National Woman's History Museum
Women's History Minute: Sojourner Truth
A short video introduces viewers to an abolitionist, women's rights activist, and former enslaved person, Sojourner Truth. The video showcases the importance of her "Ain't I A Woman speech."
National Woman's History Museum
Women's History Minute: Ida B. Wells
Before Rosa Parks, there was Ida B. Wells. In 1884, Wells was arrested for refusing to leave the first-class women's car on a train to Chicago. Born into slavery, raised in the south, Wells became a newspaper publisher, an advocate for...
National Woman's History Museum
Women's History Minute: Katherine Johnson
Launch a study of Katherine Johnson and her contributions to the NASA Space Program with a short video that introduces viewers to little-known information about the role she and other women played. The video also reveals the gender bias...
Biography
Martin Luther King Jr. | A Crusader For Liberation | Biography
A powerful 12-minute video biography captures famous and not so well known events in the life of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Life events include marches he led, speeches he gave, and the brutality he faced.
WatchMojo
Martin Luther King Jr: Life and Death
A brief video biography introduces viewers to Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Pictured as excerpts from his speeches, marches he organized, and causes he supported.
National Constitution Center
14th Amendment Discussion Starter: The Black Codes
The Black Codes and Jim Crow Laws were rules that served the same purpose: to restrict the rights of African Americans. Young historians watch performers read Black Code laws from different states to explain how African Americans were...
National Constitution Center
14th Amendment Discussion Starter: The 39th Congress Debates
The ratification process for the Fourteenth Amendment that granted citizenship to everyone male born in the United States was contentious. The video reenacts a portion of the 39th Congressional debates focusing on the ratification of the...
National Constitution Center
14th Amendment Discussion Starter: The Emancipation Proclamation
In 1863 life forever changed for African American slaves when the Emancipation Proclamation was announced. An interesting video clip shows two actors reading excerpts from the Emancipation Proclamation and a letter by a slave named Annie...
C-SPAN
On This Day: Publication Of Uncle Tom's Cabin
Uncle Tom's Cabin was written to expose the evils of slavery. Published in 1852 by abolitionist Harriet Beecher Stowe to demonstrate the terrors and reality of slavery African Americans were experiencing. The interesting resource...
C-SPAN
On This Day: Selma, AL and "Bloody Sunday"
March 7, 1965 forever changed the lives of African American activists in Selma, Alabama, when a peaceful protest turned deadly. Young academics learn about the 1965 non-violent march of African American activists that ended in the...
PBS
Reconstruction: The Black Codes
During the era of Reconstruction, the planter class of the South tried to replicate the time before the Civil War by squashing rights given in the Thirteenth, Fourteenths and Fifteenth amendments. Using a video clip featuring renowned...
C-SPAN
On This Day: Bombing of the Sixteenth Street Baptist Church in Birmingham, AL
The bombing of the Sixteenth Street Baptist Church in Birmingham, Alabama that killed four little girls galvanized a civil rights movement. Clips include interviews with the church's pastor and a survivor of the bombings, as well as a...
C-SPAN
On This Day: Emmett Till and the Rebirth of the Civil Rights Movement
The murder of Emmett Till, a boy accused of whistling at a white woman in the deep South in the 1950s, galvanized the civil rights movement. His open casket—revealing the ugly horror of racism—reignited a movement. Clips include an...
PBS
Reconstruction: The Birth of a Nation - Rewriting History through Propaganda
How historically accurate was the film The Birth of a Nation? Using a video that features clips from the film and analysis from historians, young scholars explore the connection between art and history. Additional activities...
PBS
Reconstruction: Ida B. Wells - Pioneer of Civil Rights
When Ida B. Wells was kicked off the whites-only ladies railway car, it ignited a ferocious warrior for civil rights. Wells and others worked to preserve the hard-won freedoms of Reconstruction, which were tenuous at best during...
PBS
Reconstruction: The 15th Amendment and African American Men in Congress
To escape to freedom, Robert Smalls had to steal a Confederate ship and sail to Union lines. He continued that fight for freedom as one of the first African American representatives in Congress during the Reconstruction era. Learners...
C-SPAN
On This Day: Black Panther Party
An engaging resource provides viewers with information about the founding of the Black Panther Party and social programs like its food bank that the party created. The video clips also describe the political views of the party and their...
C-SPAN
On This Day: Emancipation Proclamation
While Abraham Lincoln is remembered for the Emancipation Proclamation, the document didn't actually free any peoples. Listening to scholars, learners explore its military purpose and how it helped turn the tide of the Civil War. They...
TED-Ed
Notes of a Native Son: The World According to James Baldwin
Why would the FBI have perceived James Baldwin as a threat to national security? Why did they consider this preacher, writer, thinker, expat, activist so dangerous while Robert Kennedy and other government officials considered him an...
Homeschool Pop
Facts about Jackie Robinson for Kids
A short video spotlights Major League Baseball's first African American player, Jackie Robinson. Engaging photographs, fun graphics, and a clear narrator detail Robinson's life starting with his military background to his induction...
PBS
Black History Month | All About the Holidays
Kick off a celebration of Black History Month with a quick video. The narrator shares the history of the holiday and sheds light on famous African Americans such as Frederick Douglas, Harriet Tubman, George Washington Carver, and...
Scholastic
The Man Who Changed America
An informative video shares a quick history of Martin Luther King, Jr. The engaging narrator covers topics such as where and when MLK Jr. was born, what charged his passion, and good deeds he performed.
PBS
Martin Luther King Day | All About the Holidays
Martin Luther King Day, a national holiday celebrated on the third Monday in January, is the focus of a short video that introduces young learners to the civil rights leader. The video provides a brief review of King's work and...
Biography
Langston Hughes- Mini Biography
When delving into such writings as "I Too Sing America" or "The Negro Speaks of Rivers" by poet, novelist, and playwright Langston Hughes, don't forget to provide this important historical background information on the Harlem...