FanFare

[TRAILER] Spike Lee's epic film biography of the Black activist and leader of the struggle for Black liberation. Starring Denzel Washington in the title role, with Angela Bassett as Betty Shabazz. [more inside]
posted by DirtyOldTown on Jul 24, 2024 - 4 comments

The true story of Mamie Till Mobley's relentless pursuit of justice for her 14-year-old son, Emmett Till, who was lynched while on a summer vacation visit to his cousins in Mississippi in 1955. [more inside]
posted by orange swan on Aug 23, 2023 - 1 comment

New doc about the professional Negro Baseball Leagues just dropped. Directed by Sam Pollard (MLK/FBI, the excellent Mr. Soul, Citizen Ashe and more), it traces the players, umpires, visionary businessmen (and one fierce businesswoman), journalists and jubilant spectators who created a vibrant Black sports community in the decades after World War I. Now in theaters and available for streaming.
posted by mediareport on Jul 18, 2023 - 2 comments

Of course the noted Lady Astronaut Elma York would like to go, but there's a lot riding on whoever the International Aerospace Coalition decides to send on this historic -- but potentially very dangerous -- mission? Could Elma really leave behind her husband and the chance to start a family to spend several years traveling to Mars? And with the Civil Rights movement taking hold all over Earth, will the astronaut pool ever be allowed to catch up, and will these brave men and women of all races be treated equitably when they get there? [more inside]
posted by Etrigan on May 20, 2022 - 4 comments

Phyllis, the first episode of Mrs. America, introduces Mrs. Phyllis Schlafly (portrayed by Cate Blanchett). The docudrama chronicles the real-life political movement that Mrs. Schlafly spearheaded in the 1970s against women’s liberation and LGBT rights. [more inside]
posted by Monochrome on Apr 15, 2020 - 8 comments

Down the road from Woodstock, a revolution blossomed at a ramshackle summer camp for teenagers with disabilities, transforming their lives and igniting a landmark movement. (Sundance 2020 award winning documentary, now on Netflix) [more inside]
posted by oh yeah! on Mar 25, 2020 - 5 comments

In this follow-up to the Pulitzer Prize, and National Book Award-winning #1 New York Times bestseller The Underground Railroad, Colson Whitehead brilliantly dramatizes another strand of American history through the story of two boys sentenced to a hellish reform school in Jim Crow-era Florida. [more inside]
posted by COD on Nov 16, 2019 - 2 comments

While Jennifer mourns, Anissa's relationship with Grace takes a sudden turn. Meanwhile, Markovians make moves in Freeland. [more inside]
posted by filthy light thief on Feb 5, 2019 - 4 comments

What happens when the Supreme Court, the highest court in the land, seems to get it wrong? In this episode, we follow Fred Korematsu's path to the Supreme Court, and we ask the question: if you can't get justice in the Supreme Court, can you find it someplace else?
posted by latkes on Oct 5, 2017 - 3 comments

Can the courts overturn President Trump's executive order? This episode, Ahmed talks with law professor Muneer Ahmad, who filed a lawsuit over the weekend challenging the immigration and travel ban. They talk about the details of the lawsuit, why a federal judge issued a stay to halt deportations, and what the legal path forward is for overturning the ban.
posted by latkes on Feb 2, 2017 - 1 comment

Voyager discovers a wormhole that may lead to the Alpha Quadrant; could this be the way home? [checks Memory Alpha; it's the seventh episode of the first season of seven] Hmm... [more inside]
posted by Halloween Jack on Jan 23, 2017 - 13 comments

A documentary about the life and legend Nina Simone, an American singer, pianist, and civil rights activist labeled the "High Priestess of Soul."
posted by latkes on Nov 16, 2015 - 3 comments

Last week we looked at a school district integrating by accident. This week: a city going all out to integrate its schools. Plus, a girl who comes up with her own one-woman integration plan.
posted by lunch on Aug 9, 2015 - 6 comments

Right now, all sorts of people are trying to rethink and reinvent education, to get poor minority kids performing as well as white kids. But there's one thing nobody tries anymore, despite lots of evidence that it works: desegregation. Nikole Hannah-Jones looks at a district that, not long ago, accidentally launched a desegregation program. First of a two-part series. [more inside]
posted by damayanti on Aug 3, 2015 - 13 comments

This week: Federal civil rights committee finds evidence of systemic racism in Ferguson police department. Upcoming elections in Israel. Fanta ad pulled in Germany for referencing war-related origins. (Last Week Tonight makes a commercial for Fanta.) Main story: the rights of citizens and nationals in US territories. (YT 13m) How Is This Still A Thing: Daylight Savings Time. (YT 3m) And an update on the tobacco industry, and LWT's #jeffwecan tag and meme.
posted by JHarris on Mar 9, 2015 - 6 comments

African American police detective Virgil Tibbs is passing through the racist, southern town of Sparta, MIssissippi when he is asked to investigate the murder of a prominent white businessman. [more inside]
posted by MoonOrb on Feb 5, 2015 - 2 comments

Two escaped convicts chained together, white and black, must learn to get along in order to elude capture. [more inside]
posted by MoonOrb on Feb 2, 2015 - 1 comment

This week on Pop Culture Happy Hour, NPR Monkey See's Linda Holmes, Stephen Thompson and Glen Weldon are joined by NPR Code Switch's Gene Demby to discuss the Civil Rights Era film Selma. They'll discuss the direction by Ava DuVernay, the Oprah of it all, and how well it brings Martin Luther King, Jr. to life. Then they'll discuss other historical dramas and the advantages and limitations of dramatic license. All that plus What's Making Us Happy this week.
posted by joseph conrad is fully awesome on Jan 22, 2015 - 1 comment

Although the Civil Rights Act of 1964 legally desegregated the South, discrimination was still rampant in certain areas, making it very difficult for blacks to register to vote. In 1965, an Alabama city became the battleground in the fight for suffrage. Despite violent opposition, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. (David Oyelowo) and his followers pressed forward on an epic march from Selma to Montgomery, and their efforts culminated in President Lyndon Johnson signing the Voting Rights Act of 1965. [more inside]
posted by MoonOrb on Jan 9, 2015 - 17 comments