Office
for Equal Opportunity Video Descriptions
This collection of videos provides in-depth information on a variety
of equal opportunity issues. Videos may be checked out from the
Office for Equal Opportunity, located in 1 Holladay Hall. Africans
in America
This program examines the historical roots of some of today's
most disturbing social problems. This series of four 90-minute
programs takes viewers on a journey through the birth of America
-- from Jamestown in 1607 to the start of the Civil War in 1861
-- and shows the dramatic impact of the struggle over slavery
and freedom in shaping the country. Angela Bassett narrates.
Part I: The Terrible Transformation
This episode examines the origins of one of the largest forced
human migrations in recorded history. After the arrival of the
first Africans in Virginia in 1619, the British colonies lay
the groundwork for a system of racial slavery, which generates
profits that ensure the colonies' growth and survival.
Part II: Revolution
While the American colonies challenge Britain for independence,
American slavery is challenged from within as men and women fight
to define what America will be. When the War of Independence
is won, black people, both enslaved and free, seize on the language
of freedom even while the new nation's Constitution codifies
slavery and oppression as a national way of life.
Part III: Brotherly Love
This episode explores the first 50 years of the new nation.
In Philadelphia, freedmen and fugitive slaves push the country
to live up to the promises made in its Constitution. But with
the invention of the cotton gin, slavery expands into America's
western frontier, and a revolution in Haiti inspires slave rebellions
throughout the southern United States.
Part IV: Judgment Day
The nation expands westward; slavery becomes the most divisive
issue in American life. Abolitionists struggle to bring the institution
down and the nation is tested as never before. As tensions over
slavery erupt into violence, Americans are forced to consider
how long the country can continue as a democracy built on the
profits of bondage.
Out
of the Past This video traces the struggle of gay men and lesbians in this
country through the eyes of a teenage activist.
The emergence
of gay men and lesbians in America is a struggle marked by
protests, societal backlash, legal battles, and rights
issues. "Out of the Past" traces this history, highlighting
the universal aspects of the experience. "Out of the Past" is
told through the eyes of Kelli Peterson, a Utah teenager who
met resistance when she tried to form a Gay-Straight Alliance
at her high school in 1996. In an interview and through conversations
with parents and friends, Peterson describes her isolation, the
decision to come out and her fight for equality.
The film spans 300 years of American history, from the secret
diary of a Puritan cleric in the 17th century to the pioneering
activism of Barbara Gittings in the 1950s through 1970s. Portraits
of other historical figures in the gay rights movement are brought
to life by readings of their personal diaries, letters, and other
material presented by well-known actors, including Gwyneth Paltrow,
Edward Norton, Cherry Jones and Stephen Spinella.
"Out of the Past" is
distinguished further by presenting the insights of scholars
and activists. Those interviewed include
historian George Chauncey; Barbara Gittings, trailblazing lesbian
activist; authors John D'Emilio and Lillian Faderman; Reverend
Peter Gomez of Harvard University; and John Lewis, Georgia congressman
and an architect of the Civil Rights Movement.
Each of the
real life stories in "Out of the Past" is
significant to the history of gays and lesbians in America and
conveys a sense of how their place in society has changed and
continues to evolve.
Racial
Legacies and Learning: How to Talk About Race - Part I Degrees of Difference: Culture Matters on Campus
Colleges
and universities serve as meeting places for the richness of
social and cultural differences brought to campuses by students,
faculty, and staff. Through interviews and segments produced
by students themselves, this program features creative responses
to what students bring to and what they find at their institutions
of higher education. Viewers gain an expanded vision of "who
is here" on college and university campuses and "how
we are here," with particular attention to the richness
and variety of people's strategies for social and cultural continuity.
The program
is designed to support faculty, staff, students, and administrators
in rethinking policies and procedures with
respect to social and cultural differences; planning social and
cultural events and gatherings on campus; revising the languages
and terms in which "difference" gets addressed in higher
education; fostering a sense of three-dimensionality of people's
lives as students, faculty, and staff; and imagining innovative
pedagogical responses to the meanings and operations of social
and cultural differences in university classrooms.
Why Can't We Talk About Race
Addressing issues of race and racism in higher education, this
powerful and provocative discussion is a frank airing of views
and visions, failures, and achievements. Campus leaders from
four institutions in New York City and New Jersey join with community
leaders to explore the racial divides that separate us. They
also discuss how higher education and communities can work together
to improve student learning and societal engagement, racial understanding,
and reconciliation, as well as student preparation for citizenship
and leadership in a diverse world.
This conversation
models others that have occurred as part of a national initiative,
Racial Legacies and Learning, facilitated
by the Association of American Colleges and Universities (AAC&U).
The goals of the initiative include promoting the value of critical
civic engagement, diversity learning on campus and within the
community, good campus practices, and the value of diversity
for all of society. This program can be used by other higher
education institutions who want to spark similar campus-community
events.
Racial Legacies and Learning: How to Talk About Race - Part
II
Difficult Dialogues
Difficult dialogues are those class discussions that trigger
intense emotions among students and that lead to range of responses
from fireworks to silence. Any topic can generate an emotional
response, but among the most likely are discussions about race,
culture, class, gender, and sexual orientation. This program
is based on a bold investigation by California State university
faculty who joined forces to share strategies for facilitating
difficult dialogues. The program, designed as a trigger tape
for faculty discussion, shows how nurturing honest inquiry and
exchange among students has become an increasingly critical skill
for instructors. Viewers will learn from faculty who are experienced
in teaching multicultural curricula.
A Dialogue on Race with President Clinton
When launching
his One America initiative on race, President Clinton said, "I want to lead the American people in a great
and unprecedented conversation about race. We have talked at
each other and about each other for a long time. It's high time
we all began talking with each other." In an effort to model
this type of dialogue for the nation, Jim Lehrer of PBS' The
NewsHour invited the President to sit down with eight Americans
for an honest conversation on race relations. This program witnesses
the resulting discussion.
Through
My Lens Women of color faculty are greatly underrepresented in academia
in the United States. Moreover, many of them face isolation,
racial and gender-based antagonisms, the devaluation of their
research interests and achievements, insufficient mentoring and
support mechanisms, and ambivalence about their academic authority.
Given these
concerns, the Women of Color in the Academy Project (WOCAP)
at the University of Michigan produced "Through
My Lens," a video documentary that encompasses the diverse
campus experiences faced by women of color. This 27-minute production
is based on twenty interviews with women faculty of color in
various ranks and across disciplines, and with key academic administrators.
These narratives suggest that women of color have been, and are,
leaders and agents of change in the academic, social, and cultural
arenas of campus life. Their records of scholarly and pedagogical
contributions reaffirm the need to continue to promote diversity
in hiring and retaining women faculty of color as a means of
fostering excellence in higher education.
The intent of this video is to serve as a catalyst for discussions
to address the adverse realities that women of color encounter
in their academic careers. It is our hope that institutions across
the nation will use this video as a tool to begin to understand
the experiences of women of color in the academy, and, in turn,
will see it as an impetus for change in campus climates.
"Things
come in a circle. I have to believe as my ancestors had to
believe, that I may not reap the entire benefit of this
... of having been here at this space in this time, but it will
make a difference for someone else later on. In the same ways,
I heard the stories of women of color who had been on campuses
in times preceding me. And now I tell these stories to women
of color who will be on campuses in the future."
- Edith Lewis, Ph.D., Associate Professor of Social Work, University
of Michigan
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