Outside Video Viewing Options

All videos are at the Park Library's Media Services Center unless otherwise noted

The Construction of Race

Race: The Power of an Illusion Episodes 1, 2, or 3

• Episode one, The difference between us A three part series exploring the history of race perceptions and behaviors towards races in the United States, within the context of recent scientific discoveries which have have toppled the concept of biological race. Episode one follows students who sequence and compare their own DNA looking for a "race marker." It also looks at the history of racism in the U.S., the advent of stereotypes based on physical attributes attributed to races and somatotypes with particular reference to African Americans.
• Episode two, The story we tell Episode two traces the race concept to the European conquest of the Americas, including the development of the slave system, which eventually crystalized into an ideology of white supremacy. By the mid-19th century, race had become the "common sense" wisdom of white America, revealing how social and political inequalities came to be recognized as "natural."
• Episode three, The house we live in Episode three focuses on how institutions shape and create race, giving different groups vastly unequal life chances. After WWII, whiteness increasingly meant owning a home in the suburbs, aided by discriminatory federal policies. European "ethnics," blended in to reap the advantages of whiteness while African Americans and other nonwhites were locked out. Advances have been made since the Civil Rights Movement but the playing field is still not level.

Blue eyed
Jane Elliott conducts a workshop where an arbitrarily selected group of individuals is targeted to experience prejudice and bigotry. Based on the blue eyed-brown eyed exercise.

A class divided
Documents a reunion of Iowa teacher Jane Elliott and her third- grade class of 1970, subjects that year of an ABC News television documentary entitled the Eye of the storm. Shows how her experimental curriculum on the evils of discrimination had a lasting effect on the lives of the students.

The essential blue eyed: 50 minute trainer's edition and 36 minute debriefing
Jane Elliott conducts a diversity training workshop where an arbitrarily selected group of individuals is targeted to experience prejudice and bigotry. The workshop is based on the blue-eyed/brown-eyed exercise.

The politics of love in black & white
In this documentary college students talk about interracial relationships, about the racial legacy they have inherited from the fears of past generations and their current experiences and attitudes both pro and con concerning interracial dating and marriage.

Native Americans

Mt. Pleasant Indian Boarding School Reunion (Clarke Historical Library)

In whose honor
Discussion of Chief Illiniwek as the University of Illinois mascot, and the effect the mascot has on Native American peoples. Graduate student Charlene Teters shares the impact of the Chief on her family. Interviewees include members of the Board of Regents, students, alumni, current and former "Chiefs" and members of the community.

Honey moccasin
Investigates the authenticity, cultural identity, and the articulation of modern Native American experience in cinematic language and pop culture.

Bones of contention
This program provides an even-handed examination of the conflict between Native American groups and scientists, historians, and museum curators concerning the issue of the remains of more than 10,000 Native Americans unearthed at archaeological sites across the U.S. In doing so, it also provides an excellent survey of American Indian archaeology in the U.S.

In the light of reverence
Across the United States, Native Americans are struggling to protect their sacred places. Religious freedom, so valued in America, is not guaranteed to those who practice land-based religions. This film presents three indigenous communities in their struggles to protect their sacred sites from rock climbers, tourists, stripmining and development and New Age religious practitioners.

African Americans

Eyes on the prize: Awakenings (1954-56) (V 017)

Tells the story of two events that helped to focus the nation's attention on the rights of black Americans to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness: the 1955 lynching in Mississippi of 14-year old Emmett Till and the 1955-56 Montgomery, Ala. boycott. Also shows southern race relations at mid-century and witnesses the awakening of individuals to their own courage and power.

Color adjustment
Analyzes the evolution of television's earlier, unflattering portrayal of blacks from 1948 until 1988 where they are depicted as prosperous, having achieved the American dream, a portrayal that is inconsistent with reality.

A question of color
Documentary. This program examines the issue of color consciousness within the Black community. This film explores a caste system based on how closely skin color, hair texture and facial features conform to a European ideal. A variety of African Americans give their experiences and attitudes towards the question of color.

Arab/Middle Eastern

Beyond borders: Arab feminists talk about their lives--East and West
In the Arab world, women are fighting a two-front war against repressive internal constraints and intrusive Western interference. In this program, a feminist delegation composed of author Nawal Saadawi and other renowned activists from the Middle East and North Africa gathers at the UN, on college campuses, and in church basements to speak out about deterioration of women's rights in the Arab states in an effort to heighten awareness of the Arab feminist struggle for equality--and the effects of U.S. foreign policy on their efforts.

Future peace, next war
Part 6 of a historical documentary series on the first fifty years of the State of Israel. This final segment of the series examines the vision of Israel's purpose and scope--and the leaders who have interpreted and shaped that vision. From the first Begin/Sadat meeting in Jerusalem to the war against the PLO in Lebanon, from the post-Gulf War peace initiatives to the assassination of Yitzhak Rabin, Israel's history has been a story of the search for a lasting peace, but within the context of almost constant war.

Tales from Arab
Detroit "When an Arab American community center brings an Egyptian poet to perform a 1000-year-old epic, sparks fly. The result is a familiar American tale: parents trying to pass on cherished traditions and language, while their children are at home in a world of McDonald's and MTV"--Container.

The conflict
Part 1 of a historical documentary series on the first fifty years of the State of Israel. In May 14, 1948 David Ben-Gurion declared the independence of Isreal and the following day neighboring Arab populations declared war. Israel was born from this conflict and emerged a refuge for a people dispersed through the world. This segment presents the history of Israel from its founding Zionist fathers in the 19th century, to the war of independence and the emergence of Israel as a prosperous, independent Jewish state.

The struggle for peace
Outlines the history of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict since 1948; shows how ordinary, individual Israelis and Palestinians are taking personal risks in attempts to help create the political climate necessary for the peaceful resolution of the continuing Israeli-Arab confrontation.

Women and Islam
Leila Ahmed argues the case for revision of the widely-held views of the Islamic world about the role of women, using examples from history and the role played by women in the contemporary society. She explains the origin of the veil, and discusses the issue of marriage and women's rights within marriage.

Asian Americans

Slaying the dragon
Describes racial and gender stereotyping of Asian women in U.S. motion pictures, television programs, commercials, newsreels and news broadcasts. Includes interviews with Asian historians, sociologists, actors and actresses and broadcasters.

My America: Or honk if you love Buddha
In her warm and funny oddysey across the U.S., Renee Tajima-Peña records the voices and personalities of Asian Americans from Chinatown, New York to a debutante ball in Anaheim, California.

My mother thought she was Audrey Hepburn
This film is a personal statement about growing up Asian-American in a white society. Suzanne was brought up "not to be Chinese." All traces of her family's Chinese culture and traditions were to be left in China. Her mother was proud to dress like Audrey Hepburn or Jackie Kennedy, thinking she had attained the American dream if she modelled herself after them. Though she never became an active member of white society, she unwittingly fostered a "Chinese self-hatred" in her daughter.

Who Killed Vincent Chin?
Documentary on racism in working-class America focuses on the murder of Vincent Chin, a Chinese-American, in a Detroit bar. Interweaves the murder with social concerns and questions about justice.

Gay/Lesbians

After Stonewall
The sequel to Before Stonewall chronicles the history of lesbian and gay life from the roots at Stonewall to the end of the century.

Before Stonewall: The making of a gay and lesbian community
A social history of homosexuality in America from the 1920s to 1969, showing how this group has moved from a secret shame to the status of a publicly viable minority group. Tells how a group consciousness coalesced after the 1969 police raid on Stonewall Inn, a gay bar in New York City, and the three-day riot that followed gained them national publicity and the birth of the gay movement.

The celluloid closet
Assembles footage from over 120 films showing the changing face of cinema homosexuality from cruel stereotypes to covert love to the activist cinema of the 1990s. Many actors, writers and commentators provide anecdotes regarding the history of the role of gay men and lesbians on the silver screen.

Coming out 101 (27 min.)
Examines the complex, often fearful, process that gay, lesbian or bisexual students may have in telling others how they are different from, yet similar to, their friends.

Gay couples: Nature of a relationship
Dr. Pepper Schwartz documents the lives of one gay and one lesbian couple. She uses a case-study approach that explores their views on handling conflict, work and communication, the influence of their families and friends, and how gender and society influence personal

Growing up gay
Presents a compelling look at the challenges of growing up gay in a heterosexual world.

Pink triangles: A study of prejudice against lesbians and gay men (34 min.)
Takes a look at the nature of discrimination against lesbians and gay men and challenges some of society's attitudes toward homosexuality. Also examines historical and contemporary patterns of racial, religious, political, and sexual persecution.

Hispanics/Latino(a)

Americano as apple pie: The blending of culture (30 min.)
A look at the "three houses of Latino culture"--Cuban, Puerto Rican, and Mexican-American--and their widespread influence, from entertainment to politics to economics. Key issues include how long Hispanic peoples have been in America, and how U.S. immigration laws affect their assimilation.

Americano as apple pie. The yearning to be (30 minutes-watch two)
A detailed look at the fastest-growing minority in the United States, and what it means to be Latino and American. The film contrasts the experience of being a Latino in a flourishing ethnic neighborhood of a big city with living in a small town, where many Latinos feel isolated.

Birthwrite: Growing up Hispanic
Takes a look at the work of several Hispanic-American writers and how their poems, short stories, and novels reflect what it means and what it is like to grow up Hispanic in America.

Chicano!: History of the Mexican American civil rights movement

• Episode 1. Quest for a homeland
• Episode 2. The struggle in the fields
• Episode 3. Taking back the schools
• Episode 4. Fighting for political power

Escuela: A documentary
This film documents the experiences of the children of Hispanic migrant farm workers in trying to complete their education. Filmed in California, Texas, and Mexico

Gender

Killing Us Softly III
Discusses the manner in which women continue to be portrayed by advertising and the effects this has on their images of themselves.

In my country
Respondents from thirteen different countries offer a personal perspective on life in their cultures with regard to gender. Countries represented include: Sweden, Taiwan, Mexico, Fiji, India, St. Vincent (Caribbean), Jerusalem, Lebanon, Zaire, England, China, El Salvador, and Japan.

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