Black History Month: Media

Explore with Professor Henry Louis Gates, Jr., the evolution of the African-American people, as well as the multiplicity of cultural institutions, political strategies, and religious and social perspectives they developed--forging their own history, culture and society against unimaginable odds.

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.

Challenges one of America's most cherished assumptions, the belief that slavery in the U.S. ended with Abraham Lincoln's Emancipation Proclamation, by telling the harrowing story of how, in the South, a new system of involuntary servitude took its place with shocking force.

The story of Frederick Douglass, escaped slave and abolitionist orator.

Based on the true story of the first black regiment to fight for the North in the Civil War. Robert Gould Shaw and Cabot Forbes are two idealistic young Bostonians that lead the regiment; Sgt. Maj. John Rawlins is the inspiration who unites the troops ; Pvt. Trip is a runaway slave who joins the regiment.