"Diversity Matters - Nonfiction Videos & DVDs"

Africans in America: America’s Journey Through Slavery
VID 973.0496 Afri & DVD 326 Afri
A four part series portraying the struggles of the African people in America. This series exposes the truth through surprising revelations, dramatic recreations, rare archival photography, and riveting first-person accounts. (6 hours)
For more information visit: http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/aia/

After Stonewall
VID 306.766 Afte
The sequel to Before Stonewall chronicles the history of lesbian and gay life from the riots at the Stonewall Inn in 1969 to the end of the century. (88 minutes)
For more information visit: http://afterstonewall.com/press_as.html

All God’s Children
VID 261.835 All
A look at some of the issues and concerns of African American gays and lesbians with comments from prominent political and religious leaders in the African American community. (26 minutes)
For more information visit: http://www.woman-vision.org/children2.htm

Assault on Gay America: The Life and Death of Billy Jack
VID 306.766 Assa
In the telling of the life and death of Billy Jack Gaither, this documentary explores the roots of homophobia in America and asks how these attitudes, beliefs and fears contribute to the recent rise in violence against gays. (60 minutes)
For more information visit: http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/assault/

Before Stonewall: The Making of a Gay and Lesbian Community
VID 306.766 Befo
A social, political and cultural history of homosexuality in America from the 1920s to 1969. Traces the beginning of the Gay Liberation Movement after a police raid on Stonewall Inn, a gay bar in New York City, and the three-day riot that followed. (87 minutes)
For more information visit: http://afterstonewall.com/press_bs.html

Best Boy—Best Man
DVD 362.3 Best
Documentary about a 52-year old retarded man, cousin of the filmmaker, whose aging parents are convinced he should have some training so that he could attain some degree of independence. Best Man is the follow-up to Best Boy which revisits Philly 20 years later. (191 minutes)
For more information: http://www.sfjff.org/sfjff18/filmmakers/d0723c-a.html

Beyond Hate
VID 302.54 Beyo
Through the experiences of world figures, gang leaders and young people trying to cope with violence in their lives, this documentary chronicles the impact of hate on its victims and probes its many dimensions. Narrator Bill Moyers focuses on individuals and groups who are working to move beyond hatred to achieve tolerance and acceptance. (90 minutes)

Big Mama
VID 306.8745 Big
Winner of an Academy Award in the Documentary Short category, this film depicts a devoted grandmother's struggle to raise her orphaned grandson under the watchful eye of a complex and difficult social welfare system, focusing on the continuous battle against age discrimination faced by Dees and many like her. (40 minutes)
For more information visit: http://www.newsreel.org/films/bigmama.htm

Blacks & Jews
VID 305.8 Black
Early in the 20th century African Americans and Jewish Americans joined forces against bigotry and for civil rights, but in the late 1960’s each group turned inward and the coalition fell apart. This film examines the history of this collaboration and recent racial conflicts between African Americans and Jews as well as attempts at understanding and reconciliation, with particular emphasis on events in New York City and Oakland, California. (85 minutes)
For more information visit: http://www.newsreel.org/nav/title.asp?tc=CN0014

The Brandon Teena Story
VID 364.1523 Bran & DVD B Teen
Documents the story of Brandon Teena’s coming of age struggle with identify and how his gender ambiguity induced feelings of betrayal, confusion and hostility among residents of a town in Nebraska. Teena arrived in rural Falls City, Nebraska in 1993, where he found new friends. Three weeks later he was raped and beaten by friends who discovered he was actually a woman. A week later the same two men killed Teena along with two other people. (88 minutes)
For more information visit: http://www.zeitgeistfilms.com/current/brandonteena/brandon.html

Bullying, Teasing and Put-Downs: What Victims Can Do
VID 571.58 Bull
A fast-paced video that raises important questions for children about bullies and their victims. Throughout the program, children share their sometimes painful experiences with bullying, as well as what worked and what didn’t work to stop them. (22 minutes)
For more information visit: http://www.at-risk.com

Carl: A Program about the Consequences of Bullying
VID 371.58 Carl
This program is based on a true story of a teenager who experiences years of bullying and teasing by classmates, family and coworkers. In the end, Carol takes his own life. (35 minutes)
For more information visit: http://www.at-risk.com/

A Class Divided
VID 303.385 Clas
In 1970 Jane Elliott, a public school teacher in Iowa, divided her all-white third-graders into blue and brown-eyed groups for a lesson in discrimination. On successive days, each group was treated as inferior and subjected to discrimination. This documentary reunited the teacher and class after 15 years to relate the enduring effects of their experiment. (57 minutes)
For more information visit: http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/divided/

Color Adjustment
VID 791.45 Colo
Analyzes the evolution of television’s earlier, unflattering portrayal of Blacks from 1948 until 1988, where they are depicted as prosperous and having achieved the American dream, a portrayal that is inconsistent with reality. (88 minutes)
For more information visit: http://www.newsreel.org/films/coloradj.htm

Coming Out Under Fire
VID 940.54 Comi & DVD 306.766 Comi
Gay men and lesbians who were in the United States military service during World War II discuss their experiences with the response of the military establishment towards their sexual orientation. Includes archival footage and photographs. (71 minutes)
For more information visit: http://deepfocusproductions.com/page_html/DVD_COUF.html

Cruel Schools & Sexual Pressures
VID 371.78 Crue
Sexual harassment often begins in middle school and escalates through high school. Research indicates the best strategy to help kids is education. Discover how preteens and teens deal with the opposite sex as their bodies develop. (51 minutes)
For more information visit: http://school.discovery.com/lessonplans/programs/cruelschools/ and
http://school.discovery.com/lessonplans/programs/sexualpressures/

Devil’s Playground
VID 289.7 Devi & DVD 289.7 Devi
Looks at the Pennsylvania Dutch tradition of rumspringa, which is a period in a teenager’s life during which they are set free to explore the world outside the Amish life. This is so that they can make an informed decision before they make a commitment to join the church at adulthood. Follows four teenagers in their time of discovery. (77 minutes)
For more information visit: http://www.npr.org/programs/morning/features/2002/may/amish/

The Essential Blue Eyed: 50 Minute Trainer’s Edition and 36 Minute Debriefing
VID 303.385 Esse
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. (87 minutes)
For more information visit: http://www.newsreel.org/nav/title.asp?tc=CN0027

Ethnic Notions: Black People in White Minds
VID 305.8 Ethn
Covering more than one hundred years of United States history, this film traces the evolution of Black American caricatures and their role in political and social conflicts concerning race. (57 minutes)
For more information visit: http://www.newsreel.org/nav/title.asp?tc=CN0026

The Eye of the Storm
VID 303.385 Eye
Documents an innovative experiment in which Jane Elliott, a third-grade teacher, divided her all-white class into “blue-eyes” and “brown-eyes”, making each group superior or inferior on successive days. Demonstrates the nature and effects of bigotry by showing changes brought about in the children’s behavior and learning patterns. (26 minutes)
For more information visit: http://www.janeelliott.com/index.htm

Family Fundamentals
DVD 306.766 Fami
Arthur Dong conducts interviews with families where religiously conservative parents oppose homosexuality despite having homosexual children. (75 minutes)
For more information visit: http://www.pbs.org/pov/pov2003/familyfundamentals/

Four Little Girls
VID 364.152 Four
On September 15, 1963 a bomb tears through the basement of a black Baptist church and takes the lives of four young girls: Denise McNair, Addie Mae Collins, Carole Robertson and Cynthia Wesley. This racially motivated crime fuels a nation’s outrage and brings Birmingham, Alabama to the forefront of America’s concern. Features archival film footage, home photographs, comments by surviving family members and interviews with local and national figures of the time. (102 minutes)
For more information visit: http://www.4littlegirls.com/

Gay Youth: An Educational Video for the Nineties
VID 306.766 Gay
Explores the emotional strain placed on gay youth by intense feelings of isolation. Isolation frequently leads them to drug and alcohol abuse, violence, homelessness and even suicide. Designed to break the silence surrounding adolescent homosexuality and shows that information, acceptance and support can make differences in the lives of these young people. (40 minutes)
For more information visit: http://www.filmakers.com/indivs/GayYouth.htm

I’m Normal, You’re Weird: Understanding Other Cultures
VID 370.117 Im
Examines the differences between the world’s cultures and how different interpretations of same or similar actions or reactions can affect abilities of people to interact successfully. (23 minutes)

It’s Elementary: Talking About Gay Issues in School
VID 306.766 Its
An exploration of what happens when experienced teachers talk to their students about lesbians and gay men. Students are asked to consider issues related to homosexuality at six elementary and middle schools. Footage of classroom activities and discussions are presented with students exploring questions and issues presented to them by teachers and guest lecturers who come into their classes. School-wide presentations, activity-days, and how these events affect faculty, parents and teachers are also discussed. (78 minutes)
For more information visit: http://www.womedia.org/itselementary.htm

Legacy
VID 362.7 Lega
Terrell Collins, a 14-year-old African American boy living in Chicago’s Henry Horner Homes housing project and the son of a crack addict, was an honor student initially intended to be featured in a documentary on “ghetto success stories”. On the day filming was to begin, Terrell was fatally shot. His cousin, Nickcole Collins, narrates the documentary that becomes his legacy, chronicling the transformations and triumphs in the life of a family in the wake of a tragedy. (90 minutes)
For more information visit: http://www.pbs.org/legacy/index.html

Licensed to Kill
DVD 306.766 Lice
A riveting journey into the minds of men whose contempt for homosexuals led them to murder. Videotaped confessions, home and police videos of gay bashings and murder scenes, news reports and graphic evidence from police files are fused together with interview by the filmmaker with seven convicted killers. (77 minutes)
For more information visit: http://www.deepfocusproductions.com/page_html/film_LTK0.html

The Murder of Emmett Till
VID 364.1523 Murd
The shameful, sadistic murder of 14-year-old Emmett Till, a black boy who whistled at a white woman in a Mississippi grocery store in 1955, was a powerful catalyst for the civil rights movement. Although Till’s killers were apprehended, they were quickly acquitted by an all-white, all-male jury and processed to sell their story to a journalist, providing grisly details of the murder. Three months after Till’s body was recovered, the Montgomery Bus Boycott began. (60 minutes)
For more information visit: http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/till/

Murder on a Sunday Morning
VID 364.1523 Murd
When a 15-year-old African American male is arrested for the murder of Mary Ann Stephens, everyone involved in the case—from investigators to journalists—is ready to condemn him, except for his lawyer, Patrick McGuiness. A true tale of murder and injustice. (111 minutes)

No Dumb Questions
VID 306.768 No
The program follows three sisters as they struggle to understand why and how Uncle Bill is becoming Aunt Barbara. (24 minutes)
For more information visit: http://nodumbquestions.com

No Name-Calling: Creating Safe Environments
VID 613.0433 No
This program provides middle school age children and teens skills to deal with name-calling and bullying. The first No-Name Calling Week, inspired by the Young Adult novel The Misfits by James Howe, was held March 1-5, 2004. (28 minutes)
For more information visit: http://www.nonamecallingweek.org/cgi-bin/iowa/noname

No Vietnamese Ever Called Me Nigger
VID 959.7043 No
Documentary footage of Harlem’s 1967 protest march against America’s involvement in the Vietnamese Conflict. Includes interviews with three Black Vietnam veterans who discuss the relationship between racism and war. (68 minutes)

Nuyorican Dream
VID 305.868 Nuyo
Follows five years in the life of a New York Puerto Rican family struggling against poverty, drug addiction and incarceration, capturing the emotional immediacy of a family in a free-fall without a social safety net. It also celebrates elements of community life—solidarity, sharing of resources, cultural citizenship—which make day-to-day survival possible giving testimony to the central role played by Puerto Rican women in maintaining family and cultural ties. (82 minutes)
For more information visit: http://www.newsreel.org/films/nuyoricandream.htm

Of Hopscotch and Little Girls: Stolen Childhood
VID 305.42 Of
The game hopscotch embodies the spirit of childhood and little girls all over the world play it. But all too often, particularly in non-industrialized nations, girls’ childhoods are stolen and their dreams for the future shattered. Often denied access to education, girls are far more likely to assume household responsibilities, be conscripted into the workforce, be pushed into early marriages, endure sexual abuse, and in some cases, mutilation. This provocative film features girls from around the globe who share their stories of abuse and neglect, and also their hopes and dreams—in a world that too often considers them second-class citizens. (53 minutes)

One Drop Rule
VID 305.8 One
What makes someone Black? Skin color is the focus of this documentary, interviewing lighter and darker skinned African Americans and interracial children of black and white parents. Participants discuss the stresses of interracial dating and children explain the burden of not being readily accepted by either racial group. (50 minutes)
For more information visit: http://www.newsreel.org/nav/title.asp?tc=CN0127

OUT in the Cold
VID 306.76 Out
A journey into the lives of young people who are forced from their homes and into the hopelessness of the streets, where the innocence of youth is lost in the world of drugs, prostitution and survival. Rejected by parents, friends, teachers and school administrators, we share their disappointments, fears, desires and dreams. (27 minutes)
For more information visit: http://www.ciredocumentary.org/out.html

Out! Making Schools Safe for Gay Teens
VID 306.766 Out
Shows how to combat homophobia through the sensitization of every member of a school community. The video is designed for students and presents candid interviews with gay teenagers who discuss the reactions of their friends and family and ways in which they have coped with harassment. (26 minutes)
For more information visit: http://www.glsen.org/cgi-bin/iowa/home.html

Out of Obscurity: The Story of the 1939 Alexandria Library Sit-in
VID 323.1196 Out
In 1939 five young men staged what is believed to be the nation’s first sit-in at a public library just outside Washington, DC, to protest the “separate, but equal” treatment of African Americans. Includes a dramatization of the 1939 sit-in and a look at the role of local civil rights activist Samuel Wilbert Taylor. (40 minutes)
For more information visit: http://www.newsreel.org/films/outofobscurity.htm

Out of the Past: The Struggle for Gay and Lesbian Rights
VID 306.766 Out
Reviews the struggle for lesbian and gay rights in the United States. Features the struggle of The Gay Straight Alliance at East High School in Salt Lake City. (65 minutes)
For more information visit: http://www.glsen.org/cgi-bin/iowa/home.html

Paragraph 175
VID 940.5318 Para & DVD 940.5318 Para
Historian Klaus Muller interviews survivors of the Nazi persecution of homosexuals, many of whom were interred in concentration camps during World War II because of the German Penal Code of 1871, Paragraph 175, which states: An unnatural sex act committed between persons of the male sex or by humans with animals is punishable by imprisonment; the loss of civil rights may also be imposed. (81 minutes)
For more information visit: http://www.tellingpictures.com/films/5.html

Postville: When Cultures Collide
VID 305.8 Post
Originally broadcast on Iowa Public Television, this production tells the story of how a small Iowa town is dealing with multiculturalism. Postville, Iowa is where more than 300 Hasidic Jews, plus hundreds of Mexicans, Guatemalans, Ukrainians and Russians have taken up residence in the last decade. This program explores the struggles and rewards of the social and economic changes.
For more information visit: http://www.iptv.org/postville/

A Question of Color: Color Consciousness in Black America
VID 305.896 Ques
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 an European ideal. A variety of African Americans give their experiences and attitudes towards the question of color. (58 minutes)
For more information visit: http://www.newsreel.org/nav/title.asp?tc=CN0073

Race Against Prime Time
VID 302.2345 Race
An after-the-fact close examination of how local and national news covered the rioting in Liberty City, an area of Miami, Florida in 1980. Shows some of the forces that decide what will be shown, who’s point of view is presented and who comes to be a spokesperson for any particular group. (58 minutes)
For more information visit: http://www.newsreel.org/nav/title.asp?tc=CN0074

Race—The Power of an Illusion, Episodes 1-3
VID 305.8 Race
The Difference Between Us, The Story We Tell and The House We Live In is a three-part series exploring the history of race perceptions and behaviors towards races in the Untied States, within the context of recent scientific discoveries which have toppled the concept of biological race. (169 minutes)
For more information visit: http://www.pbs.org/race/000_General/000_00-Home.htm

Reel Grrls
VID 305.4 Reel
This YALSA-selected film looks at women as portrayed in advertising, which tends to objectify women. Links the media perception of women to problems with self-image and male attitudes toward women as sex objects. (17 minutes)
For more information visit: http://www.911media.org/youth/reelgrrls.html

The Rise and Fall of Jim Crow, Volumes 1-4
VID 323.196 Rise
This documentary offers the first comprehensive look at race relations in America between the Civil War and the Civil Rights Movement. The definitive four-part series documents the context in which the laws of segregation, known as the “Jim Crow” system originated and developed. (56 minutes)
For more information visit: http://www.pbs.org/wnet/jimcrow/ and http://www.jimcrowhistory.org/home.htm

Scottsboro: An American Tragedy
VID 345.025 Scot
In 1931, two white women stepped from a boxcar in Paint Rock, Alabama to make a shocking accusation: nine black teenagers on a train had raped them. So began one of the most significant legal fights of the twentieth century. The trials of the nine young men would draw North and South into their sharpest conflict since the Civil War, yield two momentous Supreme Court decisions and give birth to the Civil Rights Movement. (90 minutes)
For more information visit: http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/scottsboro/

The Scottsboro Boys, 1931
VID 345.025 Scot
Examines the trials of nine young black men accused of rape and the atmosphere of racism they faced in the south. (52 minutes)
For more information visit: http://www.law.umkc.edu/faculty/projects/FTrials/scottsboro/scottsb.htm

Scout’s Honor
VID 369.43 Scou
A documentary examining the Boy Scouts of America’s policy against gays in the organization. Focuses on Steve Cozza, boy scout and activist against the policy, and relates the stories of others removed from the Boy Scout organization for being gay or for working to have the policy eliminated. (60 minutes)
For more information visit: http://www.scouts-honor.com/

Sexual Stereotypes: The Dissection of Media in American Culture
VID 303.385 Sexu
Media specialists define sexual stereotypes and discuss how it does or does not reflect societal reality and how it influences society. (19 minutes)

The Sidewalk Motel
VID 362.5 Side
An original docudrama about the homeless problem in the United States. (30 minutes)
For more information visit: http://www.nationalhomeless.org/

The Smith Family
VID 616.9792 Smit
In this poignant and intimate documentary of the Smiths, a Mormon family living in Salt Lake City, the family is initially shattered, then ultimately strengthened by their love for each others following Steve’s admission of multiple sexual encounters with other men, and his subsequent death from AIDS. (55 minutes)
For more information visit: http://www.pbs.org/pov/pov2002/thesmithfamily/index.html

Stop Bullying: Standing Up for Yourself and Others
VID 371.58 Stop
Educates adults about what bullying is and what they can do to help the young people in their lives when bullying is a problem. Study guide included. (20 minutes)
For more information visit: http://www.safeyouth.org/scripts/index.asp

Strange Fruit
VID 781.592 Stra
A history of the anti-lynching protest song made famous by Billie Holiday. Includes footage of Billy Holiday performing the song. (57 minutes)
For more information visit: http://www.newsreel.org/films/strangefruit.htm

The Teen Files: The Truth About Hate
VID 303.385
Explores the origin of hate through the eyes of today’s teenagers as they come face to face with their own racism, ethnic bigotry, religious hatred, and sexual discrimination. (36 minutes)
For more information visit: http://www.teenissue.com/hate.html

That’s a Family
VID 306.85 That
Designed for children in elementary school, this film shows the many different shapes that families take today. Children describe their own families and explain concepts like “birth mom”, “mixed race”, “gay and lesbian”, and “stepdad”. (35 minutes)
For more information visit: http://www.womedia.org/thatsafamily.htm

The Times of Harvey Milk
VID B Milk
A portrait of the life and career of Harvey Milk, a charismatic grass-roots activist and the first openly gay person elected to political office. Through television news footage and interview, flows him from his early days as a Castro Street businessman to his murder along with San Francisco Mayor George Moscone, in 1978. Relates these events to the ongoing movement for gay rights in the United States. (88 minutes)
For more information visit: http://www.tellingpictures.com/films/2.html

A Transsexual Journey
VID 306.765 Tran
A look at the world of transsexuals. (44 minutes)

Trembling Before G-d
DVD 305.8924 Trem
A documentary built around personal stories of gay and lesbian Hasidic and Orthodox Jews. Portrays people who face a profound dilemma—how to reconcile their passion for Judaism with the biblical prohibitions against homosexuality. Includes interviews with closeted and out gay Orthodox and Hasidic Jews, including the first openly gay Orthodox rabbi, Steven Greenberg. (84 minutes)
For more information visit: http://www.tremblingbeforeg-d.com/

True Colors
VID 323.1 Tru
Since the revolutions of the sixties, we’ve claimed great strides in the fight for equality—laws have been enacted, legal precedence has been established. ABC’s Diane Sawyer follows two men, equal in all measurable aspects except for skin color, as they become involved in a variety of situations to test levels of prejudice based on skin color. (19 minutes)
For more information visit: http://www.viewingrace.org/browse_sub.php?subject_id=39&film_id=385

Two Towns of Jasper
VID 364.1523 Two
In 1998 in Japser, Texas, African American James Byrd, Jr., was chained to a pickup truck and dragged to death by three white men. The town was forever altered and the nation woke up to the horror of a modern-day lynching. This film documents the aftermath of the murder by following the trials of the local men charged with the crime. The result is an explicit and troubling portrait of race in America. (83 minutes)
For more information visit: http://www.pbs.org/pov/pov2002/twotownsofjasper/

Unchained Memories: Readings from the Slave Narratives
VID 305.567 Unch & DVD 305.567 Unch
When the Civil War ended in 1865, more than 4 million slaves were set free. By the late 1930’s, 100,000 former slaves were still alive. In the midst of the Great Depression, journalists and writers traveled the country to record the memories of the last generation of African Americans born into bondage. Over 2,000 interviews were transcribed as spoken, in the vernacular of the time, to form a unique historical record. (75 minutes)
For more information visit: http://www.hbo.com/docs/programs/unchained_memories/index.html

Walk a Mile in My Shoes: The 90-year Journey of the NAACP
VID 323.1196 Walk
This program documents the history and social impact of The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People. (48 minutes)
For more information visit: http://www.naacphouston.org/walkamile.html

We Shall Not Be Moved: The Role of African American Churches in the Civil Rights Movement
VID 323.1196 We
The Civil Rights Movement is examined from the perspective of African American churches. (60 minutes)

What Do You Believe?: American Teenagers, Spirituality and Freedom of Religion
VID 248.83 What
A new documentary about American teens, spirituality and freedom of religion. (50 minutes)
For more information visit: http://www.whatdoyoubelieve.org/

Whitewash
VID J305.8 Whit
Based on actual events that happened in the Bronx in 1992, this animated film is the story of Helen Angel, a young African American girl who is traumatized when her face is spray-painted by a racist gang. (25 minutes)

Diversity Informational Video and DVD Bibliography
Researched & Compiled by L. Baldwin