The films listed below are only suggestions. As you consider teaching this unit you may encounter other films that are just as compelling and enlightening. I would only urge you to keep the unit objectives in mind in the event that other films are selected to be used. The two films listed below should be seen in their entirety. They are both part of the
Wonder
Works
series for children and families and have been aired on PBS. The video taped copies are released by
Public Media Video
and can be rented at Best Videos in Hamden, Connecticut.
1-BROTHER FUTURE, 1991, 116 mins.
T.J., a slick urban youth , neglects his schoolwork and makes money through scams and Rip-offs. One day, while fleeing the police, T.J. find his world turned upside down after he gets knocked unconscious and wakes up to find that he has been transported back through time to 1822 Charleston, SC, where he is taken captive as a slave. Is T.J. up to the challenge that is required for him to get home again?
2-YOU MUST REMEMBER THIS, 1992, 102 mins.
Ella, a budding young basketball star, makes an amazing discovery! In the late ’40s, her beloved great-uncle Buddy, now a barber, was one of Hollywood’s first black film directors! Her uncle is devastated with her discovery. Why? And why has he kept silent all these years? Ella must uncover the truth if she is to unearth a rich cultural legacy and help her uncle make peace with his past.
The following films will be viewed in short clips:
Roots The Little Colonel That’s Black Entertainment Jezebel
Birth of a Nation Hollywood Shuffle Daughters of the Dust