The Water Is Wide is a 1972 autobiography blank">http://www.randomhouse.com/catalog/display.pperl?isbn=9780553268935 by _Pat Conroy and is based on his work as a teacher on Daufuskie Island, South Carolina, which is called Yamacraw Island in the book. A film adaptation, titled Conrack, was created in 1974, starring Jon Voight. A Hallmark Hall of Fame TV movie titled The Water Is Wide starring Jeff Hephner and Alfre Woodard was made in 2006.
Yamacraw is a poor, run-down island which has no bridges and little infrastructure. The book details his efforts to communicate with the islanders, who are nearly all directly descended from slaves and who have had little contact with the mainland or its people. He struggles to find ways to reach his students, aged ten to thirteen, some of whom are illiterate or innumerate, and none of whom know anything about the world beyond Yamacraw. Conroy (called "Conrack" by most of the students) also does battle with the principal, Mrs. Brown, and with the administrators of the school district, whom he accuses of ignoring the problems at the Yamacraw school.
