https://www.foxcarolina.com/2022/10/07/upstate-urban-league-partners-with-writerdirector-film-black-medical-pioneer By Arthur Mondale Published: Oct. 6, 2022 at 10:38 PM EDT GREENVILLE, S.C. (FOX Carolina) - For 50 years the Urban League of the Upstate has empowered communities most at risk. The list includes health and wellness, education and work force development, but now it’s adding film making. Do you know the name Dr. Edward E. McClaren? He was a medical pioneer in a racially segregated Greenville well known for prenatal care. If you still don’t know who he is. There’s a new partnership that says people living in 70 countries soon will. Traffic at the intersection of Wardlaw Street and Academy in Greenville is steady. But amid the high rises is a unique piece of property. “If you didn’t need the services of Dr. McClaren in the Jim Crow era of the 1950′s – you wouldn’t know,” said Dr. Gail Wilson Awan, Urban League of the Upstate president and CEO. Fox Carolina went to the main Greenville Public Library to scour the books, microfilm and biography files looking for answers. “You can’t say it didn’t happen. And this building says that it happened that in spite of the fact that he was living in and working (certain conditions) – look what Dr. McClaren was able to accomplish,” Awan said. Awan is detailing how McClaren, a Howard Medical School educated doctor relocated to Greenville County to provide high quality medical care to Black patients who either couldn’t afford it – or wouldn’t be treated elsewhere. “He didn’t turn people away,” Awan said. He also built and opened the McClaren Medical Shelter right next door to his home in 1949. “There was a clinic built in Spartanburg for Blacks and it fire bombed twice. So, this was not an easy decision that this gentleman made,” said Edgar Michael Bravo, No Restrictions Entertainment writer and director. And this is just part of a layered story that inspires the seven-time film writer and director. “When courage was needed White doctors came to help at the clinic who were specialists in areas that Dr. McClaren did not have specialty in. They helped in surgeries – they helped in many things,” Bravo said. Bravo calls it a significant cross-racial approach to medical ethics. “In spite of the dangers to the White doctors also, there was a unity and respect to the doctors’ professionalism and a human heart that said no we’re not going to be intimidated by a small group of people who spread fear,” Bravo said. And it’s the humanity that brings the former Los Angeles based writer and director and the urban league together, they’ve united to work on a film centered on the life of the doctor, his wife and parents. “It’s not about the bricks and mortar. The bricks and mortar is there and that’s important, but it’s about the person,” Awan said. Cinema Bravo International in association with No Restrictions Entertainment says the film will be able to unite and inspire throughout the 70 different countries where it’ll play. The film should be in post-production in 2023. This is a story of a universal issue of not giving up on your dreams no matter what. No matter what,” Bravo said. “No matter how difficult it can be.” Casting discussions are being done already in the Upstate and Atlanta. Ten percent of the film’s profits will be donated to the Dr. McClaren Medical Preservation and Education Fund which is managed by the Urban League of the Upstate. Support Here: https://www.gofundme.com/f/mcclarenfilm ... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xkaljcjQylQ