Resources

Powerful Sources for Civil Rights Study

Teachers and students can see or hear 217 television and radio programs documenting the struggle for civil rights in America.

This free online resource features a searchable database and on-demand video and audio programs that can compliment textbooks and print material.

Important Access Tips

1) Click here and access our online Civil Rights collection.

2) After you click on the link above, select either TV or Radio, and enter Civil Rights Collection in the "Keyword" field.

3) Hit the Search button. To see and hear these programs, click on the Play link, which is located underneath the icon to the left.

Important Note: You will need Windows Media Player. Download the latest version.

Overview of Programs

These programs highlight:

• Dramatic events and personal accounts describing life before, during, and after the 1960s Civil Rights Movement, such as the story of Little Rock Central High School School (pictured above).


• The influence and accomplishments of the movement‘s leaders, including Rosa Parks, Reverend Martin Luther King, Jr., Malcolm X, and Reverend Jesse Jackson.

The programs also include: extensive on-air appearances by Harold Washington, Chicago‘s first African-American mayor, including the 1983 mayoral debates. They also include the landmark Destination Freedom radio series.

Classroom Use

The programs, which feature dramatic reenactments, historical news footage, and testimonies, cover a broad range of themes that can align with a variety of subjects, including:

• History
• Social Studies
• Language Arts
• Literature
• Tolerance, anti-bias, and multicultural education

The MBC has designed supplementary lesson plans and teacher guides to facilitate the integration of select programs into existing curricula.

To access these select programs with accompanying curricula, visit our DocuFest section on Civil Rights.

Related essays from the MBC's Encyclopedia of Television:

"The Civil Rights Movement and Television"

"Assassination of Martin Luther King, Jr."

"Eyes on the Prize"

"Racism, Ethnicity and Television"

Support

This free, web-based resource for K-12 teachers is supported by The Oprah Winfrey Foundation.

The documentaries and broadcast programs, which are part of the MBC media archives, have been contributed by various networks, producers, and copyright holders.

Contributing members granted permission to the MBC to use materials for educational purposes. All programs in the database are credited to their originating sources.

The MBC digitization project is made possible by a grant from The Oprah Winfrey Foundation and funded through the Institute of Museum and Library Services by an Act of Congress, in accordance with the FY 2004 Consolidated Appropriations bill.

Curriculum development is made possible by grants from The Oprah Winfrey Foundation and the Polk Bros. Foundation. Website development is made possible by the generous donation of the D.F. Brown Trust.

Learn more about this project and view the list of contributing members.