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Films & Documentaries
  4 little girls (1997)
Documentary, directed by Spike Lee (102 min)

There are many remarkable things about the documentary 4 Little Girls. Spike Lee's striking, beautifully realized film is a cinematic lesson of what kind of material is better suited to the documentary format. In his first documentary, Lee shares an attribute of Ken Burns: the major event in his documentary is not seen on camera. Except for four quick glimpses of black-and-white autopsy photos, the picture stays clear from the bombing. Lee remains with the faces, the girls' friends, families, and the historic figures of the era. They've all grown up since the bombing but their memories haven't faded. The vital facts of the case are certainly here: the troubled history of Birmingham, the court proceedings, friends' last run-ins with the girls. What touches us deeper though are those witnesses telling us of living through the core era of segregation and bigotry: a father explaining to his child why she can't have a sandwich in a cafeteria and a woman offering up tears of past events. There's even an interview with George Wallace, the prince of segregation, that belongs in a David Lynch feature. Lee's film asserts the bombing energized the civil rights movement and when the voice of America, Walter Cronkite, echoes those sentiments, you believe he may have it right.
-- Doug Thomas
 

A Raisin in the Sun (1961)
Drama, directed by Daniel Petrie (108 min)

Lorraine Hansberry's play is given sensitive treatment by filmmaker Daniel Petrie (The Bay Boy). Sidney Poitier heads a fine cast in the story of an African American family in Chicago who are struggling with mixed aspirations, not enough money, conflicts over religion, and institutional racism. The film is pretty much set-bound (as plays adapted for the screen sometimes are), but the drama is intense and moving. --Tom Keogh (Amazon.com)
 

Eyes on the Prize (1995)
Blackside, Inc.
http://pbsvideodb.pbs.org/resources/eyes

This is the definitive look at the civil rights struggle from 1954 onwards.
 

Once Upon a Time... When We Were Colored (1995)
Drama, directed by Tim Reid, USA (115 min)

Tim Reid's wonderful film about life in the black neighborhood of Glen Allan, Mississippi, from the mid-'40s to the dawn of the civil rights movement, is thick with terrific, inspired actors and possessed of a mature, limpid visual style. The story is told from the point of view of a young boy raised by his stalwart grandfather and his kind aunt. But the collective tale of a community coming to terms with the risks it must take to fight racism and achieve political rights is equally important and compelling. Beautifully written (based on the autobiographical novel by Clifton Taubert), Reid's vision is rich in scenes of ritual and community that have rarely, if ever, been revealed on film. This is more than just a good movie; it's a watershed event in this nation's cultural history. --Tom Keogh – Amazon.com
 

Separate but Equal (1991) - TV
Drama, directed by George Stevens, Jr. (186 min)

One of the most pivotal moments in 20th century American history is bracingly dramatized in Separate but Equal. In telling the detailed story of the Supreme Court's 1953 decision to abolish racial segregation in schools, this superb 1991 TV movie covers a broad spectrum of issues, never taking its "eyes off the prize" while its first-rate cast conveys the importance of the Supreme Court's ultimately unanimous decision. It was the culmination of a lengthy, legally complex, and morally compelling struggle that began humbly in South Carolina in 1950, where future Supreme Court Justice Thurgood Marshall (Sidney Poitier)--then a New York-based lawyer for the NAACP--fought on behalf of an underprivileged black community facing social injustice despite the 1896 decision (Plessy v. Ferguson) that promised "separate but equal" treatment in the wake of slavery's abolition. Both direction and script by George Stevens, Jr. are utterly conventional, but with so much dignity and fine acting in the service of a noble undertaking (including Burt Lancaster's final performance, as opposing counsel John W. Davis), Separate but Equal achieves a lasting importance of its own. --Jeff Shannon. Amazon.com
 

Sweet Honey In The Rock: Raise Your Voice (2005)
Documentary, directed by Stanley Nelson, USA (84 min)
http://www.pbs.org/wnet/americanmasters/database/sweet_honey_in_the_rock.html

Aired nationally on PBS "American Masters" series for the first  time on June 29th, 2005, this DVD is  a wonderful shapshot of the life of Sweet Honey in the Rock during their  30th anniversary year. Includes many  live performances, life on the road, interviews with the members of the  group and more. A special highlight is  concert footage of the special collaboration between Sweet Honey and  the band founded by Bernice Johnson  Reagon's daughter, Toshi Reagon and  Big Lovely.
 

The Rosa Parks Story (2002) - TV
Drama, directed by Julie Dash (97 min)

The incident that propelled the American Civil Rights struggle into the limelight was brought about by a woman who refused to give up her seat to a white woman after a hard day at work. Rosa Parks (played by Angela Bassett from WHAT'S LOVE GOT TO DO WITH IT) unwittedly became a national focus for a growing movement, and she bravely faced down an angry city, a racist population and a set of unjust laws to bring about justice. Also starring Cicely Tyson and Peter Francis James and directed by Julie Dash (DAUGHTERS OF THE DUST). From www.rottentomatoes.com
Websites
 

The Thurgood Marshall Center
http://www.thurgoodmarshallcenter.org/

The Thurgood Marshall Center is an innovative community project located at 1816 12th St. NW, in the heart of the Shaw neighborhood in Washington, DC which involves restoring a large vacant historic building back to a community services center:

  • The project brings together at one welcoming location the supportive programs, services, and guidance that will help families and youth build better lives and a brighter future . . . overcoming poverty and neglect.
  • The project preserves this National Historic Landmark building for the benefit of neighborhoods, families, children, and youth -- a building selected for the White House Millennium Council's Save America's Treasures listing of 101 historic treasures.
Videos
  PBS: Thurgood Marshall: Portrait of an American Hero - Volume #224
http://pbsvideodb.pbs.org/programs/program.asp?item_id=11106

The program traces the illustrious career of the first black person appointed as a Supreme Court justice. Students follow Thurgood Marshall through legal studies and private practice, where he concentrated on civil rights; his appointment to serve as head of the legal division of the NAACP; and his career as a Supreme Court justice. Marshall's role as a distinguished civil rights trailblazer is clearly presented.

  • CHAPTER 1 (1908-1967)
    On October 2, 1967 Thurgood Marshall became the first black man to serve on the Supreme Court of America. He was born 1908, went to Howard University, graduated law school, and set up his own practice.
  • CHAPTER 2 (1930-1938)
    In the 1930s, Thurgood Marshall helped to fight against racial segregation. He worked to open the Southern States for education and became involved in the Murphy case. In 1938, he was appointed special counsel for the NAACP for legal cases and created the NAACP legal defense fund.
  • CHAPTER 3 (1940-1967)
    For 21 years, Marshall and his staff chipped away at the foundation of racial segregation. He argued 42 cases before the Supreme Court. The most famous one being, Brown vs the Board of Education, 1954.
  • CHAPTER 4 (1961-1967)
    In 1961, President Kennedy appointed Marshall to the US Court of Appeals. In 1965, President Johnson asked him to become the Solicitor General of the United States and in 1967, he nominated Marshall to the Supreme Court.
Audio
  NPR: All things considered - October 31, 1998
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=1006607
Daniel talks with author and journalist Juan Williams about his most recent work Thurgood Marshall: American Revolutionary. Williams says that Marshall was the most important civil rights figure of the century, even though Martin Luther King, Jr. and Malcolm X get more attention. And that Marshall was a man of the law who believed deeply in the Constitution as a way of changing life for African Americans in the US.
Pictures
 

Thurgood Marshall's Images
http://memory.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/f?ils:0:./temp/~pp_CeRe:
32 Thurgood Marshall images from the Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division
Political Cartoons & Graphic Editorials
  Thurgood Marshall's chair
http://www.greenberg-art.com/.Toons/.Toons,%20favorites/Thurgood.html
by Steve Greenberg, June 29, 1991, Seattle Post-Intelligencer.
  A Pillar of Justice
http://www.loc.gov/exhibits/treasures/trr008.html
by Paul Conrad, 1993, Los Angeles Times.
 

Solutions: DailyPress.com
Cartoon collection dedicated to commemorate Thurgood Marshall life and achievements by Bentley Boyd

[ Last updated on September 28, 2005 ]