Catalog Search Results
2) Harriet
Language
English
Description
Based on the thrilling and inspirational life of an iconic American freedom fighter, the movie tells the extraordinary tale of Harriet Tubman's escape from slavery and transformation into one of America's greatest heroes. Her courage, ingenuity, and tenacity freed hundreds of slaves and changed the course of history.
Language
English
Description
As the United States raced against Russia to put a man in space, NASA found untapped talent in a group of African-American female mathematicians that served as the brains behind one of the greatest operations in U.S. history. Dorothy Vaughan, Mary Jackson, and Katherine Johnson crossed all gender, race, and professional lines while their brilliance and desire to dream big, beyond anything ever accomplished before by the human race, firmly cemented...
6) Rosa
Language
English
Description
Presents the story of Rosa Parks' historic refusal to give up her seat on a bus that led to a boycott that lasted more than a year in Montgomery, Alabama.
Language
English
Description
From a segregated childhood in Alabama to becoming the most powerful woman in the world, Condoleezza Rice cuts an extraordinary and enigmatic figure. This incisive documentary tells a mesmerizing Faustian tale of a woman whose pursuit of power destroyed her core values and rocketed America into a fateful new direction. Leading her own defense through a series of candid interviews, this is political biography like no other.
Language
English
Description
A master of swing and scat with pop/jazz crossover appeal, Ella Fitzgerald could outsing just about anyone. Her 60-year career-launched at 17 when she won an amateur singing contest at the Apollo Theater-saw her rise from a life of poverty to become an enduring icon of American music. This program, an examination of Fitzgerald's captivating music within the context of her eventful life, amply illustrates why recordings of this beloved diva continue...
Language
English
Description
Though virtually forgotten today, Ida B. Wells-Barnett was a household name in black America during much of her lifetime (1863-1931). This film is a stirring biography of a crusading journalist, anti-lynching campaigner, and black suffragette during the most repressive years of the Jim Crow period. It documents the dramatic life and turbulent times of the pioneering African-American woman during the post-Reconstruction period. Nobel Prize-winning...
Language
English
Description
Pulitzer Prize-winner Alice Walker has been a standard bearer for the civil rights and women's movements since the early 1960s. In this classic interview, the womanist writer discusses her novel Possessing the Secret of Joy, in which protagonist Tashi attempts to preserve her tribal heritage by undergoing traditional female genital mutilation-still a common practice in Africa today. Archival footage, dramatized scenes from the book, and additional...
Language
English
Description
This program is a freely based scripted account of the life of Harriet Tubman, an escaped slave and participant of the Underground Railroad. Emmy Award winner and Academy Award nominee Cicely Tyson portrays the African American abolitionist who returned to the South several times and led hundreds of slaves to freedom before the Civil War. Tubman has become an iconic symbol for the fight against oppression.
14) The color purple
Language
English
Appears on list
Description
The heart-wrenching story of a young black girl in the early 20th century who is forced into a brutal marriage and separated from her sister.
15) The help
Language
English
Description
In 1960s Mississippi, Skeeter, a southern society girl, returns from college determined to become a writer, but turns her friends' lives, and a small Mississippi town, upside down when she decides to interview the black women who have spent their lives taking care of prominent southern families. Aibileen, Skeeter's best friend's housekeeper, is the first to open up, to the dismay of her friends in the tight-knit black community.
Language
English
Description
It examines amazing Black women that shaped America and made it what it is today. Highlighting their accomplishments, dedication, and achievements, this program focuses on their place in American history, what their lives were like, what they did, and what they endured. Their common thread of determination, courage, and commitment is consistent as a universal theme in all their lives. It portrays some of the stories of these women that have made historic...
17) From the rough
Language
English
Description
The remarkable true story of how one woman changed the world of sports forever. When Catana Starks (Academy-Award Nominee Taraji P. Henson) became the first African-American woman to coach an all-men's team at the collegiate level she expected it to be tough but she had no idea just how challenging it would be. With no scholarships to offer and only one US student willing to join the team, she reached out across the globe to assemble a ragtag group...
Language
Sign Language
Description
Nathie Marbury, a deaf legend, was born the 16th of 17 children to parents in Mississippi who didn't believe in education. She eventually earned three college degrees and, in this DVD, she shares stories about her early life where she "sang" in the church choir, and her school years where classmates actually tried to rub off her blackness, and later where she tried out for the Gallaudet football team. Her stories and observations are rich in humor...
Language
English
Description
Examines the life and legacy of African American poet, memoirist, and civil rights worker Maya Angelou, from her upbringing in the Depression-era South to her work with Malcolm X in Ghana to the recitation of her inaugural poem for President Bill Clinton. Includes Angelou's own words woven together with archival photographs and videos as well as interviews with Angelou's friends and family.