Cornbread (Keith Wilkes) is an African-American youth who strives to escape his ghetto surroundings. He does so by becoming a high school basketball star--and the idol of the other youngsters in his community. On the verge of starting college on a scholarship, Cornbread is mistakenly killed by a police officer. Keith Wilkes, who plays the title role, was in real life an all-American at UCLA.
Cornbread, Earl and Me
, which was based upon Ronald Fair's novel
Hog Butcher
, marked the big screen debut of Laurence Fishburne.