Black History: DVDs to Check Out

Tells the story of Solomon Northup, a free black man who was abducted in Washington, D.C., and forced to spend the next twelve years of his life in captivity as a slave on a Louisiana cotton plantation.

History was made in 1947, when Jackie Robinson broke the professional baseball race barrier to become the first African American MLB player of the modern era. 42 tells the life story of Robinson and his history-making signing with the Brooklyn Dodgers under the guidance of team executive Branch Rickey.

A compelling combination of storytelling and science, this series uses genealogy, oral histories, family stories and DNA to trace roots of several accomplished African Americans down through American history and back to Africa.

Genealogical investigations and DNA analysis help participants discover where they come from and who they are.

Nat Turner is a literate American slave and preacher. His financially strained owner accepts an offer to use Nat's preaching to subdue unruly slaves. But as Nat witnesses countless atrocities, he orchestrates an uprising in the hopes of leading his people to freedom.

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.

King T'Challa returns home to the isolated, technologically advanced African nation of Wakanda to serve as new leader. However, T'Challa soon finds that he is challenged for the throne from divisions within his own country. When two enemies conspire to destroy Wakanda, the hero known as Black Panther must join forces with C.I.A. agent Everett K. Ross and members of the Wakandan Special Forces, to prevent Wakanda from being drawn into a world war.

The definitive story of the Civil Rights era from the point of view of the ordinary men and women whose extraordinary actions launched a movement that changed the fabric of American life, and embodied a struggle whose reverberations are felt today.

Explores the sacrifices and accomplishments of African-American service men and women from the time of the American Revolution to the present.

This inspirational documentary is about a band of courageous civil-rights activists calling themselves the Freedom Riders. Gaining impressive access to influential figures on both sides of the issue, it chronicles a chapter of American history that stands as an astonishing testament to the accomplishment of youth and what can result from the incredible combination of personal conviction and the courage to organize against all odds.

In the hot and deadly summer of 1964, the nation could not turn away from Mississippi. Over ten memorable weeks known as Freedom Summer, more than 700 student volunteers joined with organizers and local African Americans in a historic effort to shatter the foundations of white supremacy in one of the nation's most segregated states, even in the face of intimidation, physical violence, and death.

Carolyn Parker was the last to leave her neighborhood when Hurricane Katrina approached New Orleans in the summer of 2005. After the floodwaters subsided, she was the first resident to return to her now flood-devastated community with what many thought was the "impossible dream" of bringing her ruined home back to life.

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 Baldwin₂s 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.

Tells of the story of Jack Roosevelt Robinson, a sharecropper's son who elevated an entire race and country when he broke Major League Baseball's color barrier in 1947. The film illuminates Robinson's place as a leader and icon of the civil rights movement whose exemplary life and aspirational message of equality continues to inspire generations of Americans. Includes interviews with family members and rarely-seen photographs and film footage.

Witness the compelling and dramatic story of the 1963 March on Washington, where Dr. Martin Luther King gave his stirring "I Have a Dream" speech. This watershed event in the Civil Rights Movement helped change the face of America. Recounts the events when 250,000 people came together to form the largest demonstration the young American democracy had ever seen.

Challenges one of America's most cherished assumptions, the belief that slavery in the U.S. ended with Abraham Lincoln's Emancipation Proclamation, by telling the harrowing story of how, in the South, a new system of involuntary servitude took its place with shocking force.

The protests and demonstrations -- The Presidents of the United States: John F. Kennedy & Lyndon Baines Johnson -- Violence vs. non-violence -- Racism & injustice -- Viet Nam -- The Martin Luther King, Jr. philosophy.

Dramatic biography of Rosa McCauley Parks, who in 1955 created the spark that began the modern Civil Rights Movement.

"I Have A Dream" contains King's entire inspirational speech in Washington D.C. on August 28, 1963.

Personal comments from family members, friends, former classmates, and advisors are chronicled in this moving piece honoring Dr. Martin Luther King. Includes the "I have a dream" speech on the Lincoln Memorial and other memorable events

Discover the first black filmmakers in this historic film short focusing on the movies that were made and the production companies that produced them. Includes three film shorts and 6 "soundies" from the 1940's featuring African American musicians

This DVD compilation features a collection of documentaries and programs chronicling the contributions and accomplishments of the most prominent and influential African-Americans throughout the history of the United States. From the oppression and hardship during the time of the Civil War to civil rights movements that paved the way to this country's first African-American president, this 40 program set is a comprehensive retrospective of Black history in America.

Documents the story of assassin, James Earl Ray, his target, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., and the seething, turbulent forces in American society that led these two men to their violent and tragic collision in Memphis in April of 1968. Explores the wildly disparate, yet fatefully entwined stories of Ray and King to create a complex, engaging, and thought-provoking portrait of America in that crisis-laden year.

"What famous city did Benjamin Banneker help design? Why was Harriet Tubman called the 'Moses' of her people? Who were the 'Men of the Massachusetts 54th'? Why was the peanut so important to the rebuilding of the south after the Civil War? Who delivered the famous 'I Have a Dream' speech in Washington, D.C.? How did Sojourner Truth get her name? These are but a few of the questions answered in Famous African Americans"--Container.

Civil rights attorney Thurgood Marshall's triumph in the 1954 Brown v. Board of Education Supreme Court decision to desegregate America's public schools completed the final leg of a journey of over 20 years laying the groundwork to end legal segregation. He won more Supreme Court cases than any lawyer in American history, making the work of civil rights pioneers like the Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr. and Rosa Parks possible.

Written and developed for young viewers, the life and times of Harriet Tubman and Rosa Parks will come alive for children in these live-action programs about two of America's most enduring heroes of freedom. Stirring dramatizations and historically accurate reenactments, photographs and colorful maps help tell their stories.

A young African-American boy tells about his great-great-uncle who was 'a wind flyer.' He describes his uncle's lifelong passion for aviation, from his boyhood attempts at flight by jumping off the roof of a chicken coop to his eventual career as a Tuskegee Airman. Uncle reminisces about the brave young Tuskegee wind flyers and occasionally takes the boy on a flight 'into the wind, against the wind, beyond the wind.