Adler University Library: Anti-Racism Guide: Educate: Watch &amp; Listen

Available via Adler Library

Eyes on the Prize PBS Documentary
This landmark series, which first premiered in 1987, documents the history of the civil rights movement in America. Produced by Blackside, segments include the Montgomery bus boycott of 1954, school desegregation in 1957 Arkansas, the right-to-vote battle within Mississippi, the march from Selma to Montgomery, Ala., and the Voting Rights Act of 1965. The series has been honored with a George Foster Peabody Award, an International Documentary Award, Television Critics Association Award and numerous Emmy Awards.

Essential listening: Podcasts

***Some platforms may require signing up for a free account or subscription to listen to the content.***

1619 (New York Times)
Four hundred years ago, in August 1619, a ship carrying more than 20 enslaved Africans arrived in the English colony of Virginia. No aspect of the country that would be formed here has been untouched by the 250 years of slavery that followed. “1619,” a New York Times audio series hosted by Nikole Hannah-Jones, examines the long shadow of that fateful moment.
Black Girl Dangerous
BGD Press is the brainchild of award-winning writer Mia McKenzie. What started out as a scream of anguish has evolved into a multi-faceted forum for expression. BGD seeks to, in as many ways as possible, amplify the voices, experiences and expressions of queer and trans people of color.
Small Doses with Amanda Seales
Your favorite truth teller, comedian, Amanda Seales, is dropping gems with, “Small Doses,” a weekly podcast that brings you potent truths for everyday use.
Pod Save the People
Organizer and activist DeRay Mckesson explores news, culture, social justice, and politics with analysis from Sam Sinyangwe, Kaya Henderson, and De’Ara Balenger. Then he sits down for deep conversations with experts, influencers, and diverse local and national leaders. New episodes every Tuesday.
Code Switch
The fearless conversations about race that you've been waiting for! Hosted by journalists of color, our podcast tackles the subject of race head-on. We explore how it impacts every part of society — from politics and pop culture to history, sports and everything in between.
What Matters by Black Lives Matter
What Matters combines documentary narrative with interviews to illuminate specific, timely issues, aiming to create safe dialogue to promote freedom, justice, and collective liberation. What Matters is a salve and a safe place where we can connect, learn, think freely, and transform the world.
The Nod
The Nod tells the stories of Black life that don’t get told anywhere else, from an explanation of how purple drink became associated with Black culture to the story of how an interracial drag troupe traveled the nation in the 1940s. We celebrate the genius, the innovation, and the resilience that is so particular to being Black -- in America, and around the world.
The Brown Girl's Guide to Politics
the one stop shop for women of color who want to hear and talk about the world of politics. Host A’shanti Gholar leads conversations with women changing the face of politics
The Stoop
STORIES FROM ACROSS THE BLACK DIASPORA
Hope & Hard Pills
Exploring practical insight on racial justice and social change.
Murdered & Missing Indigenous Women & Girls
"In the indigenous culture, women are so important and revered. When we lose one, we lose generations. The loss is profound. The movement for change needs to be equally profound." ~ Joseph Boyden
Seeing White - Scene on Radio
In Season 4, John Biewen and Chenjerai Kumanyika explore democracy in America—past and present—in twelve biweekly episodes
Come Through with Rebecca Carroll
It’s an election year, and whether people want to admit it or not, race is at the center of every issue -- healthcare, jobs, climate change, the media, and more. Join host Rebecca Carroll for 15 essential conversations about race in a pivotal moment for America. She talks to great thinkers, writers, and artists about faith, representation, white fragility, and how it’s all playing out in 2020.
Lady Don't Take No with Alicia Garza, a BLM founder
Lady Don’t Take No is a podcast created by Alicia Garza for people who like their political commentary with a side of beauty recommendations. It’s her tribute to the Bay Area’s unique way of getting things done. Garza will divulge her hot takes on everything from why Fenty Beauty saves lives, to how to handle microaggressions at the airport.
The Good Ancestor
Conversations With Change-Makers & Culture-Shapers
All My Relations
Welcome to All My Relations, a podcast where we explore what it means to be a Native person in 2019. To be an Indigenous person is to be engaged in relationships—relationships to land and place, to a people, to non-human relatives, and to one another. All My Relations is a place to explore those relationships, and to think through Indigeneity in all its complexities.
Burn It All Down
The Feminist Sports Podcast You Need
Intersectionality Matters! Hosted by Kimberle Crenshaw
Intersectionality Matters! is a podcast hosted by Kimberlé Crenshaw, an American civil rights advocate and a leading scholar of critical race theory.
Momentum: A Race Forward Podcast
Momentum: A Race Forward Podcast features movement voices, stories, and strategies for racial justice. Co-hosts Chevon and Hiba give their unique takes on race and pop culture, and uplift narratives of hope, struggle, and joy, as we continue to build the momentum needed to advance racial justice in our policies, institutions, and culture.

Essential viewing: TED Talks

Talks to help you understand racism in America

Anti-Racism Films at the NFB

This playlist features films that confront racism. They are a small selection of films from the NFB collection that look at instances of racism in Canada, and support dialogue on equality and diversity.

Zero Tolerance
Being young is tough, especially if you're Black, Latino, Arab or Asian. In a city like Montreal, you can get targeted and treated as a criminal for no good reason. Zero Tolerance reveals how deep seated prejudice can be. On one side are the city's young people, and on the other, its police force. Two worlds, two visions. Yet one of these groups is a minority, while the other wields real power. One has no voice, while the other makes life-and-death decisions.

When a policy of zero tolerance to crime masks an intolerance to young people of colour, the delicate balance between order and personal freedom is upset. A blend of cinéma vérité and personal testimonies, this hard-hitting film will broaden your mind and change your way of thinking. In French with English subtitles.
nîpawistamâsowin: We Will Stand Up
On August 9, 2016, a young Cree man named Colten Boushie died from a gunshot to the back of his head after entering Gerald Stanley’s rural property with his friends. The jury’s subsequent acquittal of Stanley captured international attention, raising questions about racism embedded within Canada’s legal system and propelling Colten’s family to national and international stages in their pursuit of justice. Sensitively directed by Tasha Hubbard, nîpawistamâsowin: We Will Stand Up weaves a profound narrative encompassing the filmmaker’s own adoption, the stark history of colonialism on the Prairies, and a vision of a future where Indigenous children can live safely on their homelands. See the 52-minute version here.

A study guide is available on the playback page
Journey to Justice
This documentary pays tribute to a group of Canadians who took racism to court. They are Canada's unsung heroes in the fight for Black civil rights. Focusing on the 1930s to the 1950s, this film documents the struggle of 6 people who refused to accept inequality. Featured here, among others, are Viola Desmond, a woman who insisted on keeping her seat at the Roseland movie theatre in New Glasgow, Nova Scotia in 1946 rather than moving to the section normally reserved for the city's Black population, and Fred Christie, who took his case to the Supreme Court after being denied service at a Montreal tavern in 1936. These brave pioneers helped secure justice for all Canadians. Their stories deserve to be told.
Kanehsatake: 270 Years of Resistance
In July 1990, a dispute over a proposed golf course to be built on Kanien’kéhaka (Mohawk) lands in Oka, Quebec, set the stage for a historic confrontation that would grab international headlines and sear itself into the Canadian consciousness. Director Alanis Obomsawin—at times with a small crew, at times alone—spent 78 days behind Kanien’kéhaka lines filming the armed standoff between protestors, the Quebec police and the Canadian army. Released in 1993, this landmark documentary has been seen around the world, winning over a dozen international awards and making history at the Toronto International Film Festival, where it became the first documentary ever to win the Best Canadian Feature award. Jesse Wente, Director of Canada’s Indigenous Screen Office, has called it a “watershed film in the history of First Peoples cinema.”
Remember Africville
Africville, a small black settlement, lay within the city limits of Halifax, Nova Scotia. In the 1960s, the families who lived there were uprooted and their homes demolished in the name of urban renewal and integration. Now, more than twenty years later, the site of the community of Africville is a stark, under-utilized park. Former residents, their descendants and some of the decision-makers, speak out and, with the help of archival photographs and films, tell the story of that painful relocation.
Ninth Floor
Director Mina Shum makes her foray into feature documentary by reopening the file on a watershed moment in Canadian race relations – the infamous Sir George Williams Riot. Over four decades after a group of Caribbean students accused their professor of racism, triggering an explosive student uprising, Shum locates the protagonists and listens as they set the record straight, trying to make peace with the past.

Essential listening: Music

The following links are for playlists avaliable through various musical platforms. ***Some platforms may require signing up for a free account or subscription to listen to the content.***

We Shall Overcome playlist on Spotify
Recordings of speeches by MLK Jr., Shirley Chisholm, Malcolm X, Eldridge Cleaver, Angela Davis, and many more.
Black Lives Matter playlist on Spotify
Songs of empowerment and pride. Take action on racial justice, visit Color Of Change.
Black Lives Matter - YouTube Music
Songs to uplift, empower and energize the community in the fight towards justice for Black lives - both living and lost.

Classic Works

Strange Fruit, Billie Holiday
Billie Holiday performed this song as a protest against the lynching of African Americans. Her career ultimately paid for it.

Oh Freedom!
In the 1950s and 1960s, the song was commonly sung as part of the Civil Rights Movement.

The Revolution Will Not Be Televised, Gil Scott Heron
In today's time: The revolution will be filtered on google, the revolution will be demonetized on youtube, the revolution will be banned from pateron, won't be facebooked, and is unverified on twitter.

Nina Simone
"Mississippi Goddamn" was written by Nina Simone after a string of racist attacks in Alabama after JFK's 1963 Civil Rights address.

“Feeling Good” was written to express a particular kind of euphoria: that which comes with liberation from oppression

"I Wish I Knew How It Would Feel To Be Free”
I wish I knew how it would feel to be free
I wish I could break all the chains holding me
I wish I could say all the things that I should say

Say It Loud - I'm Black and I'm Proud, James Brown
A song that redefined Black Pride

A Change Is Gonna Come, Sam Cooke
An anthem of the civil rights movement.

Other Motivational Music

Love's In Need Of Love Today, Stevie Wonder
The opening track from Wonder's acclaimed double album is a sermon on love. Hate is breaking hearts around the world, and the singer calls his listeners to send in their love because "love's in need of love today."

Get Up Stand Up, Bob Marley and The Wailers
Marley wrote the song while touring Haiti, deeply moved by its poverty and the lives of Haitians,.

When I wrote "Cry No More" back in 2015 after a white supremacist committed mass murder at a South Carolina church, I had no idea that in 5 short years America would look like it does right now. This song still felt almost unbelievably current and after I added a couple of verses I reached out to my Omar collaborator Michael Abels for a new version for 2020, and I am speechless at the number of incredible artists who leant their light to this project - from the Met Opera Chorus to various members of the Sphinx Organization, to the Nashville Ballet and the folks behind the scenes who brought the sound and the vision together - now more than ever Art needs to lead the way to a better place - it's only over if we give up.

“...the world is all messed up.

The nation is sick. Trouble is in the land;

confusion all around... But I know, somehow,

that only when it is dark enough

can you see the stars.” – Martin Luther King, Jr."

**The following music videos include explicit content and/or profanity.

Fuck Tha Police, N.W.A.
In about six minutes, MCs Ice Cube, Ren, and Eazy-E serve as prosecutors against the overzealous LAPD, accusing cops of pulling them over in their cars and raiding their homes, over a hard-hitting beat while the track’s producer, Dr. Dre, presides as judge.

Any album by Kendrick Lamar
Kendrick Lamar is known in the Rap industry as an activist, he has spent much of his time giving back to his community and fighting against injustices. His rap music is a reflection of what he sees.

Beyonce
"Formation" is set in New Orleans, the video conjures images of Hurricane Katrina, Mardi Gras and the Black South. There's natural hair and hot-sauce swag and a young black boy dancing in front of police officers. Hands are held up before we see the words, "Stop shooting us."

"Freedom" "...threatens to topple governments in its wake" and is "one of the most striking political statements of [Beyoncé's] career.

Many of Beyonce's other singles are also known for advocating for the BLM movement.

APES**T, The Carters
Beyonce and Jay-Z Carter create a radical music video in the Louvre, where little of the art features people of color in positions of strength and power.

The Story of O.J., Jay-Z
The overarching theme of the song details how one’s skin color shapes how they are viewed in society, regardless of their financial class or levels of fame attained.

Childish Gambino
"This is America" - The implication of the video is that the brutal violence and general mayhem is no different than daily life in the US, where guns, entrenched racism and police brutality against black Americans dominate the headlines.

"Feels like Summer" - In the animated video, Gambino walks calmly through a neighborhood watching all of his neighbors playing during the summer as well as stopping to have dream sequences. The neighbors are all famous rappers or modern black figures.

A Seat at the Table, Solange
An album that focuses on what it means to be Black in America

The Bigger Picture, Lil Baby
"The Bigger Picture" is a protest song by American rapper Lil Baby. It was released on June 12, 2020, in the wake of the killing of George Floyd. In the song, Lil Baby shows solidarity with the 2020 Black Lives Matter protests calling for justice against police brutality in the United States and systemic racism. Proceeds from "The Bigger Picture" benefit The National Association of Black Journalists, Breonna Taylor's attorney, The Bail Project, and Black Lives Matter.

I Can't Breathe, H.E.R
“These lyrics were kind of easy to write because it came from a conversation with what’s happening right now, what’s been happening, and the change that we need to see. I think music is powerful when it comes to change and when it comes to healing, and that’s why I wrote this song, to make a mark in history. And I hope this song does that.” - H.E.R.

FTP, YG
“FTP,” produced by Swish and Larry J, builds off of YG’s previous protest song with the late Nipsey Hussle, “FDT (Fuck Donald Trump),” released during the 2016 election. That song has become a protest anthem in its own right, and has reportedly been played at George Floyd demonstrations.

Blacklist, Dame D.O.L.L.A.
Portland Trail Blazers star Damian Lillard is using his platform to speak out against racism and police brutality.

Essential viewing: Documentaries

The Adler University Library does not have access to all of these films.

You may be able to find these films via a subscription service (i.e. Netflix, Hulu, HBOmax) or via your public library.

The Skin We're In
Urgent, controversial, and undeniably honest, The Skin We’re In is a wake-up call to complacent Canadians. Racism is here. It is everywhere. It is us and we are it. Following celebrated journalist Desmond Cole as he researches his hotly anticipated book, this documentary from acclaimed director Charles Officer pulls back the curtain on racism in Canada.
Journey to Justice
This documentary pays tribute to a group of Canadians who took racism to court. They are Canada's unsung heroes in the fight for Black civil rights. Focusing on the 1930s to the 1950s, this film documents the struggle of 6 people who refused to accept inequality. Featured here, among others, are Viola Desmond, a woman who insisted on keeping her seat at the Roseland movie theatre in New Glasgow, Nova Scotia in 1946 rather than moving to the section normally reserved for the city's Black population, and Fred Christie, who took his case to the Supreme Court after being denied service at a Montreal tavern in 1936. These brave pioneers helped secure justice for all Canadians. Their stories deserve to be told.
Secret Vancouver: A Return to Hogan's Alley
Discover how this hotbed of historic jazz was nearly forgotten by time and erased by urban renewal.
The 13th
Filmmaker Ava DuVernay explores the history of racial inequality in the United States, focusing on the fact that the nation's prisons are disproportionately filled with African-Americans.
Dark Girls
Filmmakers Bill Duke and D. Channsin Berry explore a deep-seated bias within black culture against women with darker skin.
Freedom Riders
Renowned director Stanley Nelson chronicles the inspirational story of American civil rights activists' peaceful fight against racial segregation on buses and trains in the 1960s.
What Happened, Miss Simone?
Classically trained pianist, dive-bar chanteuse, black power icon and legendary recording artist Nina Simone lived a life of brutal honesty, musical genius, and tortured melancholy.
Soundtrack for a Revolution
Bill Guttentag's documentary examines the importance of music during the U.S. civil rights movement that took place during the 1950s and '60s. The various sit-ins and public demonstrations of the era incorporated protest songs, folk tunes and spirituals, music that was a crucial part of the movement. Guttentag uses archival footage and interviews to connect specific songs (covered by artists including the Roots and John Legend) to specific events, such as the Montgomery bus boycott.
Rest In Power: The Trayvon Martin Story
In 2012 Trayvon Martin was shot and killed in Sanford, Fla., by neighborhood watch member George Zimmerman. Martin, a 17-year-old African-American high school student, was visiting a friend with his father and was unarmed. Based on Florida's Stand Your Ground Law, Zimmerman was acquitted of second-degree murder, claiming he shot Martin in self-defense. The fatal encounter and the subsequent trial sparked outrage and protests and shined an unforgiving light on issues including race, politics, power, money and gun control.
I Am Not Your Negro
In 1979, James Baldwin wrote a letter to his literary agent describing his next project, "Remember This House." The book was to be a revolutionary, personal account of the lives and assassinations of three of his close friends: Medgar Evers, Malcolm X and Martin Luther King, Jr. At the time of Baldwin's death in 1987, he left behind only 30 completed pages of this manuscript. Filmmaker Raoul Peck envisions the book James Baldwin never finished.
King In The Wilderness
A portrait of Martin Luther King Jr. during the last years of his life, from his part in the Voting Rights Act of 1965 to his assassination in 1968.
The Central Park Five
Filmmakers Ken Burns, Sarah Burns and David McMahon examine a 1989 case of five teenagers who were wrongfully convicted of raping a woman. After they had spent from six to 13 years in prison, a serial rapist confessed to the crime.

Essential viewing: Movies

The Adler University Library does not have access to these films.

You may be able to find these films via a subscription service (i.e. Netflix, Hulu, HBOmax) or via your public library.

Beloved
In 1873 Ohio, Sethe (Oprah Winfrey) is a mother of three haunted by her horrific slavery past and her desperate actions for freedom. As a result, Sethe's home is haunted by a furious poltergeist, which drives away her two sons. Sethe and her daughter (Kimberly Elise) endure living with the spirit for 10 more years, until an old friend, Paul D. Garner (Danny Glover), arrives to run it out. After Garner moves in, a strange woman named Beloved (Thandie Newton) enters their lives, causing turmoil.
Tangerine
After hearing that her boyfriend/pimp cheated on her while she was in jail, a hooker and her best friend set out to find him and teach him and his new lover a lesson.
12 Years A Slave
In the years before the Civil War, Solomon Northup (Chiwetel Ejiofor), a free black man from upstate New York, is kidnapped and sold into slavery in the South. Subjected to the cruelty of one malevolent owner (Michael Fassbender), he also finds unexpected kindness from another, as he struggles continually to survive and maintain some of his dignity. Then in the 12th year of the disheartening ordeal, a chance meeting with an abolitionist from Canada changes Solomon's life forever.
Selma
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.
Hidden Figures
Three brilliant African-American women at NASA -- Katherine Johnson (Taraji P. Henson), Dorothy Vaughan (Octavia Spencer) and Mary Jackson (Janelle Monáe) -- serve as the brains behind one of the greatest operations in history: the launch of astronaut John Glenn (Glen Powell) into orbit, a stunning achievement that restored the nation's confidence, turned around the Space Race and galvanized the world.
Malcolm X
A tribute to the controversial black activist and leader of the struggle for black liberation. He hit bottom during his imprisonment in the '50s, he became a Black Muslim and then a leader in the Nation of Islam. His assassination in 1965 left a legacy of self-determination and racial pride.
Dear White People
A campus culture war between blacks and whites at a predominantly white school comes to a head when the staff of a humour magazine stages an offensive Halloween party.
Get Out
Now that Chris (Daniel Kaluuya) and his girlfriend, Rose (Allison Williams), have reached the meet-the-parents milestone of dating, she invites him for a weekend getaway upstate with Missy and Dean. At first, Chris reads the family's overly accommodating behavior as nervous attempts to deal with their daughter's interracial relationship, but as the weekend progresses, a series of increasingly disturbing discoveries lead him to a truth that he never could have imagined.
Higher Learning
In John Singleton's powerful portrait of college life in the 1990s, a group of incoming freshmen at Columbus University -- including varsity athlete Malik Williams (Omar Epps), awkward outcast Remy (Michael Rapaport) and wide-eyed Kristen Connor (Kristy Swanson) -- struggle to find themselves and adjust to newfound independence. When Remy finds acceptance among a group of neo-Nazis, tensions rise even higher on a campus already divided along racial, socio-economic and gender lines.
The Color Purple
An epic tale spanning forty years in the life of Celie (Whoopi Goldberg), an African-American woman living in the South who survives incredible abuse and bigotry. After Celie's abusive father marries her off to the equally debasing "Mister" Albert Johnson (Danny Glover), things go from bad to worse, leaving Celie to find companionship anywhere she can. She perseveres, holding on to her dream of one day being reunited with her sister in Africa. Based on the novel by Alice Walker.
She's Gotta Have It
Beautiful Nola Darling (Tracy Camilla Johns) can't decide what kind of man she wants to date, so she decides to date three at the same time. The first is Greer Childs (John Canada Terrell), a rich, handsome narcissist. Then there's Jamie Overstreet (Tommy Redmond Hicks), a stable, overprotective alpha male. Finally, there's Mars Blackmon (Spike Lee), a timid geek with a heart of gold. Unfortunately, while each suitor has his virtues, Darling just can't seem to make up her mind.
Waiting To Exhale
Navigating through careers, family and romance, four friends bond over the shortcomings in their love lives -- namely, the scarcity of good men. Both as the "other woman," Savannah (Whitney Houston) and Robin (Lela Rochon) carry on relationships with married men, each believing their lovers will leave their wives for them. On the flip side, Bernadine (Angela Bassett) ends up alone when her husband divorces her for his mistress. Meanwhile, Gloria (Loretta Devine) finds love with a new neighbor.
Clemency
Bernadine Williams is a prison warden who, over the years, has been drifting away from her husband while dutifully carrying out executions in a maximum security prison. When she strikes up a unique bond with death-row inmate Anthony Woods, a layer of emotional skin is peeled back, forcing Bernadine to confront the complex-and often contradictory-relationship between good intentions, unrequited desires, and what it means to be sanctioned to kill.

Essential viewing: TV Series

The Adler University Library does not have access to these series.

You may be able to find these series via a subscription service (i.e. Netflix, Hulu, HBOmax) or via your public library.

Insecure
Modern-day black women might be described as strong and confident; in other words, just the opposite of Issa and Molly. As the best friends deal with their own real-life flaws, their insecurities come to the fore as together they cope with an endless series of uncomfortable everyday experiences.
Dear White People
Based on the acclaimed film of the same name, this Netflix-original series follows a group of students of color at Winchester University, a predominantly white Ivy League college. The students are faced with a landscape of cultural bias, social injustice, misguided activism and slippery politics. Through an absurdist lens, the series uses irony, self-deprecation, brutal honesty and humor to highlight issues that still plague today's"post-racial" society.
When They See Us
In 1989 a jogger was assaulted and raped in New York's Central Park, and five young people were subsequently charged with the crime. The quintet, labeled the Central Park Five, maintained its innocence and spent years fighting the convictions, hoping to be exonerated. This limited series spans a quarter of a century, from when the teens are first questioned about the incident in the spring of 1989, going through their exoneration in 2002 and ultimately the settlement reached with the city of New York in 2014.
Underground
Driven by the dreams of a courageous blacksmith named Noah, some plantation slaves in 1850s Georgia band together to attempt a daring escape. The fight for their lives, their futures and their freedom leads to Noah's risk-filled plan to travel hundreds of miles away via the Underground Railroad.
OJ: Made in America
A chronicle of the rise and fall of O.J. Simpson, whose high-profile murder trial exposed the extent of American racial tensions, revealing a fractured and divided nation.
Who Killed Malcolm X?
In February 1965, Malcolm X is murdered; three men are arrested, but only one admits to being part of the plot; decades later, one activist pledges to find the real killers, and vows to learn the truth about what officials knew regarding the crime.