Videotapes, Slide/Tape
African American Studies
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3
To quickly find a specific title, check the Title Index.
Miles of Smiles: Years of Struggle VHS, 60 min., 1983, Study guide available Bringing to light a little-known chapter in American civil rights and labor history, this film tells the story of black pullman porters. Working for tips, the porters provided elegant personal service to overnight railroad passengers for 100 years after the Civil War. Rebuked by white organized labor, they miraculously formed the first black American trade union in 1925 under the leadership of A. Phillip Randolph.
VHS, 32 min., 1986, Study guide available For the first time, the life and accomplishments, the struggle and hard labor of black Arkansans from territorial days to the present are documented with rare photographs, maps, illustrations, newspapers, and lively scholarly interpretation. The story is organized into five chronological time periods: Black Pioneers Before 1803, No Share in the Harvest: 1803-1860, First Freedom: 1860-1900, Tell 'Em We're Risin': 1900-1954, and We Speak for Ourselves: 1954-1986. See also:
A
Profile of Four Black Women: Look Upon Them and Be Renewed VHS, 40 min., 1981 Study guide available Patricia McGraw brings to life the personalities and stories of four notable black women: Phillis Wheatley reveals her talent in composing neoclassical poetry in colonial America; Harriet Tubman speaks movingly about slavery, freedom and the Underground Railroad; Sojourner Truth displays her fearless commitment to the abolitionist and feminist causes; Rosa Parks describes the mixture of humiliation and triumph in her heart as she sits on a Montgomery bus in 1955.
VHS, 47 min., 1990 The story of segregation and the brilliant legal assault on it which launched the Civil Rights movement. It is also a moving and long-overdue tribute to a visionary but little known black lawyer, Charles Hamilton Houston, "the man who killed Jim Crow." Moving from slavery to civil rights, The Road to Brown provides a concise history of how African Americans finally won full legal equality under the Constitution.
VHS, 45 min., 1984 This study of migration from Fordyce, Arkansas, and Tallulah, Louisiana, to Las Vegas, Nevada, as early as the 1920's invites some interesting speculation on bonding and white/black relations in these southern towns. Backed by research of Little Rock black studies specialist Ruth Patterson, the film is an in-depth look into a little-known story.
Roots of Resistance: A Story of the Underground Railroad VHS, 60 min., 1989, Study guide available CC In the mid-1800's, black men and women traveled a network of escape routes known as the underground railroad. This is the remarkable story of the flight from the shackles of slavery in the south organized by other escaped slaves and their allies. This program offers a historically accurate and dramatically compelling view of turbulent issues and events in this country prior to the Civil War.
Saturday Night, Sunday
Morning
VHS, 70 min., 1992 Classroom edition, VHS 57 min., 1996 The common roots of blues and gospel are explored through the career of A.D. "Gatemouth" Moore from popular band leader to evangelical preacher. Blues great B.B. King and R&B vet Rufus Thomas take us on a nostalgic tour of the Beale Street scene of the 30's and 40's when Gatemouth was king. Memphis minister and former NAACP leader Dr. Benjamin Hooks sums up this celebration of African American music: "The thing that saved black folk through all these years of slavery and second class citizenship was Saturday night and Sunday morning. It took both for people to survive."
VHS, 60 min.,1988 CC In the 1940's and 1950's, when American musicians faced racial segregation, black rhythm-and-blues singers toured the South performing in clubs, warehouses, tobacco barns, theaters, and Masonic halls. The film tells the story of those R&B performers, whose music often transcended racial barriers and prepared the way for the emergence of rock 'n' roll.
The Elaine Riot: Tragedy and Triumph VHS, 20 min., 2000 This documentary, narrated by Ossie Davis, describes the events leading up to and during the October 1919 riot in Elaine, Arkansas, resulting in the deaths of 25 blacks and 5 whites, and the legal struggles to free 12 black men condemned to death for their involvement in the riot. Scipio A. Jones' efforts on behalf of the 12 condemned men led to the landmark Supreme Court decision, Moore v. Dempsey, and those 12 men as well as the others imprisoned as a result of the riot were released.
Thurgood Marshall: Portrait of an American Hero VHS, 30 min., 1985 Traces the illustrious career of the first black appointed to the U.S. Supreme Court. Justice Marshall's role as a distinguished civil rights trailblazer is clearly presented. His legal studies and private practice, his appointment to serve as head of the legal division of the NAACP, and his career as a Supreme Court Justice (1967-1991) are explored.
W.E.B. Du Bois of Great Barrington VHS, 60 min., 1992 William Edward Burghardt Du Bois, widely considered one of the nation's foremost intellectuals, was a pioneer in American sociology and a founder of the NAACP. Born and raised in Great Barrington, Massachusetts, Du Bois later went on to become the first African American doctoral student to receive a degree from Harvard University. This program focuses on Du Bois' childhood and his early realizations that he had a place in history.
VHS, 25 min., 1994 This historical documentary traces the creation and development of the Fargo Agricultural School, and profiles its founder, Floyd Brown, and its students. The school functioned from 1919 to 1949 as a private, independent boarding school providing academic and vocational training for rural African American children. The philosophy of Floyd Brown is examined in the context of poverty and segregation. See also:
Please choose from the following
categories:
Resource Center | About Us | Grant Guidelines Copyright © 1997 Arkansas Humanities
Council
|
