Black History Month on Kanopy

We are more than halfway through Black History Month, but you can access powerful documentaries on the African American experience whenever you choose using the film streaming database Kanopy.  Kanopy has documentaries on African American history, sports, racial injustice and many other areas that may be of interest to you.  The following is a small sample of the documentaries available on Kanopy.  The descriptions are provided by Kanopy. 

A Long Way From Home: The Untold Story of Baseball’s Desegregation (2018) 

A chronicle of the struggles and triumphs of the African-American and Latino players who followed Jackie Robinson into white professional baseball. Playing their minor-league ball in small, remote towns where racial segregation remained a fact of life well into the 1960s, these were the men who, before they could live their big-league dreams, first had to beat Jim Crow. 

3 ½ Minutes, Ten Bullets (2015) 

3 ½ Minutes, Ten Bullets dissects the shooting death of 17-year-old Jordan Davis by Michael Dunn in Jacksonville, Florida on Black Friday, 2012. The film examines the aftermath of this systemic tragedy, the contradictions within the American criminal justice system -particularly the implications of the "Stand Your Ground" self-defense law, and the racial prejudices that ensued. With intimate access, the film follows the trial of Dunn and its deep impact on Jordan's family and friends. 

The Blood Is at the Doorstep (2018) 

After Dontre Hamilton, a black, unarmed man diagnosed with schizophrenia, was shot 14 times and killed by police in Milwaukee, his family embarks on a quest for answers, justice, and reform as the investigation unfolds. 

Filmed over the course of three years in the direct aftermath of Dontre's death, this intimate verite documentary follows his family as they channel their grief into community organizing in an attempt to reset the narrative. Offering a painfully realistic glimpse inside a movement born out of tragedy in what the Hollywood Reporter calls "An urgent report from the front lines of an American crisis." 

Answering the Call: The American Struggle for the Right to Vote (2016) 

Fifty one years ago, the nation watched in horror as bloody images of police attacks on civil rights protestors in Selma, Alabama aired on television. John Witeck was a sophomore at the University of Virginia when he saw the graphic coverage of Bloody Sunday, and when Dr. King called for supporters to travel to Selma to march for justice he packed his bags and journeyed south. Fifty one years later, John and his nephew Brian Jenkins (Director) traveled back to Alabama to document John's story of Selma, the fight for voting rights, and the evolution of the Voting Rights Act; the law that prevented voting discrimination and protected every American's right to vote.