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Film and Video Collection
Decker Library has over 6,000 items in our Film and Video Collection, including films, television, and MICA-related media. Below is a short list of films that relate to Civil Rights history, social issues in Baltimore, racism and discrimination, incarceration, and much more. Just as with the books listed in this guide, these films cover a wide range of topics because civic unrest calls for contextualization.
Hover over the "i" icon for short descriptions. Special thank you to Meredith Moore, Digital Curation & Audiovisual Archives Specialist, for contributing to this list.
Documentaries (Films and Television) and Recorded Events
4 Little Girls by
"When a bomb tears through the basement of a black Baptist church on a peaceful fall morning, it takes the lives of four young girls; Denise McNair, Carole Robertson, Cynthia Wesley and Addie Mae Collins. This racially motivated crime, taking place at a time when the civil rights movement is burning with a new flame, could have doused that flame forever. Instead it fuels a nation's outrage and brings Birmingham, Alabama to the forefront of America's concern."
12 O'Clock Boys by
A notorious urban dirt bike pack in Baltimore that pops wheelies, weaves at excessive speeds through traffic, and impressively evades the hamstrung police. Their stunning antics are viewed through the eyes of adolescent Pug, a bright kid from the Westside obsessed with the riders and willing to do anything to join their ranks.
ACLU Freedom Files, The by
Originally broadcast on television on Link TV in 2005 and 2006. Civil rights in American are under attack. The ACLU,The Freedom Files television series draws on the power of true stories to highlight vital civil liberties issues of our time and inspire viewers to take action. These half-hour documentaries feature the firsthand accounts of real people who have taken on the powers that be--often at great risk to themselves--in order to preserve their precious constitutional rights.
American Revolutionary: The Evolution of Grace Lee Boggs by
What does it mean to be an American revolutionary today? Grace Lee Boggs is a 98-year-old Chinese American writer, activist, and philosopher in Detroit. Rooted for more than 70 years in the African American movement, she has devoted her life to an evolving revolution that encompasses the contradictions of America's past and its potentially radical future. This documentary presents Boggs's lifetime of vital thinking and action, traversing the major U.S. social movements of the last century; from labor to civil rights, to Black Power, feminism, the Asian American and environmental justice movements and beyond.
Angola 3, The: Black Panthers and the Last Slave Plantation by
Tells the gripping story of Robert King Wilkerson, Herman Wallace and Albert Woodfox, men who endured solitary confinement longer then any known living prisoner in the United States. Explores their extraordinary struggle for justice while incarcerated.
Baltimore '68 Riots: Loss and Legacy by
In collaboration with the University of Baltimore's Baltimore '68: Riots and Rebirth series of events, Baltimore magazine "Passenger" published a collection of oral histories by public officials, television reporters, clergy, storeowners, national guardsmen, and ordinary people of all ages. The introduction is given by MICA faculty member Jennifer Wallace who briefly describes the historical context of the Baltimore Riots of 1968 and gives a timeline of the events. Each member of the panel then reads their written narrative of the event as they experienced it. Sponsored by the Cultural Expansion Grant Committee and the Office of Cultural Diversity and Intercultural Development.
Black Power Mixtape, 1967-1975 by
"THE BLACK POWER MIXTAPE 1967-1975 mobilizes a treasure trove of 16mm material shot by Swedish journalists who came to the US drawn by stories of urban unrest and revolution. Gaining access to many of the leaders of the Black Power Movement, Stokely Carmichael, Bobby Seale, Angela Davis and Eldridge Cleaver among them, the filmmakers captured them in intimate moments and remarkably unguarded interviews. Thirty years later, this lush collection was found languishing in the basement of Swedish Television"--From mrqe.com.
Boys of Baraka, The by
Follows a group of 12-year-old boys from the most violent ghettos of Baltimore to the Baraka School, an experimental boarding school in rural Kenya, where children live by strict guidelines, yet are given the freedom to grow.
Brother Outsider: The Life of Bayard Rustin by
Five years in the making and the winner of more than 25 awards, Brother Outsider illuminates the public and private lives of Bayard Rustin, a visionary activist and strategist who has been called "the invisible man" of the civil rights movement. A tireless crusader for justice, a disciple of Gandhi, a mentor to Martin Luther King Jr., and the architect of the legendary 1963 March on Washington, Rustin dared to live as an openly gay man during the fiercely homophobic 1940s, 1950s and 1960s. Brother Outsider reveals the price that Rustin paid for his honesty, chronicling both the setbacks and triumphs of his remarkable 60-year career. --container
Central Park Five, The by
We know going in that the five young men featured in The Central Park Five were ultimately exonerated of the crime for which they were imprisoned--indeed, the documentary begins with the real perpetrator's confession. But that's cold comfort to them, along with anyone else outraged by the miscarriage of justice detailed in this powerful film by Ken Burns, his daughter Sarah, and her husband, David McMahon. In April 1989, Trisha Meili, a 28-year-old investment banker, was raped and savagely beaten while jogging in the park. The shocking crime came in a city already known, as one interviewee describes it, as "the capital of racial violence," and media, politicians, cops, ordinary citizens, and everyone else demanded that whoever was responsible be brought to justice immediately, if not sooner. And although there were dozens of other black and Latino youths "wilding" (i.e., threatening and/or attacking others) in the park that night, only teenagers Antron McCray, Kevin Richardson, Yusef Salaam, Raymond Santana, and Korey Wise, all of whom were interviewed for this film, were ultimately arrested and convicted, based on confessions to the police who interrogated them. All five went to jail, serving between 6 and 13 years while the district attorney's office congratulated itself on a job well done. But the confessions, portions of which we see in file footage, were bogus. If not actually coerced, they were certainly the products of five scared, confused, suggestible youths willing to say almost anything simply so they could go home. What's more, the confessions were the DA's only evidence; indeed, the DNA evidence didn't implicate any of the boys, and they were exonerated when a serial rapist named Matias Reyes confessed to the crime in 2002. So what went wrong? Aside from the Five and their family members, reporters, lawyers (excluding the prosecutors), and former New York mayors Ed Koch and David Dinkins point to a number of reasons: the "social moat" that divided the haves and have-nots, public pressure, sensational headlines in all the papers, cops more interested in making their "evidence" fit their theory of the crime instead of the other way around… and, inevitably, racism. In classic Burns style, the filmmakers combine interviews, film, photos, and some very effective music to create a document of shame that packs a genuine wallop. --Sam Graham
Colored Frames by
A look back at the last fifty years in African American art, Colored Frames is an unflinching exploration of influences, inspirations and experiences of black artists.
Beginning at the height of the Civil Rights Era and leading up to the present, it is a naked and truthful look at often ignored artists and their progeny.
Constitution day at MICA: Black Lives Matter: Structural Racism in 21st Century America
Melissa Harris-Perry, MSNBC television host, political commentator, award-winning writer and professor, will headline Constitution Day, a free annual symposium co-sponsored by the Maryland Institute College of Art (MICA) and the American Civil Liberties Union of Maryland (ACLU-MD). The panel, moderated by WYPR's The Signal producer and MICA faculty member Aaron Henkin, will also include Reggie Shuford, executive director of the American Civil Liberties Union of Pennsylvania (ACLU-PA), and artist Titus Kaphar, whose artworks interact with the history of art by appropriating its styles and mediums. The 2015 symposium explores the various facets of "Black Lives Matter," a phrase exposing the enduring legacy of racial disparities, particularly in the criminal justice system in America. With recent scandals of police brutality and misconduct, and subsequent protests and national dialogue, panelists will discuss different analyses, approaches and strategies for understanding and challenging systemic racism in America. -from web page.
Crisis: Behind a Presidential Commitment by
Having earned John F. Kennedy's trust with his 1960 campaign-trail film Primary, cinéma vérité documentarian Robert Drew expressed his desire to document a president in crisis. When African American college students Vivian Malone and James Hood prepared to enroll at the all-white University of Alabama in June 1963, governor George Wallace defied a federal court order and vowed to prevent the students' enrollment. Kennedy granted unprecedented access to Drew and his unobtrusive four-team crew, who used handheld cameras to cover both sides of the conflict: Wallace self-righteously clings to segregation, while a flurry of phone calls between the president, attorney general Robert F. Kennedy, and deputy attorney general Nicholas Katzenback reveal a tightly coordinated plan to dismiss Wallace (in Robert Kennedy's words) as "a second-rate figure." Special feature: Drew's short film Faces of November provides an examination of the meaning of John F. Kennedy's death to those at his funeral.
Eyes on the Prize: America's Civil Rights Years 1954-1965 by
The definitive story of the Civil Rights era from the point of view of the ordinary men and women whose extraordinary actions launched a movement that changed the fabric of American life, and embodied a struggle whose reverberations are felt today.
Freedom Riders by
This inspirational documentary is about a band of courageous civil-rights activists calling themselves the Freedom Riders. Gaining impressive access to influential figures on both sides of the issue, it chronicles a chapter of American history that stands as an astonishing testament to the accomplishment of youth and what can result from the incredible combination of personal conviction and the courage to organize against all odds.
Freedom Summer by
"In the hot and deadly summer of 1964, the nation could not turn away from Mississippi. Over 10 memorable weeks known as Freedom Summer, more than 700 student volunteers joined with organizers and local African Americans in a historic effort to shatter the foundations of white supremacy in one of the nation's most segregated states ... even in the face of intimidation, physical violence, and death"--Container.
Girlhood by
Director Liz Garbus presents the coming-of-age stories of two girls trying to make a life for themselves both inside and outside of Baltimore's juvenile justice system.
Hale County This Morning, This Evening by
"Composed of intimate and unencumbered moments of people in a community, HALE COUNTY THIS MORNING, THIS EVENING allows the viewer an emotive impression of the Historic South - trumpeting the beauty of life and consequences of the social construction of race, while simultaneously a testament to dreaming - despite the odds"--Container.
I Am Not Your Negro by
Using James Baldwin's unfinished final manuscript, Remember This House, this documentary follows the lives and successive assassinations of three of the author's friends, Medgar Evers, Malcolm X and Martin Luther King Jr., delving into the legacy of these iconic figures and narrating historic events using Baldwin's original words and a flood of rich archival material. An up-to-the-minute examination of race in America, this film is a journey into black history that connects the past of the Civil Rights movement to the present of #BlackLivesMatter.
King: A Filmed Record... Montgomery to Memphis by
The life and work of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., from the beginnings of the Civil Rights movement in Montgomery, Alabama, and culminating with his assassination in Memphis in 1968. Including archival footage, this film is an indispensable primary resource of a pivotal moment in American and world history. Originally screened in theaters for only a single night in 1970.
Let the Fire Burn by
Comprised of found footage and sound bites, Let the fire burn describes the conflict between the Black Power group MOVE and the people and city government of Philadelphia, culminating in the armed standoff of May 13, 1985, in which one police officer and eleven MOVE members were killed, ending when Philadelphia police dropped a bomb on the row house that served as MOVE headquarters.
Mighty Times: The Children's March
Contains interviews with some of the protesters. In May of 1963, Martin Luther King, Jr. asked black people of Birmingham, Alabama to go to jail in the cause of racial equality. The adults were afraid to go to jail and so the school children marched and over 5000 of them were arrested. This led to President Kennedy sponsoring the 1964 Civil Rights Act and the March on Washington. Portions of this film were reenacted using vintage cameras and film stocks.
P.S. I Can't Breathe by
On December 13th 2014, tens of thousands of New Yorkers took to the streets to call attention to the deaths of unarmed black men at the hands of the police and to urge lawmakers to take action. P.S. I Can't Breathe Documentary is a raw, uncensored glimpse into the Millions March NYC AFTER a NYC grand jury deliberated to not indict the officer who killed Eric Garner by placing him in a choke hold. Real interviews with the protesters capture the depths of hurt and anger in the community, along with their hope for justice and suggestions for solutions to inspire the change many wish to see! P.S. I Can't Breathe encourages the observer to digest information regarding the #BlackLivesMatter hash-tag and understand the youth's perspective on the topic while taking a deeper look into aftermath or Post Script of hope lost and shattered dreams when justice is not equal for everyone.
The Pruitt-Igoe Myth by
"Destroyed in a dramatic and highly publicized implosion, the Pruitt-Igoe public housing complex has become a widespread symbol of failure among architects, politicians and policy makers. The Pruitt-Igoe Myth explores the social, economic and legislative issues that led to the decline of conventional public housing in America, and the city centers in which the projects resided, while tracing personal and poignant narratives of those who lived in them."--Disc container.
The Rise and Fall of Jim Crow by
Originally produced for television in 2002. Offers the first comprehensive look at race relations in America between the Civil War and the Civil Rights Movement. This definitive four-part series documents the context in which the laws of segregation known as the "Jim Crow" system originated and developed.
Selma: The Bridge to the Ballot by
The story of a courageous group of Alabama students and teachers who, along with other activists, fought a nonviolent battle to win voting rights for African Americans in the South. Standing in their way: a century of Jim Crow, a resistant and segregationist state, and a federal government slow to fully embrace equality. By organizing and marching bravely in the face of intimidation, violence, arrest and even murder, these change-makers achieved one of the most significant victories to the civil rights era.
Slavery and the Making of America
Soundtrack for a Revolution by
The story of the American civil rights movement through its music, the freedom songs protesters sang on picket lines, in mass meetings, and more, as they fought for justice and equality. Includes new performances of the freedom songs by top artists, archival footage, and interviews with civil rights foot soldiers and leaders. Freedom songs evolved from slave chants, from the labor movement, and even from the black church.
Standing on My Sisters' Shoulders by
This disc is a recorded DVD and may not play on all DVD players or drives.
This documentary tells the story of the three Mississippi women in 1965, who walked into the US House of Representatives in Washington D.C.to seek their civil rights. These living legends give their firsthand testimony and capture a piece of history that is often overlooked in history books. Their achievements go beyond the cotton fields of Mississippi or even the coasts of America.
Stories of Resiliency by
"In the 1950's and early 1960's, Pennsylvania Avenue in Baltimore City was known as a cultural hub for African-Americans where nightclubs and big names in black entertainment, business, education and politics showed up to see and be seen on the 'Avenue'. In the late 1960's, when Baltimore's shipping and steel industries went into decline and Martin Luther King , Jr. was assinated, many corner stores and businesses closed in the riots that followed, never to re-open. What is left in the wake is a community completely isolated both racially and economically. African-American elders witnessed this change in the community. Alberta davis, Fred Pride and Lola Jenkins-Reed tell their experience of Pennsylvania Avenue, then and now. The three were students of the clay class for older adults at Baltimore Clayworks Jubilee Arts in Penslyvania Avenue in the spring of 2010."---Container.
Time For Justice: America's Civil Rights Movement, A by
A Time for Justice depicts the battle for civil rights as told by its foot soldiers. They rode where they weren't supposed to ride; walked where they weren't supposed to walk; sat where they weren't supposed to sit. And they stood their groud until they won their freedom. Directed by four-time Academy Award® winner Charles Guggenheim, A Time For Justice recalls the cirses in Montgomery, Little Rock, Birmingham and Selma. But more importantly, it reveals the heroism of individuals who risked their lives for the cause of freedom and equality. --container
Toni Morrison; The Pieces I Am by
An artful and intimate meditation on the life and works of the acclaimed novelist. From her childhood in the steel town of Lorain, Ohio to '70s-era book tours with Muhammad Ali, from the front lines with Angela Davis to her own riverfront writing room, Toni Morrison leads an assembly of her peers, critics, and colleagues on an exploration of race, America, history and the human condition as seen through the prism of her own literature.
Television
Corner, The
The Corner presents the world of Fayette Street using real names and real events. The miniseries tells the true story of men, women and children living amid the open-air drug markets of West Baltimore. It chronicles a year in the lives of 15-year-old DeAndre McCullough, his mother Fran Boyd, and his father Gary McCullough, as well as other addicts and low-level drug dealers caught up in the twin-engine economy of heroin and cocaine.
Homicide: Life on the Street. The Complete Seasons 1 & 2 (Note: We own the complete series) by 
Wire, The: The Complete First Season. (Note: We own the complete series.) by Narratives
12 Years a Slave by
"Based on the true story of Solomon Northup. It is 1841, and Northup, an accomplished, free citizen of New York, is kidnapped and sold into slavery. Stripped of his identity and deprived of all dignity, Northup is ultimately purchased by ruthless plantation owner Edwin Epps and must find the strength within to survive. Filled with powerful performances by an astonishing cast including Chiwetel Ejiofor, Michael Fassbender, Benedict Cumberbatch, Brad Pitt, and newcomer Lupita Nyong'o, 12 Years a Slave is both an unflinching account of slavery in American history and a celebration of the indomitable power of hope."
BlacKkKlansman by
"Ron Stallworth, an African American police officer from Colorado Springs, CO, successfully manages to infiltrate the local Ku Klux Klan branch with the help of a Jewish surrogate who eventually becomes its leader. Based on actual events." - IMDB
Get Out by
"A young African-American visits his white girlfriend's parents for the weekend, where his simmering uneasiness about their reception of him eventually reaches a boiling point." - IMDB
If Beale Street Could Talk by
"A timeless love story set in early 1970s Harlem involving newly engaged nineteen-year- old Tish and her fiance Fonny who have a beautiful future ahead. But their plans are derailed when Fonny is arrested for a crime he did not commit. Now the pair and their families must fight for justice in the name of love and the promise of the American dream."
Long Walk Home, The by
When Odessa Cotter, a quietly dignified woman who works as a housekeeper for Miriam Thompson honors the 1955 Montgomery, Alabama, bus boycott by walking an exhausting nine miles to and from work, Miriam offers her a ride. Defying both Miriam's racist husband and the powerful White Citizen's Council, Miriam and Odessa put their lives in danger for civil rights. Their shared experiences draw them closer as a deep respect and lasting friendship forms. Together, in a difficult world of black versus white, they manage to discover a common ground.
Malcolm X by
Often misunderstood, Malcolm X was one of the leading forces of the United States' Civil Rights Movement. He inspired many--and frightened many--but is destined to be remembered as one of the greatest men of his era. This riveting biography directed by Spike Lee and starring Denzel Washington in an Academy Award-nominated performance reveals the man at the center of a storm of change.
Mississippi Burning by
Dramatization of the investigation of the murders of three civil rights workers in 1964 Mississippi.
Moonlight by
"A young African-American man grapples with his identity and sexuality while experiencing the everyday struggles of childhood, adolescence, and burgeoning adulthood." - IMDB
Nothing But a Man by
Set against the stirrings of the civil rights movement and a rising wave of burgeoning Black pride, this tells the story of Duff, a railroad section hand who is forced to confront racial prejudice and self-denial when he falls in love with Josie, an educated preacher's daughter. An uplifting story about a man and a woman whose love overcomes racial and class barriers.
