Reginald, Davonte, and David—also known as Junior, Dada, and Bud, respectively—are black teenagers in rural Bertie County, North Carolina. Raising Bertie documents their trials and triumphs over six years as the young men repeat grades, search for jobs, and persevere. Along the way, they are aided by activist Vivian Saunders, whose innovative alternative high school, The Hive, provides a much-needed resource for an underserved community. In the spirit of other longitudinal portraits such as Hoop Dreams and the Up series, identity and opportunity play major roles as catalysts and foils for the process of coming of age. As they face adult challenges such as unemployment, discrimination, and poverty in addition to the customary demands of being a teenager, the young men seek empowerment via methods both innovative (The Hive) and traditional (football and fistfights). Over time, their once-parallel paths diverge, but boyhood and Bertie provide an enduring connection.  TM