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Diversity & Leadership Resource Room
African American
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African American Cinema I, The: Oscar Micheaux’s Within Our Gates
1919 (DVD & VHS – 79 min.s)
Oscar Micheaux’s “Within Our Gates” is the earliest surviving
feature directed by an African American. However, this startling film unseen
for over 75 years, is far more than a historic curiosity. The film reveals
it as a passionate social history, confronting racism head-on through a
story of a young African American woman who seeks a Northern white patron
for a Southern school for black children. The scenes of lynching and attempted
white-on-black rape may be a response to D. W. Griffith’s “The
Birth of a Nation” and remain shocking to this day.
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Banished (DVD – 84 min.s – Facilitator’s Guide)
Documentary vividly recounts the forgotten history of racial cleansing
in America when thousands of African Americans were driven from their
homes and communities by violent racist mobs in the late 19th and early
20th centuries. In fear for their lives, Black people left these towns
and never returned to reclaim their property. Film places these events
in present day race relations, following three concrete cases of towns
that remain all-white to this day.
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Black Is…Black Ain’t (DVD – 86 min.s)
Weaves together the testimonies of those whose complexion, class,
gender, speech or sexuality has made them feel “too Black” or “not
Black enough.” Black Scholars and artists movingly recall their
own struggles to create a more inclusive definition of “Blackness.”
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Color Adjustment (DVD – 87 mins.)
Documentary is a follow up to “Ethnic Notions”; which revisits
popular prime time television shows such as Beulah, The Nat King
Show, Julia, I Spy, Good Times and Roots and this reveals how the bitter
racial
conflict was absorbed by the non-controversial format of the
prime time series.
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Ethnic Notions (DVD – 57 mins.)
Takes viewers on a disturbing voyage through American history, tracing
the evolution of the deeply rooted stereotypes that have fueled
anti-Black prejudice. Loyal Toms, carefree Sambos, faithful Mammies,
grinning Coons,
savage Brutes and wide-eyed Pickaninnies roll across the screen
in cartoons, feature films, popular songs, advertisements, household
artifacts, even
children’s rhymes. These caricatures permeated popular culture
from the 1820s to the Civil Rights era and implanted themselves
within the American psyche. This video shed light on the origins
and devastating
consequences of seemingly passive images and their corrosive,
dehumanizing affect on society.
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February One (DVD - ? – Facilitator’s Guide)
Tells the inspiring story of four remarkable young men who initialed
the lunch counter sit-ins in Greensboro, NC on February 1,
1960. The sit-in served as a blueprint for the wave of non-violent
civil rights
protests that swept across the South and the nation throughout
the 1960’s.
A movement of ordinary people motivated to extraordinary deeds
by the need to assert their basic human dignity.
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History of Black Achievement in America (DVD 4hrs 8 programs)
This original, eight-part series on four volumes, documents Black Achievement
in American history, its defining role in the growth of the country,
and its influence on current events. The series highlights the many
contributions of Black Americans that have influenced our culture, enriched
our society with their achievements and shaped the history of the United
States.
Prog 1: Settling the New World and Founding the USA
Prog 2: Emergence of the Black Hero
Prog 3: The Fight for Freedom
Prog 4: Blacks Enter the Gilded Age
Prog 5: The Foundation of Equality
Prog 6: Depression and War
Prog 7: Civil Rights
Prog 8: A New Age
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Mighty Times The Legacy of Rosa Parks (DVD & VHS kit – 40
min.s 2 copies)
The story of how one woman, through a single act of defiance, stirred
a community to unite in opposition to segregation and changed America
forever.
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Passin' It On (DVD – 57 min.s) This DVD is part 20 years of independent
point-of-view (POV) documentary storytelling on PBS. “Passin’'
It On” is the story of a man in search of justice who is wronged
by the nation with which he is at odds. Part indictment, part redemption
tale, the film offers startling insight into the role of the Black Panther
Party in the civil rights movement and the FBI's targeting of one of the
organization's most fervent leaders, Dhoruba Bin Wahad (born Richard Moore).
Emerging from the Bronx ghettos and a life of petty crime, Dhoruba dove
headfirst into the Black Power movement, serving soup to poor people with
one hand while wielding a gun with the other. Amid a national program
of FBI-led oppression against the Panthers, Dhoruba served 19 years in
prison before his conviction was overturned. “Passin' It On” was
the first in-depth look at the history of the Black Panthers to
be broadcast on national television.
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Tongues Untied (DVD – 55 min.s)) This DVD is part 20 years of independent
point-of-view (POV) documentary storytelling on PBS. This landmark film
(winner – Berlin International Film Festival Teddy Award) by Emmy
Award-winning director Marlon Riggs uses poetry, personal testimony, rap
and performance to explore what it means to be Black and gay in America.
Angry, funny, erotic and poetic by turns (and sometimes all at once), “Tongues
Untied” jumps from interview to confession, music video to documentary
to poem. The result is a rich account of the Black gay male experience,
from protest marches and smoky bars to the language of the “snap
diva” and “vogue” dancer. The broadcast raised a storm
of controversy, with letter writing campaigns, picket lines, and even
bomb threats against stations planning to carry it. It was also attacked
on the Senate floor by Senators, Jesse Helms, John McCain and Bob Dole,
and used in a TV ad by Pat Buchanan’s presidential campaign.
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