A Question of Identity: What is Race? [ABC News, 2003] DVD E 184.A1 Q84 2004
22 mins; Color. Not rated.
Examines the question of whether race is a biological or a social construct. Wayne Nelson, a high school principal decided to find out "how much" of him was African after seeing a story about DNA ancestry testing.
Amistad [Dreamworks, Spielberg, 1998] VHS E 447 .A6 1998
2 hrs, 35 mins. Color; R rated.
Morgan Freeman, Anthony Hopkins, Nigel Hawthorne. Chronicles the 1839 revolt on a slave ship bound for America
A Biography of America, pt.9 VHS E 17.B56 2000
Slavery: The South and Slave Culture.
The Coming of the Civil War
A Biography of America, pt.11, 12 VHS E 17.B56 2000
The Civil War and Reconstruction
The Civil War. [PBS, Ken Burns] VHS E 468.7.C58
Color, B&W; 8 episodes.
Narrated by David McCullough. Emmy award winner. The Civil War brings U.S. history to life, and puts a human face on the tragedies and triumphs that made the nation come of age.
Color Purple [Warner, 1985] VHS PS 3573.A425 C65
154 mins; Color. PG-13.
Dir. By Steven Spielberg, with Danny Glover, Whoopi Goldberg. Based on Alice Walker’s Pulitzer Prize winning novel The richly-textured, decades-spanning story of Celie, an uneducated woman living in the rural American south, who is forced to marry a brutal man she calls 'Mr. Celie turns inward and shares her grief only with God.
Dark Passages: The Story of the Atlantic Slave Trade [PBS, 2006] DVD HT 1331.D37 2006
60 mins. Col & B/W Not rated.
Employs a mixture of interviews, slave narratives, and dramatization. Tells the story of the impact of the Atlantic slave trade, from the House of Slaves on Goree Island off the coast of Dakar, Senegal, to the village of Juffere on the Gambia River.
Four Little Girls [Spike Lee, HBO, 1998] DVD F 334.B657 A 1998
102 mins. Color,B&W.
Documentary. In Birmingham, ALA, on September 15, 1963, the bombing of a Baptist church kills 4 young black girls and fuels the nation's outrage.
Glory [Tristar, 1989] VHS PN 1997.G55 1990
122 mins. Color.. R rated.
3 Academy Awards. Matthew Broderick, Denzel Washington, Morgan Freeman Story of the 54th Massachusetts Infantry, the first regiment of African Americans to fight for the North in the Civil War.
Hotel Rwanda [MGM, 2004] DVD PN 1997.2
.H684 2005
122 mins; Color. PG-13.
Don Cheadle, Sophie Okonedo, Nick Nolte. Award-winning story of the Rwandan conflict in 1994 and one man's courage to help the Tutsis minority refugees .
Jazz [PBS, 2000] DVD ML 3508 .J378 2000
Color; 10 Episodes; Dir. By Ken Burns.
Born amidst African-Americans in 1890's New Orleans, jazz blends every kind of music. this documentary exploresthe history of jazz from its beginnings through the 1990's, including the stories of many of its creators and performers..
John Brown’s Holy War [PBS, 2000] VHS E 451 .J64 2000
90 mins. Color. Not rated.
Narrated by Joe Morton. "Includes interviews with historians and writers, and stunning dramatic reenactments." The story of John Brown’s raid at Harper’s Ferry.
Journey of Man: The Story of the Human Species [PBS, 2002] DVD GN 281.4 .J68 2002
The story of how the human race populated the world as told by a group of geneticists who have been studying the 'global family tree.'
KKK: Hate Crimes in America [A&E, 1996] VHS HS 2330 .K63 K55 1996
50 mins; Color.
Documentary. American Justice series, hosted by Bill Kurtis.
Ku Klux Klan: A Secret History [History Channel, 1998] VHS E 668 .K8 1998
100 mins. Color. Not rated.
Long Search, [BBC] DVD BL 80.2 .L65 2001 8-10
156 mins. Color.
Vol 10: African Religions: Zulu Zion.
Marcus Garvey: Look for Me in the Whirlwind [PBS, 2001] DVD E 185.97 .G3 M3632 2001
90 Mins. Color. Not rated.
The Jamaican immigrant who built the largest black mass movement in world history between 1916 and 1921.Includes archival film, photographs, documents and interviews.
Reconstruction: The Second Civil War [PBS, 2004] DVD E 668. R43 2004
180 mins. Color/B&W.. Not rated.
Spans 1863 to 1877.American Experience.
Scottsboro: An American Tragedy [PBS, 2001] VHS KF 224.S34 S26 2001
90 mins.Color;
March 1931, the Alabama Civil Rights case.
The Sky is Gray VHS PS 3557 .A355 S59
46 mins
'American Short Story Collection.' Hosted by Henry Fonda Short story by Ernest Gaines. Emotionally complex tale of a young boy’s discovery of what it is like to be black in Louisiana during the 1940’s.
The Supreme Court: A Nation of Liberties [PBS, 2007] DVD KF 8742 .S856 2007 v.3
60 mins; V.3
Focuses on the Court's reaction to state and federal legislation on Bill of Rights freedoms, with special attention to the explosion of civil rights cases from the early 1940's to present. Highlights the Warren court as it confronts the issues of race, gender and religion.
The Tuskegee Airmen [PBS, 2003] DVD D 810 .N4 T 2003
60 mins. Color. Not rated.
The first African American fighter pilots during WWII.