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Black Lives Matter & Anti-Racism Resources and Research

This guide highlights new Library resources that cover the African American experience in the United States and anti-racism.

Anti-Racism Films

Race - The Power of an Illusion

The Difference Between Us examines the contemporary science - including genetics - that challenges our common sense assumptions that human beings can be bundled into three or four fundamentally different groups according to their physical traits.

I Am Not Your Negro

 I AM NOT YOUR NEGRO is a journey into black history that connects the past of the Civil Rights movement to the present of #BlackLivesMatter. It is a film that questions black representation in Hollywood and beyond.

White Like Me

Tim Wise, acclaimed anti-racist educator and author, explores race and racism in the US through the lens of whiteness and white privilege. 

Broken on All Sides: Race, Mass Incarceration and New Visions for Criminal Justice

Today, there are more African Americans in prison or jail, on probation or parole, than were enslaved in 1850, a decade before the Civil War began. This documentary investigates the complex issues of discretion within the system, racial targeting, and the largest spike in the number of people incarcerated in our nation's history.

Say Her Name

On July 10, 2015, Sandra Bland, a vibrant 28-year-old African American from Chicago, was arrested for a traffic violation in a small Texas town. After three days in custody, she was found hanging from a noose in her cell. Bland's death was quickly ruled a suicide, sparking allegations of a murder and cover-up, and turning her case and name into a rallying cry nationwide.

What's Race Got To Do With It?

Despite 15 years of diversity programs and initiatives, many of our discussions about race remain mired in confusion.This documentary goes beyond identity politics and interpersonal relations to consider social disparities and their impact on student success in today's post-Civil Rights world.

Ethnic Notions

This documentary that takes viewers on a disturbing voyage through American history, tracing for the first time the deep-rooted stereotypes which have fueled anti-black prejudice. Through these images we can begin to understand the evolution of racial consciousness in America.

In Whose Honor?

The Cleveland Indians. Washington Redskins. Atlanta Braves. What's wrong with American Indian sports mascots? This moving, award-winning film is the first of its kind to address that subject.

Not Just A Game: Power Politics & American Sports

In this powerful documentary based on his bestselling book The People's History of Sports in the United States, Zirin argues that far from providing merely escapist entertainment, American sports have long been at the centre of some of the major political debates and struggles of our time. 

Race, Power and American Sports

Cultural historian Dave Zirin, examines the myriad ways sports culture has worked both to reproduce and challenge the wider culture's dominant ideas about race and racial difference.

Time Wise: On White Privilege

Expertly overcoming the defensiveness that often surrounds these issues, Wise provides a non-confrontational explanation of white privilege and the damage it does not only to people of colour, but to white people as well. In this spellbinding lecture, the author of White Like Me: Reflections on Race from a Privileged Son offers a unique, inside-out view of race and racism in America.

More Than a Word

Through interviews with scholars, tribal leaders, lawyers, policy experts, activists, and Washington R_dskins fans, the film explores the history of the slanderous term "redskin," and delves into cultural stereotypes of Native Americans and their relationship to history. 

Latinos Beyond Reel - Challenging a Media Stereotype

Latinos Beyond Reel taps into the harsh reality of Latino representation in the media industry.

A Place of Rage

This exuberant celebration of African American women and their achievements features interviews with Angela Davis, June Jordan and Alice Walker. Within the context of the civil rights, Black power and feminist movements, the trio reassess how women such as Rosa Parks and Fannie Lou Hamer revolutionized American society.

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