Racial Justice Resource Guide: RACE IN LITERATURE, BIOGRAPHY & FILM

"I Am Not Your Negro envisions the book James Baldwin never finished, a radical narration about race in America, using the writer’s original words, as read by actor Samuel L. Jackson. Alongside a flood of rich archival material, the film draws upon Baldwin’s notes on the lives and assassinations of Medgar Evers, Malcolm X, and Martin Luther King Jr. to explore and bring a fresh and radical perspective to the current racial narrative in America.

Raoul Peck's Oscar-nominated documentary is a journey into black history that connects the past of the Civil Rights movement to the present of #BlackLivesMatter. It is a film that questions black representation in Hollywood and beyond. And, ultimately, by confronting the deeper connections between the lives and assassination of these three leaders, Baldwin and Peck have produced a work that challenges the very definition of what America stands for." - From the producer's website

The “immortal” cells of Henrietta Lacks were used in the development of the polio vaccine, the study of cancer, viruses, in vitro fertilization, cloning and gene mapping, with her genetic property bought and sold without her, or her family’s knowledge. Henrietta Lacks' story uncovers the history of medical research experimentation on African-Americans, bioethical issues and informed consent.
***This DVD is available for check-out from the TUC Library.

"The Central Park Five, a 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 these five teenagers whose lives were upended by this miscarriage of justice." - From the producer's website

Directed by Ava DuVernay (“13th, “When They See Us”, “The Red Line”), Selma covers the work and trails of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., including the 16th Street Baptist Church bombing in Birmingham, Alabama, his work with Lyndon Johnson towards the Civil Rights Act, the FBI wiretapping, the marches and protests over school desegregation, and the “March” from Selma to Montgomery, Alabama, crossing the Edmund Pettus Bridge in support of voting rights for Black Americans. The film also features King’s fellow civil rights leaders, Andrew Young, and the late U.S. Congressman, John Lewis.
*This is a DVD available through the TUC Library.*