The Influence of "The Birth of a Nation"
The three-hour silent film The Birth of a Nation did “incalculable harm” to Black Americans by creating a justification for prejudice, racism, and discrimination for decades to follow.
![Member of Ku Klux Klan holding a torch on a horse.](/sites/default/files/styles/dynamic_stack_296_1x/public/2022-06/REC_12_The_Birth.jpg?h=da7ce804&itok=o8NJxzoX)
A Lifeline for Democracy
In her 2005 commencement speech at the University of Vermont, Ruth Simmons describes experiences that helped her escape the poverty and discrimination of her youth to become the president of Brown University.
![Book cover of American flag with faces over it.](/sites/default/files/styles/dynamic_stack_296_1x/public/2022-06/Reconstruction_cover_large.jpg?h=51bee232&itok=yY8xN3AK)
Louisiana White League Platform (1874)
The White League was a paramilitary group responsible for widespread violence against black and white Republicans in Louisiana and Mississippi. The group’s platform from 1874 is articulated here.
![Book cover of American flag with faces over it.](/sites/default/files/styles/dynamic_stack_296_1x/public/2022-06/Reconstruction_cover_large.jpg?h=51bee232&itok=yY8xN3AK)
Introduction to the Universal Declaration of Human Rights
Examine the historical context leading up to the creation of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and understand how Eleanor Roosevelt became involved in the process.
![Eleanor Roosevelt and United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights, Lake Success, New York, November 1949.](/sites/default/files/styles/dynamic_stack_296_1x/public/2022-06/24427-2011-001_a.jpg?h=e15b44ae&itok=kmDSMzTQ)
Telling Fact From Fiction on Social Media
Journalists and media professionals discuss the benefits and challenges of using social media to report and understand any fast-moving story.
![](/sites/default/files/brightcove/videos/images/posters/image_610.jpg)
The Arpilleras of Chile (with Marjorie Agosin)
Marjorie Agosin discusses women’s artistic response to Pinochet’s dictatorship in Chile.
![](/sites/default/files/brightcove/videos/images/posters/image_1675.jpg)
The Origins of Lynching Culture in the United States
Paula Giddings, professor of Afro-American Studies at Smith College, discusses the history and origins of lynching.
![](/sites/default/files/brightcove/videos/images/posters/image_1259.jpg)
The Role and Challenges of a Free Press
Reporters and media professionals discuss the functions and importance of a free press in a democracy.
![](/sites/default/files/brightcove/videos/images/posters/image_609.jpg)
The Sterilization of Leilani Muir
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This documentary traces the life of Leilani Muir, the first person to file a lawsuit against the Alberta government for wrongful sterilization, and provides background on the history of eugenics in the early 1900s.
![](/sites/default/files/brightcove/videos/images/posters/image_989.jpg)
Excerpt from Crusade for Justice
This excerpt from Ida B. Wells’s autobiography gives us insight into Wells’s decision to take a stand and speak out against racial lynchings.
![Ida B. Wells Barnett, in a photograph by Mary Garrity from c. 1893. This version has been cropped from the original photographic card](/sites/default/files/styles/dynamic_stack_296_1x/public/2023-03/Mary_Garrity_-_Ida_B_Wells-Barnett_-_Google_Art_Project_-_restoration_crop.jpg?h=e25beccd&itok=J3tHLAx4)
Excerpt from "Crusade for Justice" (en español)
This excerpt from Ida B. Wells’s autobiography gives us insight into Wells’s decision to take a stand and speak out against racial lynchings. This resource is in Spanish.
![Ida B. Wells Barnett, in a photograph by Mary Garrity from c. 1893. This version has been cropped from the original photographic card](/sites/default/files/styles/dynamic_stack_296_1x/public/2023-03/Mary_Garrity_-_Ida_B_Wells-Barnett_-_Google_Art_Project_-_restoration_crop.jpg?h=e25beccd&itok=J3tHLAx4)