California Newsreel (Firm)

One morning in 1939 residents of southeastern Missouri awoke to a startling sight. More than 1,000 African-American sharecroppers had camped out alongside two state highways, taking a stand against the corrupt planters and marginalizing government decrees that made it impossible for them to ever escape economic disparity. Narrated by Julian Bond, this film tells the story of their labor strike, mixing commentary from former sharecroppers and scholars...

Like many industrial centers, Corbin, Kentucky - birthplace of Kentucky Fried Chicken - attracted African-American sharecroppers looking for better-paying jobs during World War I. But when white veterans returned from the war, economic competition heated up, and on one October night in 1919 black citizens were literally railroaded out of town. The events of that night are reconstructed in this documentary with the help of newsreel clips and interviews...

Through the eyes of funeral director Isaiah Owens, the beauty and grace of African-American funerals are brought to life. Filmed at the Owens Funeral Home in Harlem and the rural South, Homegoings takes an up-close look at the rarely seen world of undertaking in the black community. It reveals the special status of undertakers; borne out of their permanence, their economic stability, and the necessities of the segregation period. Combining cinéma...

In this program, one of the most astute observers of contemporary African American life discusses the value and difficulty of maintaining an African American identity in a world dominated by whites, urging viewers "to celebrate voraciously that which is yours. The breadth of her vision-from rural South to urban ghetto to the black middle class-is revealed as she reads from The Women of Brewster Place, Linden Hills, and Mama Day, in the last of these...

This Academy Award-nominated documentary interweaves the memories of 15 former student leaders, who grapple with the meaning of their actions at U.C. Berkeley. Their recollections are interwoven with footage culled from thousands of historical clips and hundreds of interviews. Ronald Reagan, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., Mario Savio, Huey Newton, Allen Ginsburg, and the music of Jefferson Airplane, Jimi Hendrix, Joan Baez and the Grateful Dead all...

Angry debates around affirmative action too often ignore the policy's historical roots: how prior to government intervention African-Americans were largely confined to the most backbreaking, dangerous, and low-paid work. This program documents the shameful history of discrimination against black workers and one heroic campaign that resulted in job equality. Interviews with retired black steelworkers and others retrace a century of African-American...

Marlon Riggs' essay film gives voice to communities of black gay men, presenting their cultures and perspectives on the world as they confront racism, homophobia, and marginalization. The film was embraced by black gay audiences for its authentic representation of style, and culture, as well its fierce response to oppression. Tongues Untied has been lauded by critics for its vision and its bold aesthetic advances, and vilified by anti-gay forces who...

This documentary showing a day in the life of immigrant women chipping rocks into gravel outside Dar-es-Salaam, is both a protest against the oppression of African Women and a tribute to their resilience. In this film, the camera acts as a compassionate witness to a day in the life of Mozambican women refugees. We slowly come to recognize that these women are, in fact, parts of a giant machine, not just the quarry but the international economic system...

Using Pittsburgh's steel industry as a case study, this bold documentary explores supply side economics and the trickle down myth, challenging the assumption that private corporations can be trusted to make the investments upon which all Americans depend. Called "impressive" by John Kenneth Galbraith, the film contrasts two Pittsburgh steelworkers' conventional faith in private enterprise with the actual strategies and priorities of U.S. Steel. Interviews...

On February 1st, 1960, four men dressed in their Sunday best sat down at a lunch counter in Greensboro, N.C. but were refused service because of the color of their skin. In this inspiring documentary, the Greensboro Four themselves tell the story of the lunch counter sit-in that revitalized the civil rights movement and established a model of student activism for the coming decade. In addition, Prof. William Chafe places the sit-in within the context...