Staff Picks
Racial Equity and Inclusion
- Allison T.
- Friday, June 05, 2020
Collection
Take some time to explore these films that address racial equity and inclusion at a critical time in history.
America Divided. Episode 1, The System.
Published in 2018
Common returns to his hometown of Chicago - a city on fire in the aftermath of the brutal police killing of teenager Laquan McDonald. With thousands of people in the streets, Chicago has become the epicenter of national debates around police violence, racism and accountability. Working with community activists and whistleblowers, Common discovers a decades-long pattern of police corruption and sophisticated cover-ups that stretch all the way to the mayor's office. But Common also finds reason for hope. An energized movement in the streets mounts unprecedented pressure for reform. It's clear that the system is broken -- is it finally time for a change?
Being Black Enough, or How to Kill a Black Man.
Published in 2018
A Young Black Man, raised in a White neighborhood, ridiculed for not being "Black Enough" goes to the hood to discover what it means to be "Black."
Black America Since MLK
And Still I Rise
Published in 2013
Henry Louis Gates, Jr. embarks on a deeply personal journey through the last fifty years of African American history. Joined by leading scholars, celebrities, and a dynamic cast of people who shaped these years, Gates travels from the victories of the civil rights movement up to today, asking profound questions about the state of black America, and our nation as a whole.
Black Is...black Ain't
Published in 1995
When Marlon Riggs died of AIDS at the age of 37, he completing this film which summed up a lifetime's work exploring African American identity. It weaves together the testimonies of thos whose complexion, class, gender, speech or sexuality has made them feel "too Black" or "not Black enough." Scholars and artists movingly recall their own struggles to create a more inclusive definition of "Blackness." Riggs own deeply personal quest for meaning and self-affirmation as his health deteriorates serves to tie the film together.
Brothers of the Black List.
Published in 2015
September 4, 1992: An elderly woman in a small town in upstate New York reports an attempted rape by a young black man who cut his hand during the altercation. While looking for suspects, police contact officials at SUNY Oneonta, a nearby college, and a school administrator reacts by handing over a list of names and residences of 125 black male students. For the next several days, those students are tracked down and interrogated by various police departments under a presumption of guilty until proven innocent. In Brothers of the Black List, director Sean Gallagher tracks this story of racism that became the longest litigated civil rights case in American history. The now grown students and their school counselor, Edward Bo Whaley, recount the disturbing events that the college and police department tried sweeping under the rug for many years thereafter. An emotional story of social justice, this unsettling documentary is also a cautionary tale of equal rights gone wrong that is relevant today more than ever.
Brown is the New Green
George Lopez and the American Dream
Published in 2007
Film examining how efforts to profit from Hispanic American culture have contributed to the shaping of its contemporary identity. The documentary's focal point is comedian George Lopez, an icon and advocate for Hispanic Americans' move into the mainstream. Features conversations with members of the Hispanic American youth market. Also includes interviews with Lopez and other Hispanic Americans.
Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee
Published in 2011
By 1876, most of the nation's American Indians had been forcibly relocated to reservation land. In the Dakota Territory, Red Cloud had settled his people on the great Sioux Reservation, becoming wards of the government. Other Sioux leaders saw this as defeat and continued to live in the traditional way, with legendary resistance. Then an economic depression struck, and gold was discovered in the Black Hills--on Sioux land. In this film, the lives of Charles Eastman-a Dartmouth-educated, Sioux doctor; Senator Henry Dawes-member of the Committee on Indian Affairs; and Sitting Bull intersect in a manner that seems fated. The question that faces the government and the Sioux seems to leave two answers: assimilation versus extermination? It is answered by the assassination of Sitting Bull and the massacre of hundreds of Indian men, women, and children by the 7th Cavalry at Wounded Knee Creek on Dec. 29, 1890.
The Central Park Five.
Published in 2013
This new film from award-winning filmmaker Ken Burns tells the story of the five black and Latino teenagers from Harlem who were wrongly convicted of raping a white woman in New York City's Central Park in 1989. The film chronicles the Central Park jogger case, for the first time from the perspective of the five young men whose lives were upended by this miscarriage of justice.
The Complete Blue Eyed with Jane Elliott.
Published in 2004
"Jane Elliott believes that white people won't act against racism until they have experienced it emotionally themselves,if only for a few hours in a controlled environment. The 'blue eyed/brown eyed' exercise was originally developed by Jane Elliott for her all-white 3rd grade class in Riceville, Iowa, at the time of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.'s assassination to give them some idea of racial prejudice. She divided her class on the basis of eye color and subjected the blue-eyed members to a regime of intense discrimination. They soon cracked under the pressure, losing self-esteem and competence. The same exercise with the same devastating results has since been replicated hundreds of times in industry, higher education and public employment not just in this country but around the world"--Publisher web site.
Dear White People.
Published in 2015
A sharp and funny comedy about a group of African-American students as they navigate campus life and racial boundaries at a predominately white college. A sly, provocative satire about being a black face in a white place.
Do the Right Thing.
Published in 2001
Story of the racial tensions that surround a white-owned pizzeria in the Bedford-Stuyvesant section of Brooklyn on the hottest day of the summer.
Eyes on the Prize
America's Civil Rights Movement
Published in 2006
Vols. 1-3 tell the story of America's civil rights years from 1954 to 1965; vols. 4-7 examine the new America from 1966 to 1985, from community power to the human alienation of urban poverty.
Fruitvale Station
Published in 2014
The true story of Oscar, a 22-year-old Bay Area resident who wakes up on the morning of December 31, 2008 and feels something in the air. Not sure what it is, he takes it as a sign to get a head start on his resolutions: Being a better son to his mother, being a better partner to his girlfriend, and being a better father to T, their beautiful four-year-old daughter. Then he's gunned down by BART officers on New Year's Day in 2009, sending shock waves throught our nation.
Green Book
.
Published in 2019
When Tony Lip, a bouncer from an Italian-American neighborhood in the Bronx, is hired to drive Dr. Don Shirley, a world-class black pianist, on a concert tour from Manhattan to the Deep South, they must rely on a book to guide them to the few establishments that were then safe for African Americans. Confronted with racism and danger, as well as unexpected humanity and humor, they are forced to set aside differences to survive and thrive on the journey of a lifetime.
Hidden Colors 4. The Religion of White Supremacy.
Published in 2016
It is the latest follow up film to the critically acclaimed hit documentary series. In this installment of the series, the film explores topics such as: The motivation behind European global subjugation: The history of rarely discussed vast West African empires; How germ warfare is used on melanated people; The history of slave breeding farms in America; and much more.
I Am Not Your Negro
Published in 2017
Master documentary filmmaker Raoul Peck envisions the book James Baldwin never finished. The result is a radical, up-to-the-minute examination of race in America, using Baldwin's original words and a flood of rich archival material. A journey into black history that connects the past of the Civil Rights movement to the present of #BlackLivesMatter.
Just Mercy.
Published in 2020
A powerful and thought-provoking true story follows young lawyer Bryan Stevenson and his history-making battle for justice. After graduating from Harvard, Bryan had his pick of lucrative jobs. Instead, he heads to Alabama to defend those wrongly condemned or who were not afforded proper representation, with the support of local advocate Eva Ansley. One of his first and most incendiary cases is that of Walter McMillian.
Pariah.
Published in 2012
Alike is a 17-year-old African-American woman who lives with her parents Audrey and Arthur and younger sister Sharonda in Brooklyn's Fort Greene neighborhood. She has a flair for poetry, and is a good student at her local high school. Alike is quietly but firmly embracing her identity as a lesbian. Wondering how much she can confide in her family, Alike strives to get through adolescence with grace, humor, and tenacity - sometimes succeeding, sometimes not, but always moving forward.
Prom Night in Mississippi.
Published in 2010
Follows history being made in Charleston, Mississippi in 2008, when Morgan Freeman offers to pay for the senior prom at the local high school - on the condition it be racially integrated for the first time. Bonus features include conversation with director, deleted and extended scenes, and filmmaker biography.
The Pruitt-Igoe Myth.
Published in 2015
It began as a housing marvel. Built in 1956, Pruitt-Igoe was heralded as the model public housing project of the future, "the poor man's penthouse." Two decades later, it ended in rubble - its razing an iconic event that the architectural theorist Charles Jencks famously called "the death of modernism." The footage and images of its implosion have helped to perpetuate a myth of failure, a failure that has been used to critique Modernist architecture, attack public assistance programs, and stigmatize public housing residents. The Pruitt-Igoe Myth seeks to set the historical record straight. To examine the interests involved in Pruitt-Igoe's creation. To re-evaluate the rumors and the stigma. To implode the myth. "Shattering." - The New York Times. "Devastating...an engulfing real-life horror story. Stings with an electric poignancy." -The New Yorker. "Superb! An uncommonly artful example of cinematic journalism." - Variety. " Revisits one of our nation's darkest hours and emerges with a scrupulous, revelatory consideration...a heartbreaking alarm call for a society that desperately needs to learn from its worst mistakes." - Time Out New York. "An intelligent meditation on the decline of American cities." - Art Forum. "Captivating and visually compelling." - St. Louis Post-Dispatch. "Powerful...carries a visceral punch!" - The Economist. "Riveting!" - Village Voice. "A deeply impressive and disturbing expos?." - Film Journal.
Queen & Slim
Published in 2020
While on a forgettable first date together in Ohio, a black man and a black woman are pulled over for a minor traffic infraction. The situation escalates, with sudden and tragic results, when the man kills the police officer in self-defense. Terrified and in fear for their lives, the man, a retail employee, and the woman, a criminal defense lawyer, are forced to go on the run. But the incident is captured on video and goes viral, and the couple unwittingly becomes a symbol of trauma.
A Question of Color.
Published in 2015
A Question of Color is the first documentary to confront a painful and long taboo subject: the disturbing feelings many African Americans harbor about themselves and their appearance. African American filmmaker Kathe Sandler digs into the often subconscious world of "color consciousness," a caste system based on how closely skin color, hair texture and facial features conform to a European ideal. A Question of Color traces "colorism" back to the sexual subjugation of black women by slave owners and the preferential treatment their mixed-race children received. The film is especially sensitive to the burdens borne by black women who often feel devalued by white standards of beauty. Disturbing scenes with teen-age rappers, a Harlem plastic surgeon, a television news anchor and a writer indicate the color problem is still very much with us, affecting employment, friendship and marriage. This unusually sensitive film can help viewers examine the complex interplay between racial identity, culture and self-image in society and within themselves. Kathe Sandler is a filmmaker whose work includes The Friends (1996), Remembering Thelma (1982), and Finding a Way: New Initiative in Justice for Children. Her work has won a Guggenheim Award and two Prized Pieces Awards from the National Black Programming Consortium. She is currently pursuing a Ph.D. in Women's and Gender Studies at Rutgers University/New Brunswick. "An extraordinary accomplishment... This documentary is unforgettable. I urge you to see it." - Michelle Wallace, One. "Its sensible, positive messages about self-acceptance in the face-off racism resonate strongly." - New York Times. "Sandler's revelatory exploration is certain to spark conversation and controversy." - New York Daily News. "A free-flowing conversation within the extended family that is black America. Sandler's tone, by itself, can begin healing the wounds it uncovers." - New York Newsday.
Race-- the Power of an Illusion.
Published in 2014
The division of the world's peoples into distinct groups - "red," "black," "white" or "yellow" peoples - has became so deeply imbedded in our psyches, so widely accepted, many would promptly dismiss as crazy any suggestion of its falsity. Yet, that's exactly what this provocative, new three-hour series by California Newsreel claims. Race - The Power of an Illusion questions the very idea of race as biology, suggesting that a belief in race is no more sound than believing that the sun revolves around the earth. Yet race still matters. Just because race doesn't exist in biology doesn't mean it isn't very real, helping shape life chances and opportunities. By asking, What is this thing called 'race'?, a question so basic it is rarely asked, Race-- the power of an Illusion helps set the terms that any further discussion of race must first take into account. Ideal for human biology, anthropology, sociology, American history, American studies, and cultural studies.
A Raisin in the Sun.
Published in 2008
An African-American family tries to have a better life, while living amongst poverty and racism. Based on the play by Lorraine Hansberry.
The Rise and Fall of Jim Crow.
Published in 2016
The Rise and Fall of Jim Crow offers the first comprehensive look at race relations in America between the Civil War and the Civil Rights Movement. This definitive four-part series documents a brutal and oppressive era rooted in the growing refusal of many Southern states to grant slaves freed in the Civil War equal rights with whites. A life of crushing limitation for Southern Blacks, defined by legal segregation known as "Jim Crow" - after a minstrel routine in which whites painted their faces black - shaped the social, political and legal history of the period. In 1954, with the Supreme Court decision in Brown vs. Board of Education, the Jim Crow laws and way of life began to fall.. The story of the struggle during Jim Crow is told through the eyes of those who experienced it. Some are historical figures such as W.E.B. Du Bois, Booker T. Washington, Ida B. Wells and Walter White. Others are everyday local heroes like William Holtzclaw, Charlotte Hawkins Brown, Ned Cobb, "Pap" Singleton and Barbara Johns..
The Talk
Race in America.
Published in 2018
This film documents the increasingly common conversation taking place in homes across the country between parents of color and their children, especially sons, about how to behave if they are ever stopped by the police.
The Uncomfortable Truth.
Published in 2018
When the son of a Civil Rights Hero dives into the 400 year history of institutional racism in America he is confronted with the shocking reality that his family helped start it all from the very beginning. A comprehensive and insightful exploration of the origins and history of racism in America told through a very personal and honest story.
Unnatural Causes
Is Inequality Making Us Sick?
Published in 2008
A seven-part documentary series arguing that "health and longevity are correlated with socioeconomic status; people of color face an additional health burden, and our health and well-being are tied to policies that promote economic and social justice. Each of the half-hour program segments, set in different racial/ethnic communities, provides a deeper exploration of the ways in which social conditions affect population health and how some communities are extending their lives be improving them"--Container insert.
White Like Me
Race, Racism & White Privilege in America
Published in 2014
White Like Me, based on the work of acclaimed anti-racist educator and author Tim Wise, explores race and racism in the US through the lens of whiteness and white privilege. In a stunning reassessment of the American ideal of meritocracy and claims that we've entered a post-racial society, Wise offers a fascinating look back at the race-based white entitlement programs that built the American middle class, and argues that our failure as a society to come to terms with this legacy of white privilege continues to perpetuate racial inequality and race-driven political resentments today. For years, Tim Wisés bestselling books and spellbinding lectures have challenged some of our most basic assumptions about race in America. White Like Me is the first film to bring the full range of his work to the screen ́ to show how white privilege continues to shape individual attitudes, electoral politics, and government policy in ways too many white people never stop to think about.
Whose Streets?.
Published in 2017
Told by activists and leaders who live and breathe this movement for justice, Whose Streets? is an unflinching look at the Ferguson uprising and a powerful battle cry from a generation fighting, not for their civil rights, but for the right to live.