Browse Documentary. African American Heritage

Price: $24.95

Afro Promo - Black Cinema Trailers 1946-1976

ASIN : B000CEV39G
Sales Rank : 61157
Director : Jenni Olson
Studio : Other Cinema
Region Code : 1
Format : Black & White, Color, DVD-Video, NTSC
Binding : DVD
EAN : 0185713000124
UPC : 185713000124
Release Date : December 31, 2006
Publisher : Other Cinema
Manufacturer : Other Cinema
Availability : Usually ships in 24 hours
Label : Other Cinema
Running Time : 91

Description

Alternatively trashy and poignant- and sometimes just plain hard to believe these days- here's an irresistible program of Black Cinema trailers that trace its evolution throughout its most crucial period, 1946-1976. Filled with insights on race and social dynamics, this fascinating compendium of Coming Attractions explores an extensive range of stylistic approaches- Blaxploitation, Comedy, Music Bio, Plantation Drama- and more- all smartly organized by genre, or viewable as one outrageous joyride through motion picture history. Beyond mere camp, these marvelously condensed gems crystallize a range of African-american identities and personalities, tracking the meteoric careers of Sidney Poitier, James Earl Jones, Billy Dee Williams, Richard Pryor, Pam Grier et al through their bold performances in movies both hugely popular and practically forgotten.

Amazon.com

As its title suggests, Afro Promo shows how images of African Americans have been promoted in the movies represented by this no-frills compilation of 31 "coming attraction" preview trailers. The title is slightly misleading (the earliest trailer is actually for the 1951 basketball feature Harlem Globetrotters), but curators Jenni Olson and Karl Knapper have covered most of the essential territory regarding African Americans in post-World War II American cinema. The postwar years saw the rise of popular black musicians in movies (including Nat "King" Cole and many other beloved performers in 1958's St. Louis Blues) and this trend led to "social conscience" dramas like The Defiant Ones, Raisin in the Sun, and A Patch of Blue as the civil rights movement of the 1960s progressed and black actors like Sidney Poitier became bankable box-office stars. The relative seriousness of these prestige dramas eventually gave way to the more blatantly commercial prospects of "Blaxploitation" cinema in the 1970s, and most of the trailers included here hail from that vibrant, entertaining period of filmmaking, when "Blaxplo" hits like Cleopatra Jones, Foxy Brown, and Blacula were showing in theaters along with more "respectable" black-oriented films like Sounder (1972) and Gordon Parks's 1969 drama The Learning Tree. Several milestone films are not represented here (including Shaft and Superfly), but some of these trailers serve as curious reminders of fascinating obscurities (like Jack Arnold's 1975 "Blaxplo" Western Boss Nigger and the Ossie Davis-directed 1972 drama Black Girl) that have never been available in any video format. And while all of these films deserve a place in movie history, the trailers themselves have their own historical value as collectible memorabilia, rescued from destruction and (in many cases) appearing with scratches, dirt-specks, and hastily repaired film-breaks to indicate various degrees of age and neglect. A sub-menu separates all 31 trailers into eight convenient categories (Blaxploitation, Music, Historical, Poitier, etc.), and while it's obvious that Afro Promo was rather crudely assembled from whatever was available (and an introductory essay by Yale scholar Terri Francis is mysteriously missing from the special features), it still qualifies as a lively introduction to the good, bad, and ugly trends in African American film.

Bonus features include two shorts from the "Other Cinema" archive of alternative cinema: Roger Beebe's Famous Irish-Americans is a playfully humorous look at Black-Irish heritage that calls into question the tyranny of racial classification, and Christopher Harris's Reckless Eyeballing (2004) is an experimental art-film that uses repetitive, impressionistic treatment of solarized black-and-white footage to explore racial identity as depicted through images of African American outlaws. It's likely these interesting shorts would never be seen outside of college film classes and experimental film festivals if they weren't curiously included on this DVD. --Jeff Shannon

New Price: $29.95

Teamwork! 1946 Film Paves Way For Integration In The Armed Forces

ASIN : B0013HU46O
Sales Rank : 154486
Region Code : 0
Feature : DVD, Total Running Time Is 20 minutes.; DVD is zone free and will play anywhere in the world.; Call 1-800-277-1977 M-F 9AM To 4PM PST For More Information.; We combine shipping for multiple DVDs sent in the same shipment.; Pay shipping for only the first DVD. We refund additional shipping charges.
Binding : DVD
EAN : 0811120012657
UPC : 811120012657
Running Time : 20

Product Description

Teamwork: On Road To Integrating Black Soldiers (African American) Into the Armed Forces:On 26 July 1948, President Harry S Truman signed Executive Order 9981, establishing the President's Committee on Equality of Treatment and Opportunity in the Armed Services. Produced in 1946, this film paved the way for Executive Order 9981 by demonstrating interracial cooperation in the U.S. Army throughout WWII. Video shows white and black troops participating in various activities such as the landing on a beach at Normandy, bringing supplies ashore in amphibious trucks, stringing telephone wire, using mine detectors, laying a fuel line from Cherbourg, France, unloading supplies at a port, and driving supplies (the "Red Ball Express") to the front. Gen. Hughes decorates black truck drivers, 332nd Fighter Squadron planes protect B-17s over Germany. Shows the 769th Field Artillery and the 761st Tank Battalions in action. German artillery fires propaganda leaflets.

Price: $30.00

Black To Our Roots

ASIN : B000WCDIJ6
Sales Rank : 158888
Director : Ras Tre Subira
Studio : Black Mission Media Works
Region Code : 1
Format : NTSC
Binding : DVD
EAN : 0780093201491
UPC : 780093201491
Release Date : December 11, 2007
Publisher : Black Mission Media Works
Manufacturer : Black Mission Media Works
Availability : Usually ships in 24 hours
Label : Black Mission Media Works
Running Time : 53
Actor: (Documentary)

Product Description

Living in a housing project in Atlanta, Georgia, 17-year-old Sylvia Dorsey is frustrated by the violence and drug abuse that surrounds her. Determined to transcend the poverty surrounding her, Sylvia embarks upon a soul-searching mission to find her path to a better life. Her search eventually leads her to a community organization that offers youth a chance to travel to Africa, but they must first raise their own travel expenses. As Sylvia struggles to raise the necessary funds, she uncovers a void that exists in the identity of the African American community.

Black To Our Roots is the inspirational story of the journey that Sylvia takes from Atlanta, GA to Ghana, West Africa along with her peers to explore her cultural heritage and ancestral homeland. During her travels, Sylvia is confronted with several challenges that test her patience and change her life forever: she must adapt to living conditions that America has ill prepared her for, learn to appreciate things she took for granted, and address the misconceptions that exist about both Africans and African Americans. Sylvia must also confront a very painful chapter in human history when she visits the Slave Dungeons and grapples with the divisions that confront Africans throughout the Diaspora. In this process, Sylvia faces her fears and emerges as a confident, outspoken, and articulate young woman ready to claim her destiny. However, when she returns to the US, will she be ready to adjust to her old world as a new woman? This film is a testament to the power of change.

New Price: $2.21

Sports Legends - Jackie & Joe (The Jackie Robinson Story, The History of Joe Louis)

ASIN : 630555708X
Sales Rank : 136352
Director : Robert Gordon, Alfred E. Green
Studio : Sling Shot
Region Code : 0
Format : Black & White, DVD-Video, NTSC
Binding : DVD
EAN : 9786305557081
ISBN : 630555708X
UPC : 017078985023
Release Date : December 24, 1999
Publisher : Sling Shot
Manufacturer : Sling Shot
Label : Sling Shot
Running Time : 90
Actors: Coley Wallace, Hilda Simms, Paul Stewart, James Edwards, John Marley

Amazon.com

This DVD showcases two vintage film biographies of the greatest African American sports superstars of their day, Jackie Robinson and Joe Louis. The Jackie Robinson Story is unusual in that Robinson portrays himself, and the movie was produced in 1950, barely three years after he took up his position at second base for the Brooklyn Dodgers and broke the "color line" in professional baseball. After providing a fast portrayal of Robinson's early life, up to his collegiate sports career at UCLA and his stint in the U.S. Army, the story turns serious when Branch Rickey offers him a contract to play for a Brooklyn Dodgers farm team. Interestingly, some of the scenes, such as an incident when Robinson and his teammates were locked out of a stadium at a spring training game in Florida, may have more impact with viewers today than when the film was first released.

The 1953 biographical film about boxing legend Joe Louis features actor Coley Wallace in the title role, and is somewhat remarkable because the portrait of Louis is not entirely complimentary. Though a great fighter and a hero to black Americans, Louis had lifelong problems handling his money, and that aspect of his life is part of the screenplay. These films provide credible, if somewhat simplistic, portrayals of Robinson and Louis, but they are perhaps most remarkable for delivering a strong message about racial equality a full decade before the Civil Rights Movement would galvanize America. --Robert J. McNamara

Price: $24.95

History on Video - Malcolm X Speaks

ASIN : B00180VLOU
Sales Rank : 155689
Director : Bill Barnett
Studio : History on Video/EDU 2000 Inc
Region Code : 0
Format : NTSC
Binding : DVD
EAN : 0754309023931
UPC : 754309023931
Release Date : December 15, 2008
Publisher : History on Video/EDU 2000 Inc
Manufacturer : History on Video/EDU 2000 Inc
Availability : Usually ships in 24 hours
Label : History on Video/EDU 2000 Inc
Running Time : 75
Actor: Malcolm

Product Description

Malcolm X Speaks Watch the most attention grabbing speeches and interviews ever by Malcolm X. This charismatic leader drew strong admiration from millions of people and hatred from millions as well in America. Malcolm X is still one of the most talked about leaders who ever lived. These are rare speeches and interviews that many have never seen.

Price not listed for this item.

The U.S. vs. John Lennon

ASIN : B00005JP9L
Sales Rank : 158841
Director : David Leaf, John Scheinfeld
Format : NTSC
Binding : DVD
Actors: John Lennon, Pat Nixon, Chris Charlesworth, Everett Dirksen, Gloria Emerson

Amazon.com

In retrospect, it seems absurd that the United States government felt so threatened by the presence of John Lennon that they tried to have him deported. But that's what happened, as chronicled in directors David Leaf and John Scheinfeld's The U.S. vs. John Lennon. The film starts slowly, with a familiar look at the former Beatle's troubled childhood, his outspokenness as one of the Fabs ("We're more popular now than Jesus Christ," etc.), and his eventual hookup with Yoko Ono, paralleled by the growth of political protest in '60s America, particularly against the Vietnam War. John and Yoko went on to stage their own peaceful demonstrations, like the Canadian "bed-ins," but these were largely harmless media stunts. It was when the Lennons moved to New York in the early '70s and took a more active role in the anti-war movement, making friends with radicals like Abbie Hoffman, Jerry Rubin, and Black Panther Party founder Bobby Seale, that the government got interested--and paranoid--and men like President Richard Nixon, FBI director J. Edgar Hoover, and right-wing Sen. Strom Thurmond began actively looking for ways to silence him (it was Thurmond who came up with the deportation idea). That's also when the film picks up. An array of talking heads weighs in, ranging from Ono and others sympathetic to Lennon's plight (Walter Cronkite, Sen. George McGovern, even Geraldo Rivera) to those on the other side, including Watergate conspirator G. Gordon Liddy. Though The U.S. vs. John Lennon is hardly impartial, it's safe to say that although Lennon was more an idealist than an activist, he was an influential celebrity whom Nixon viewed as a potential nuisance in an election year. And even once Nixon had won the '72 presidential race, the Immigration and Naturalization Service refused to drop its case. Why? "Anybody who sings about love, and harmony, and life, is dangerous to somebody who sings about death," says author Gore Vidal. "Lennon... was a born enemy of the U.S. He was everything they hated." For music fans, Lennon's solo recordings provide the soundtrack. The DVD also contains considerable additional documentary footage. --Sam Graham

New Price: $8.28

Muhammad Ali & Fighters: The Greatest

ASIN : B00006I03V
Sales Rank : 147272
Director : William Klein
Studio : Delta
Region Code : 1
Format : Color, DVD-Video, NTSC
Binding : DVD
EAN : 0018111233590
UPC : 018111233590
Number Of Discs : 1
Release Date : December 30, 2002
Publisher : Delta
Manufacturer : Delta
Label : Delta
Running Time : 55
Actors: Muhammad Ali, Sonny Liston, Angelo Dundee, Jack Nilon, Chris Dundee

Description

There is perhaps no one in the world whose face is better known than Muhammad Ali’s. His legacy is unmatched in the world of sports. This program tells that story, from his ups and downs in and out of the ring, to his ultimate resurrection as a great humanitarian. No stone is left unturned in this, the definitive biography of one of the world’s most enduring and endearing heroes.

B&W/Color
Running Time: 55 min.

Browse African American Heritage Online

Afro Promo - Black Cinema Trailers 1946-1976

Description

Amazon.com

Teamwork! 1946 Film Paves Way For Integration In The Armed Forces

Product Description

Who Killed Martin Luther King?

Product Description

Black To Our Roots

Product Description

Sports Legends - Jackie & Joe (The Jackie Robinson Story, The History of Joe Louis)

Amazon.com

Glory Road

History on Video - Malcolm X Speaks

Product Description

Dylan's Run

The U.S. vs. John Lennon

Amazon.com

Muhammad Ali & Fighters: The Greatest

Description