harnell as Reporter #1/Demonstrator #1
* Joe Lala as Reporter #2/Demonstrator #2
* John Wesley as Man/Demonstrator #3
* Elizabeth Primm as Old Woman/Demonstrator #4
* Jodi Carlisle as Additional voices

## Soundtrack

Motown Records released a soundtrack album, including the talents of Diana King, Sheryl Crow, The Jackson 5, Salt-N-Pepa, Montell Jordan, 702 and Stevie Wonder. The soundtrack also features a cover of "Ain't No Mountain High Enough" by Debelah Morgan, which combined the Marvin Gaye/Tammi Terrell and Diana Ross versions.

## Production

In September 1997, it was reported that DIC Entertainment would be producing their first direct-to-video animated special about the life of civil rights activist Martin Luther King Jr.. DIC partnered with 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment and voiced hope it would become a perennial viewing for Martin Luther King Jr. Day.

### Casting

Whoopi Goldberg, Danny Glover, James Earl Jones, Diane Keaton, Angela Bassett, Samuel L. Jackson, Oprah Winfrey, Jaleel White and LeVar Burton were announced as the celebrity voice talent featured in the film while King himself would be voiced by his son Dexter King.