Watch Children of the Dust

Children of the Dust is a made for television western drama miniseries that was released in 1995. It was directed by David Greene, and it was written by Joyce Eliason. It stars Sidney Poitier as Gypsy Smith, Michael Moriarty as John Maxwell, and Joanna Going as Rachel Maxwell. The supporting cast consists of Hart Bochner, Regina Taylor, Billy Wirth, Robert Guillaume, and Farrah Fawcett. The story is about several interweaving stories taking place in the Oklahoma region in the 1880s. The story begins introducing Gypsy Smith, played by Sidney Poitier. He is an African American, and he has Cherokee in his blood. He is a natural born leader, who is a bounty hunter. He leads an attack on Native Americans, and only one person survives. It is a young boy named White Wolf. Gypsy brings him to live with a white family. They change his name to Corby White. After this, Gypsy starts angering people when he helps black settlers move into their own community. The anger it causes creates a lot of tension between the white and black settlers. Gypsy leads the black settlers here to be the first land to be inhabited by black settlers as free people. It is a sensitive issue that causes a lot of arguments between the two sides. Meanwhile, Corby White is shown going through growing pains. He starts to fall in love with a white girl, but he feels guilty for two reasons. She is the daughter of the parents who took him in, and of course she is white. It makes him feel as if he is not true to himself, and wants to get in touch with his Cheyenne roots. The rest of the film is trying to work through conflict to feel accepted and true to yourself. Gypsy wants the black settlers to be free, while White Wolf wants to feel free and accepted too.