Jim Crow: Selected Resources: Films

Before and during World War II Jewish scholars who escaped Nazi Germany and immigrated to the U.S. were confronted with anti-Semitism at major universities and a public distrust of foreigners. A surprising number secured teaching positions at historically African American colleges in the South. In many cases they formed lasting relationships with their students and had an important impact on the communities in which they lived. This is a story of two cultures, each sharing a burden of oppression, brought together by the tragic circumstances of war.

Ethnic Notions is Marlon Riggs' Emmy-winning documentary that takes viewers on a disturbing voyage through American history, tracing for the first time the deep-rooted stereotypes which have fueled anti-black prejudice. Through these images we can begin to understand the evolution of racial consciousness in America.

Documents the African-American religious experience during the last three centuries from the early African slaves, through the Civil War, Reconstruction, Jim Crow, the Great Depression, the Civil Rights Era, and into the 21st century. Explores the struggle of African-Americans in their faith and how it became a force for social, political and cultural change in the United States.

Presents the role of Charles Hamilton Houston in the cases which led to the landmark Supreme Court case of Brown vs. Board of Education. Gives a history of segregation, Jim Crow Laws, the NAACP and biographical information on persons influential in the desegregation movement.

Few judges provoke the ire of conservatives more than Thelton Henderson, Senior Judge of the Federal District Court of Northern California. His career in many ways parallels the larger historic arc of the Civil Rights movement and the changing vision of government -- from Jim Crow laws to Civil Rights victories and back again with recent attacks on affirmative action.

The Rise and Fall of Jim Crow offers the first comprehensive look at race relations in America between the Civil War and the Civil Rights Movement. This definitive four-part series documents a brutal and oppressive era rooted in the growing refusal of many Southern states to grant slaves freed in the Civil War equal rights with whites.