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African Americans History Civil rights United States Liberty Political activists United States History 20th century Race discrimination Racism Study and teaching Reconstruction (US history, 1865-1877) United States History 1961-1969 United States History 1969 United States History Civil War, 1861-1865Filter By Subjects
African Americans History Civil rights United States Liberty Political activists United States History 20th century Race discrimination Racism Study and teaching Reconstruction (US history, 1865-1877) United States History 1961-1969 United States History 1969 United States History Civil War, 1861-1865Summary: In 1865, the laying down of arms was just the beginning of the long battle for equal rights facing African-Americans. After documenting the final months of the War Between the States-Lincoln's second inauguration, Sherman's march through the Carolinas, the Siege of Petersburg, the destruction of Richmond, General Lee's surrender at Appomattox, and Lincoln's assassination-this program considers...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2009
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Summary: This program looks at how African-Americans defined their freedom after slavery. Henry Louis Gates, Jr. reviews courthouse records of land acquisitions, documents from the Freedmen's Bureau and the 1870 census—the first in which African-Americans were counted as citizens, not property—to trace his subjects’ lineages through Reconstruction. A vein that continues throughout the series is Gates'...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2005
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Summary: Before the Civil War broke out, and during it as well, the “Underground Railroad” operated as an effective, secret network for African-Americans to escape the bonds of slavery. Roots of Resistance, from the PBS American Experience collection, chronicles the workings of the Underground Railroad, from its creation and support by ex-slaves and white abolitionists, to its up-close portrayal of the...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2001
View online at AVOD
Summary: For most African-Americans, the end of slavery did little to improve their lives in post-Civil War America. Both Northerners and Southerners refused to accept them as equals, and in many cases looked the other way while their rights were regularly abused on both sides of the Mason-Dixon line. This program presents a grim picture of the black experience after slavery as seen through the eyes of...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2008
View online at AVOD
Summary: This program carries the narrative of the Civil War forward into its opening months, during which hopes for a quick victory died alongside thousands of soldiers during clashes fought on an unprecedented scale. Advances in weaponry and key battles-First and Second Bull Run/Manassas, Shiloh/Pittsburg Landing, and Antietam/Sharpsburg-are analyzed, as well as the possibility of British intervention...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2009
View online at AVOD
Summary: It was the ultimate face-off between North and South - a deadly clash over race, rights, and the future of freedom in America. This program offers an up-close look at the years that preceded the American Civil War. Through individual accounts, re-creations, interviews, and poignant photography, this program details how the rising tide of abolitionism met the deeply entrenched slave economy - a...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 1998
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Summary: The great abolitionist Frederick Douglass comes back to life in this acclaimed theatrical performance featuring Fred Morsell, as he dramatically re-creates Douglass's famous speech on slavery and human rights. With an eloquence and intelligence rarely matched, Frederick Douglass became a giant in the struggle against racial injustice. He called upon all Americans of every color to work to...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2005
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Summary: Between 1790 and 1860, thousands of slaves fled the South for liberation on the "Underground Railroad," a system of invisible tracks and anonymous conductors who gave shelter to fugitive slaves. Through interviews with national experts, and examination of archival records and artifacts, this program provides an overview of the underground movement. In addition to interviews with descendants of...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2006
View online at AVOD
Summary: Since the penning of the Declaration of Independence, America had been steadily evolving into two distinctly different societies-and by 1861, sectional differences had reached the flashpoint. This program addresses abolitionist fervor in the industrialized North; the rising clamor for secession in the antebellum South, an agrarian economy transfigured by the cotton gin; and the political...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2009
View online at AVOD
Summary: The Union's victories at Gettysburg and Vicksburg marked a crucial turning point in the Civil War. This program thoroughly examines those pivotal campaigns, along with the Battles of Fredericksburg and Chancellorsville, the effects of the Emancipation Proclamation on both the North and South, problems within the Jefferson Davis administration, the beginnings of dissent in the South, and the...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2009
View online at AVOD
Summary: Although slavery was abolished in New York State on July 4th, 1827, America's slave-based cotton trade was not, as bales from the South continued to enter New York City for transshipment to Europe. In this program, James Oliver Horton, historian emeritus at the Smithsonian, talks with NewsHour correspondent Gwen Ifill about slavery's impact on New York City during the first half of the 19th...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2007
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Summary: As the strain of total war increased on both sides, the Union and Confederacy each bitterly fought on in an effort to break the other's will. Topics in this program range from draft riots in the North and the Union's recruitment of African-Americans, to the hardships imposed on the South by the ongoing coastal blockade and Sherman's March to the Sea, to the wartime leadership of Lincoln and...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2009
View online at AVOD
Summary: Myths, misconceptions, and the march of time have obscured the true origins and legal details of Brown v. The Board of Education. This fascinating program connects viewers with the people, places, events, and ideas that shaped the landmark civil rights case. Interviewees include Cheryl Brown Henderson, daughter of lead plaintiff Oliver Brown; Zelma Henderson, who, until her death in 2008, was...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2009
View online at AVOD
Summary: This documentary from the CBS News Archives examines the stormy passage of civil rights bill H.R. 7152 through the House of Representatives. The program, filmed in 1964, begins with a report on the controversial bill's history, from its introduction by John F. Kennedy to the eve of its debate on the Senate floor. Following that report, Eric Sevareid moderates as Senators Hubert Humphrey and...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2005
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Summary: One of the first in-depth televised interviews given by Martin Luther King, Jr., this program was first broadcast on October 27, 1957, on the NBC News show Look Here. Filmed only a year after he had reached national prominence during the Montgomery bus boycott, the 27-year-old King offers host Martin Agronsky invaluable insights into his goals, his philosophy, and his unshakable dedication to...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2008
View online at AVOD
Summary: First there was the law, and then there was enforcement of the law. This program begins at Little Rock's Central High School, when soldiers had to provide safety for black children exercising their legal right to go to school. Martin Luther King, Jr., already appears in 1958 at a meeting of black leaders with President Eisenhower. The civil rights movement accelerated: marches, clashes with the...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2007
View online at AVOD
Summary: In 1957, the eyes of America were on Little Rock, where the compulsory desegregation of Central High School was front-page news. But what about the broader picture? How successful had integration efforts in the South been in the three years following the Brown decision? This program, filmed in that year, brings together a panel of newsmen from the Southern Education Reporting Service to...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2006
View online at AVOD
Summary: Today, busing as a vehicle of public school desegregation is being phased out, but in 1971, when it was first mandated by the U.S. Supreme Court in the Swann ruling, it was a volatile new process that had strongly polarized public opinion in many communities throughout the U.S. Filmed only five years after the controversial precedent was first put into practice, this program looks at events in...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2006
View online at AVOD
Summary: Although many of the movers and shakers of the Civil Rights era are gone now, their names will live forever through their achievements. This NewsHour program describes the courageous actions of Rosa Parks and Hamilton Holmes and picks the brain of John Lewis about what it was like to take part in the Freedom Ride and to lead the Selma march on Bloody Sunday. Episodes include…* Remembering...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2008
View online at AVOD
Summary: By 1750, the American colonies had a population of approximately 1.5 million with the majority of blacks enslaved in the South while white colonists began to agitate for freedom from Britain. This program follows the fight for independence through interviews with historians and luminaries such as General Colin Powell, dramatic re-creations of important events, and archival photography, and...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 1998
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Summary: Using a rich supply of archival photographs and film footage as well as first-hand accounts from pastors, activists, and community members, this program gives long-overdue attention to the pivotal role of African-American churches in the Civil Rights movement. Interviews feature former NAACP executive director Dr. Benjamin Hooks; diplomat, political luminary, and civil rights veteran Andrew...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2002
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Summary: What came to be known as the “I Have a Dream” speech was a high point in the public career of Martin Luther King, Jr. But it was also a turning point in his personal life as he embarked on a controversial, often lonely struggle to redefine and redirect the movement he had helped lead. Through it all, he remained steadfast in his profound spiritual commitment to the human rights of all people...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2004
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Summary: The year 1954 can now be seen as a clarifying point of convergence in American history. Among other things, it was the year that brought the Supreme Court's decision to outlaw racial segregation in the schools of the United States. In this program, Bill Moyers, Ossie Davis, and Ruby Dee tell the story of how the New Deal, World War II, and postwar social changes set the stage for a long-awaited...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2010
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Summary: This inspiring documentary examines the 332nd Fighter Group and the 477th Bombardment Group of the U.S. Army Air Corps—the Tuskegee Airmen. These 450 black men fought the Nazis in World War II and, back in America, they fought prejudice, bigotry, and racism. Extraordinary airmen, they remain today the only fighter group never to have lost one of their bombers to enemy fire. Trained by the...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2002