In anticipation of Martin Luther King Jr. Day and Black History Month, we present this selection of documentary films from Bullfrog that are perfect for facilitating thoughtful classroom discussion on topics including Black history, racial equity, environmental racism, and more.
These award-winning films are available on DVD with public performance rights and streaming for school and library use. In-person and virtual campus-wide or community screenings are available now through Bullfrog Communities.
|
|
In 1966, young Black fisherman Gary Duncan tries to break up a fight between white and Black teenagers outside a newly integrated school in Plaquemines Parish, Louisiana. During the confrontation, he touches one of the white teens on the arm. That night, police arrest 19-year-old Duncan for assault on a minor.
In Washington, DC, a young Jewish attorney named Richard Sobol leaves a prestigious law firm to offer his legal services in New Orleans as a volunteer for the Lawyers Constitutional Defense Committee. With Sobol's help, Duncan confronts a racist Louisiana legal system—manipulated by segregationist and de facto Parish boss Leander Perez—to challenge his unfair arrest. A Crime on the Bayou chronicles their legal fight as it goes all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court, and in the process enshrines the Constitutional right to a jury trial at the state level.
|
|
In the wake of the 2015 Charleston Massacre, a battle erupts in Orangeburg, South Carolina between the Sons of Confederate Veterans and creamery owner Tommy Daras, forced to fly the Confederate flag in his parking lot due to a quirk on zoning and the machinations of the late restaurateur and politician Maurice Bessinger. With Confederate symbols coming down around the country in the wake of Charleston and the Black Lives Matter movement, can Tommy get the flag down in Orangeburg?
Meltdown In Dixie explores the broader role of Confederate symbolism in the 21st century and the lingering racial oppression which symbols such as this help maintain.
|
|
White suburban filmmaker James Rutenbeck journeys to Boston's Dorchester neighborhood to document student engagement with the Clemente Course in the Humanities, a tuition-free college-level program for those who have experienced homelessness, transitioned out of incarceration, or faced barriers to a college education. Over time, James is forced to come to terms with a flawed film premise and his own complicity in racist structures as he spends time with two of the course’s students: Kafi Dixon, a 44-year-old city bus driver who has struggled with homelessness and is the founder of an urban farming and business development cooperative for women of color; and Carl Chandler, a sharp and witty 65-year old pensioner and full-time guardian to his young grandson.
Through his deepening relationships with Carl and Kafi, James is awakened to the violence, racism and gentrification that threaten their place in the city of Boston.
|
|
No Time To Waste celebrates legendary centenarian and former National Park Service ranger Betty Reid Soskin's inspiring life, work and urgent mission to restore critical missing chapters of America's story. Before her retirement in May of 2022, Betty presented her personal story at the Rosie the Riveter WWII Home Front National Historical Park, illuminating the invisible histories of Black Americans. Her efforts were instrumental in changing the way the National Park Service conveys this history to audiences across the U.S.
|
|
On October 22, 1963, more than 250,000 students boycotted the Chicago Public Schools to protest racial segregation. Blending unseen 16mm footage of the march shot by Kartemquin Films founder Gordon Quinn with the participants’ reflections today, ’63 Boycott connects the forgotten story of one of the largest northern civil rights demonstrations to contemporary issues around race, education, school closings, and youth activism.
|
|
Through never-before-seen interviews shot over 20 years, John Lewis: Get in the Way follows the courageous journey of the late John Lewis, a civil rights hero, congressional leader, and human rights champion whose unwavering fight for justice spanned the past 57 years. The son of sharecroppers, Lewis grew up in the segregated South and rose from Alabama's Black Belt to the corridors of power on Capitol Hill. Originally an activist pushing from the outside, Lewis became the conscience of Congress—making noise on the inside pressing for justice, equality, and human rights, and advocating for voter rights throughout his career. |
|
The Boys Who Said NO! is the first documentary film to profile the young men and women who actively opposed the military draft in order to end the Vietnam War. Drawing on original interviews with more than thirty male and female nonviolent activists and historians, the film shows how their personal and collective acts of nonviolent resistance were a critical part of the antiwar movement, and explores how Resistance members were directly inspired by—and intertwined with—the Civil Rights Movement.
|
|
To order these or other Bullfrog Films releases with public performance rights,
Order by phone at (610) 779-8226
|
|
Bullfrog Films is the oldest and largest publisher of documentary films about the environment in the United States. We define "environment" broadly, and our catalog includes programs on ecology, energy, agriculture, indigenous peoples, women's studies, genetics, marine biology, sustainable development, community regeneration, economics, ethics, and conflict resolution. |
|
|
|
|
|
|
