This 1996 documentary takes a nostalgic ride through history to present the experiences of Black sleeping-car porters who worked on Canada's railways from the early 1900s through the 1960s.
There was a strong sense of pride among these men and they were well-respected by their community. Yet, harsh working conditions prevented them from being promoted to other railway jobs until finally, in 1955, porter Lee Williams took his fight to the union.
Claiming discrimination under the Canada Fair Employment Act, the Blacks won their right to work in other areas. Interviews, archival footage and the music of noted jazz musician Joe Sealy (whose father was a porter) combine to portray a fascinating history that might otherwise have been forgotten.
Lincoln is still considered the most respected and revered of all U.S. Presidents ever elected to that esteemed office. I have always held a deep and profound sense of awe of the man and all that he accomplished in his years in office. With the presidential reelection last week, the parallels of the pervasive ideologies that divide our nation now and then, tells me that nothing has changed in the years since the Civil War. I found a video today that shows what drove John Wilkes Booth to murder President Lincoln. This video shows the bitterness and the deep hatred that drove the South to separate from the Union that still permeates throughout the country today and deeply divides us all. Not just in a sense of they were wronged by the North, but also how they view life in general, and in their arrogant thinking, that everyone needs to have the same views and rules as they set forth. Will this bring our country down yet again or can we learn from the past?
This HBO documentary is 1 hour and 21 minutes, this film is riveting, moving and very accurate.
Jivin' in Be-Bop is a 1947 musical film. It was produced by William D. Alexander and stars Dizzy Gillespie and His Orchestra, which included notable musicians such as bassist Ray Brown, vibraphonist Milt Jackson, and pianist John Lewis. The film also features singers Helen Humes and Kenny "Pancho" Hagood, Master of Ceremonies Freddie Carter, and a group of dancers.
The film consists of a plotless revue presented in a theatrical setting, offering a total of 19 musical and dance numbers. Gillespie and his band are shown performing eight songs, including "Salt Peanuts", "One Bass Hit", "Oop Bop Sh'Bam", and "He Beeped When He Should Have Bopped". The band plays off-camera while dancers perform during the remaining songs, which include "Shaw 'Nuff", "A Night in Tunisia", "Grosvenor Square", and "Ornithology".
It is not known whether the performances in Jivin' in Be-Bop were recorded live or if the film's soundtrack was pre-recorded. The liner notes that accompany the DVD release suggest the latter, as does one of Gillespie's biographers. At least one critic believes the musicians were playing live.The dancing in the film has been described as "dull and frequently silly" by writer Phil Hall, who wrote that Jivin' in Be-Bop includes "one of the worst ballets ever put on film".
Gillespie's dancing, on the other hand, is generally praised. One writer said "his unique technique is shown to great effect" in the film. One biographer described Gillespie "skipping about the stage", and another wrote that Gillespie was "quite happy to dance to the band's sounds, ... spinning around and mugging in front of the band".Between the songs, Carter tells jokes and banters with Gillespie. Film historian Donald Bogle described the comic routines as "dull-witted". Bogle went on: "There are only two redeeming factors here: namely Dizzy Gillespie and vocalist Helen Humes. Otherwise the proceedings are pretty dreary."
Epidemics in Western Society Since 1600 (HIST 234)The Tuskegee Syphilis Study, carried out in Macon, Alabama, from 1932 to 1972, is a notorious episode in the checkered history of medical experimentation.
In one of the most economically disadvantaged parts of the U.S., researchers deceived a group of 399 black male syphilitics into participating in a study with no therapeutic value. These "volunteers" were not treated as patients, but rather as experimental subjects, or walking cadavers. Even after the development of penicillin, the Tuskegee group was denied effective treatment. Despite regularly published scholarly articles, forty years passed before there was any protest in the medical community.
The aftereffects of the study, along with the suffering of its victims, include a series of congressional investigations, the drafting of medical ethics guidelines, and the establishment of independent review boards. Complete course materials are available at the Epidemics in Western Society Since 1600 (HIST 234)The Tuskegee Syphilis Study, carried out in Macon, Alabama, from 1932 to 1972, is a notorious episode in the checkered history of medical experimentation.
In one of the most economically disadvantaged parts of the U.S., researchers deceived a group of 399 black male syphilitics into participating in a study with no therapeutic value. These "volunteers" were not treated as patients, but rather as experimental subjects, or walking cadavers. Even after the development of penicillin, the Tuskegee group was denied effective treatment. Despite regularly published scholarly articles, forty years passed before there was any protest in the medical community.
The aftereffects of the study, along with the suffering of its victims, include a series of congressional investigations, the drafting of medical ethics guidelines, and the establishment of independent review boards. Complete course materials are available at the Open Yale Courses website.
Racism: A History is a three-part British documentary series originally broadcast on BBC Four in March 2007.
It was part of the season of programmes broadcast on the BBC marking the 200th anniversary of the Slave Trade Act 1807, a landmark piece of legislation which abolished the slave trade in the British Empire.
The series explores the impact of racism on a global scale and chronicles the shifts in the perception of race and the history of racism in Europe, the Americas, Australia and Asia. The series was narrated by Sophie Okonedo.
1 "The Colour of Money" 22 March 2007 In its first episode the series begins by assessing the implications of the relationship between Europe, Africa and the Americas in the 15th century. It considers how racist ideas and practices developed in key religious and secular institutions, and how they showed up in writings by European philosophers Aristotle and Immanuel Kant.
2 "Fatal Impact" 28 March 2007 Examines the idea of scientific racism, an ideology invented during the 19th century that drew on now discredited practices such as phrenology and provided an ideological justification for racism and slavery. The episode shows how these theories ultimately led to eugenics and Nazi racial policies of the master race.
3 "A Savage Legacy" 4 April 2007 Examines the impact of racism in the 20th century. By 1900 European colonial expansion had reached deep into the heart of Africa. Under the rule of King Leopold II, the Belgian Congo was turned into a vast rubber plantation. Men, women and children who failed to gather their latex quotas would have their limbs dismembered. The country became the scene of one of the century's greatest racial genocides, as an estimated 10 million Africans perished under colonial rule.
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