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Films

Anne Braden: Southern Patriot

Film. Produced by Anne Lewis. 75 min. 2012. Documentary about Southern activist Anne Braden.

Time Periods: 20th Century

Themes: Civil Rights Movements, Labor, Social Class, Women's History

Boycott

Film. By Clark Johnson. 2001. 120 min. Dramatic account of the Montgomery Bus Boycott.

Time Periods: 20th Century, Cold War: 1945 - 1960

Themes: African American, Civil Rights Movements, Organizing, Racism & Racial Identity

Chávez Ravine: A Los Angeles Story

Film. By Jordan Mechner. 2004. 26 minutes. A documentary about the politics and economics of land in the United States, based on the story of a Mexican American village razed in the 1950s to build Dodger Stadium.

Time Periods: 20th Century, Cold War: 1945 - 1960

Themes: Economics, Latinx, Social Class, Sports

The Columbus Controversy: Challenging How History Is Written

Film. Written, directed, and produced by Nick Kaufman. 1992. 23 minutes. Contrasting views and scenes from the classroom on teaching about Columbus.

Time Periods: Colonization: 1492 - 1764

Themes: Education, Native American

Freedom Song

Film. By Phil Alden Robinson. 2006. 117 min. Based on the actual history of the Student Non-Violent Coordinating Committee (SNCC), student activism, and voter registration in McComb, Mississippi, during the Civil Rights Movement.

Time Periods: 20th Century, People’s Movement: 1961 - 1974

Themes: African American, Civil Rights Movements, Organizing

Freedom Summer

Film. Written, produced, and directed by Stanley Nelson. 2014. 120 minutes. Documentary about 1964 Freedom Summer in Mississippi.

Time Periods: 20th Century, People’s Movement: 1961 - 1974

Themes: African American, Civil Rights Movements, Democracy & Citizenship, Laws & Citizen Rights, Organizing, Racism & Racial Identity

Freedom on My Mind

Film. Directed Connie Field and Marilyn Mulford. Written by Michael Chandler. 1994. 110 min. The story of the Mississippi freedom movement in the early 1960s.

Time Periods: People’s Movement: 1961 - 1974

Themes: Civil Rights Movements

Golden Lands, Working Hands

Film. By Fred Glass for the California Federation of Teachers. 1999. 170 minutes. Ten-part film series brings the hidden history of working people in California to light, from the Gold Rush through the present.

Time Periods: All US History

Themes: Labor, Organizing

The Good Fight: The Abraham Lincoln Brigade and the Spanish Civil War

Film. By Mary Dore, Noel Buckner, and Sam Sills. 1984. 98 minutes. Documentary narrated by Studs Terkel on the Abraham Lincoln Brigade.

Time Periods: 20th Century, Prosperity, Depression, & World War II: 1920 - 1944

Themes: Organizing, US Foreign Policy, Wars & Related Anti-War Movements, World History/Global Studies

The Good War and Those Who Refused to Fight It

Film. Produced by Rick Tejada-Flores and Judith Ehrlich. 2002. 60 minutes. Documentary film on WWII conscientious objectors and excellent online resources for the classroom.

Time Periods: 20th Century, Prosperity, Depression, & World War II: 1920 - 1944

Themes: Organizing, Wars & Related Anti-War Movements

Granito de Arena/Grain of Sand

Film. Produced by Jill Freidberg. Corrugated Films. 2005. 62 min. Documentary about teachers, parents, and students fighting to defend Mexico's public education system from the impacts of economic globalization.

Themes: Education, Labor, Organizing, World History/Global Studies

Harvest of Empire: A History of Latinos in America

Film. Directed by Eduardo López & Peter Getzels. 2012. 90 min. Documentary that examines the direct connection between the long history of U.S. intervention in Latin America and the immigration crisis we face today.

Time Periods: All US History

Themes: Immigration, Latinx, Laws & Citizen Rights, World History/Global Studies

Have You Heard From Johannesburg

Film. Directed by Connie Field. 2007. 89 minutes. Episode that covers the anti-apartheid movement in the U.S. to overturn apartheid in South Africa.

Time Periods: 20th Century, Cold War: 1945 - 1960, People’s Movement: 1961 - 1974, Post-Civil Rights Era: 1975 - 2000

Themes: US Foreign Policy, World History/Global Studies

Incident at Oglala

Film. By Michael Apted. Narrated by Robert Redford. 1992. 90 minutes. Documentary about the conviction of Native American activist Leonard Peltier.

Time Periods: 20th Century

Themes: Native American

The Insular Empire: America in the Mariana Islands

Film. Directed by Vanessa Warheit. 2009. 60 minutes. Documentary about U.S. colonies in the western Pacific.

Themes: Democracy & Citizenship, Imperialism, Pacific Islander, US Foreign Policy, World History/Global Studies

The Killing Floor

Film. Directed by Bill Duke. 1985. 118 minutes. Set during World War I, two African-American men deal with racism in the workplace and the labor union.

Time Periods: 20th Century, World War I: 1910 - 1919

Themes: African American, Labor, Organizing, Racism & Racial Identity

King Corn: You Are What You Eat

Film. Directed by Aaron Woolf. 2007. 88 minutes. Two friends raise one acre of corn to understand how the subsidized crop drives our fast-food nation.

Time Periods: 21st Century, 2001 - Present

Themes: Environment, Food

Made in L.A.

Film. By Almudena Carracedo and Robert Bahar. 2007. 70 minutes. Emmy award-winning feature documentary follows the story of three Latina immigrants working in Los Angeles sweatshops on an odyssey to win basic labor protections from a clothing retailer.

Themes: Economics, Immigration, Labor, Latinx, Organizing

Malcolm X: Make It Plain

Film. Written by Steve Fayer and Orlando Bagwell. 1994. 2 hours, 18 min. Documentary film on the life and words of Malcolm X/ El-Hajj Malik El-Shabazz.

Time Periods: 20th Century, Cold War: 1945 - 1960, People’s Movement: 1961 - 1974

Themes: African American, Civil Rights Movements, Racism & Racial Identity