The individual stories of the Civil Rights movement are the stories of all Americans who ever fought for what they believed in. Personally, I think that all students should have to take at least a semester-long class solely on the Civil Rights Movement, so that they can appreciate the unbelievable risks that some people took so that Jefferson's words about all men being created equal finally rang true in our country. The Civil Rights movement is too often seen as the movement of equal rights for only African-Americans -- it was not. It's the story of equal rights for all minorities, whether African-American, Latino-American, or Female-American (even though over 50% of the population, women had always been treated as a "minority"). Without the leaders of the Movement, there would not only be no Barack Obama in the White House but there would be no Condoleezza Rice as Secretary of State and no Sonia Sotomayor on the Supreme Court.
"Eyes on the Prize" is an award-winning TV series which first premiered in 1987. It is a 14-hour documentary series on the Civil Rights Movement in the United States and is considered one of the best documentaries ever made on the period from 1954 (Brown vs. Board of Ed.) to 1985 (two years before the documentary was made). It is not usually on TV, so I just wanted to make you aware of the fact that it will be on PBS again soon, starting April 1. I can't force you to watch 14 hours of TV (I could try, but that would be really mean :), but I know that you all must have PBS (channel 13) so if you can, you really should watch. If you want to check out the series, have a look at http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/eyesontheprize/about/fd.html. If you do end up watching, I'd be curious for your thoughts about the show -- you can comment on this posting.
"Eyes on the Prize" is an award-winning TV series which first premiered in 1987. It is a 14-hour documentary series on the Civil Rights Movement in the United States and is considered one of the best documentaries ever made on the period from 1954 (Brown vs. Board of Ed.) to 1985 (two years before the documentary was made). It is not usually on TV, so I just wanted to make you aware of the fact that it will be on PBS again soon, starting April 1. I can't force you to watch 14 hours of TV (I could try, but that would be really mean :), but I know that you all must have PBS (channel 13) so if you can, you really should watch. If you want to check out the series, have a look at http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/eyesontheprize/about/fd.html. If you do end up watching, I'd be curious for your thoughts about the show -- you can comment on this posting.