This video segment, adapted from NOVA, chronicles the education of leading chemist Percy Julian. Although Julian began his elementary school years in the Deep South under Jim Crow laws, he became one of the few African Americans of his time to earn a Ph.D.
Material Type: Lecture
A look at the Slavery and Freedom exhibit at the recently opened National Museum of African American History and Culture on Washington, D.C.'s National Mall. American History TV presented live coverage from the National Museum of African American History and Culture on Washington, D.C.'s National Mall. They showed exhibits chronicling the African American story from slavery through the inauguration of the first African American president. This clip features elements surrounding the African Slave Trade and the Middle Passage
Material Type: Lesson
Changemakers can be activists, non-profit workers, volunteers and even kids.
Material Type: Activity/Lab, Lesson
In this media gallery, you will find a series of videos from The African Americans: Many Rivers to Cross that examines the major movements and turning points in African American history from 1968 to the present, including the Black Panthers and the Black Power movement, Afrocentricity in culture, the rise of the black middle class, the development of hip hop culture, the effects of the War on Drugs, and the election of Barack Obama. As you view the videos, consider the legacy of the civil rights movement, the tensions that emerged from the progress made, and how they reshaped the African American experience.
Material Type: Primary Source
This video segment from Weston Woods presents the story of Duke by Andrea Davis Pinkney, illustrated by Brian Pinkney, and is about Duke Ellington, one of the founding fathers of jazz. When Duke Ellington was young, his parents wanted him to learn to play the piano. Although he began lessons, he was soon lured away by his love of baseball. Later, as a teenager he heard the new musical style called "ragtime" and he was inspired once again to learn to play piano. Soon, he created his own style of music using "hops" and "slides" on the piano. He became a popular entertainer with a flair that attracted many fans.
Material Type: Lesson
Ben, an enslaved miller at Mount Vernon, discusses freedom. In a reenactment of him thinking aloud, he considers what his life might be like if he runs away from Mount Vernon and gains his freedom as compared to his current life as George Washington's miller.
Material Type: Primary Source
Former slave Sojourner Truth's "Ain't I a Woman?" speech was given at an Ohio Women's Convention in 1851. The powerful performance is still used today as a call for equal treatment of women. This video provides background on the famous speech.
Material Type: Lesson
Martin Luther King Jr. was the featured speaker at a March on Frankfort, Kentucky in 1964, where an estimated 10,000 people gathered in a peaceful protest for civil rights. In 2022, researchers Joanna Hay and Le Datta Grimes, Ph.D., recorded interviews with 10 people who participated in that march as teens or young adults. In this video, interviewees reflect on the importance of place, the march and the civil rights movement.
Material Type: Lesson, Primary Source
Martin Luther King Jr. was the featured speaker at a March on Frankfort in 1964, where an estimated 10,000 people gathered in a peaceful protest for civil rights. In 2022, researchers Joanna Hay and Le Datta Grimes, Ph.D., recorded interviews with 10 people who participated in that march as teens or young adults. This video focuses on the women who played public leadership roles as well as those who worked behind the scenes.
Material Type: Lesson, Primary Source
Martin Luther King Jr. was the featured speaker at a March on Frankfort, Kentucky, in 1964, where an estimated 10,000 people gathered in a peaceful protest for civil rights. In 2022, researchers Joanna Hay and Le Datta Grimes, Ph.D., recorded interviews with 10 people who participated in that march as teens or young adults. Interviewees in this video recall their work with the civil rights movement, including sit-ins and their training in nonviolent protest.
Material Type: Lesson, Primary Source
Martin Luther King Jr. was the featured speaker at a March on Frankfort, Kentucky, in 1964, where an estimated 10,000 people gathered in a peaceful protest for civil rights. In 2022, researchers Joanna Hay and Le Datta Grimes, Ph.D., recorded interviews with 10 people who participated in that march as teens or young adults. Interviewees in this video explain how music brought protesters together and gave them courage.
Material Type: Lesson, Primary Source
Born in Dayton, Ohio in 1872 to former slaves from Kentucky, Paul Laurence Dunbar began writing poems at age 6, drawing from the stories his mother told him about plantation life. With his incredible body of work, Dunbar became the first African American poet to earn national distinction.
Material Type: Lesson, Primary Source
Jesse Owens broke not only running records but racial barriers, as well! His running career began early in Ohio, and took him all the way to the Olympics.
Material Type: Lesson, Primary Source
Explore why the 2012 shooting of a black student became a pivotal tension point around race and justice during Barack Obama’s presidency, in these videos excerpted from FRONTLINE: Divided States of America. Trayvon Martin’s death at the hands of a neighborhood watch volunteer ignited passions across the nation. America’s first black president grappled with his response. Obama’s initial silence, followed by carefully guarded words, prompted a backlash—and not just from conservative pundits. Many in the black community were traumatized by the incident and by others like it. Following the shooter’s court acquittal the next year, Obama acknowledged his own experiences as a black American. For many, this was the first time in his administration that he openly spoke for black people.
Material Type: Lesson, Primary Source
Learn how Black women continue to lead the fight for suffrage rights, 100 years after the passage of the 19th Amendment and 55 years after the Voting Rights Act, in this digital video from The Vote | AMERICAN EXPERIENCE. Use this video when studying the women’s suffrage movement to explore the leadership role of African American women in the long struggle for voting rights and examine historic and contemporary efforts to suppress the African American vote.
Material Type: Lesson, Primary Source
This five-minute video introduces students to the findings of the Kerner commission, a panel of experts President Lyndon Johnson convened to make policy recommendations following the protests, violence and disorder that occurred in over 150 cities in 1967. The commission recommended a series of sweeping changes, including reforms in policing tactics and efforts to reduce urban poverty. But Johnson largely ignored the findings of the study. Useful in helping students make connections between the 1960s and today, the video sets up an engaging class discussion on race, poverty and policing. Content Advisory: This video includes footage of police violence. This resource contains additional material that may be sensitive for some students. Teachers should exercise discretion in evaluating whether this resource is suitable for their class.
Material Type: Lesson, Primary Source
This framework, with the following components, can be used to help supplement current curriculum or to help guide the creation of new curriculum that more honestly and courageously tells the story of American slavery—one that includes the enslavement of both African and Indigenous peoples.
Material Type: Teaching/Learning Strategy
This video from American Experience: “Freedom Summer” introduces the events of 1964, when over 700 students, Black and white, came to Mississippi to help Black citizens register to vote as well as combat other forms of discrimination, such as inadequate schools and lack of legal aid. Organized by the Student Non-Violent Coordinating Committee (SNCC), civil rights activists hoped that the participation of well-educated, middle-class students, many from prestigious universities, would not only bring results but draw the attention of the nation to the miserable standard of living suffered by Black people in Mississippi.
Material Type: Lesson, Primary Source
In addition to helping black residents register to vote and establishing the Mississippi Freedom Democratic Party, education was another important goal of Freedom Summer. Years of substandard and segregated schools and libraries had contributed to high rates of illiteracy (which, in turn, had led to disenfranchisement) and a lack of knowledge about black history and culture. Volunteers teaching in the Freedom Schools found that adults as well as children were eager to learn. The experience gave many black people newfound hope that things were about to change.
Material Type: Lesson, Primary Source
In this video segment adapted from American Experience: "Freedom Riders," watch newsreel footage, archival photos, and interviews to explore how Freedom Riders made efforts to end the segregation of African Americans in the Southern United States. Even after the U.S. Supreme Court had ruled that the segregation of black and white riders on interstate buses was unconstitutional, Southern states continued to enforce local segregation laws. In response, members of both races decided to force the issue and challenge illegal segregation by riding together in buses headed to the South.
Material Type: Lesson, Primary Source
