Albany State University: The Albany Movement

The evolution of this project arose during a discussion of civil rights in a media seminar course at Albany State University this Fall semester. The group of seniors in the course discussed the need to recapture the history and contemporary legacy of the Albany Civil Rights Movement. Subsequent class meetings were characterized by animated conversations and finally a consensus that the seminar should produce a video documentary depicting the past and present legacy of civil rights in Albany, Georgia.

In a larger context, the Albany Movement was the precursor to the development of national civil rights. This project is an attempt to make a number of interlinked connections using persons who were privy to the Albany Movement, a truly local civil rights venture, to the contemporary period.

The Albany Movement was arguably an example of how a local movement inspired the trademark strategies of marching, demonstrations, sit-ins and attempts to register voters that later became important for the national civil rights movement.

Producers Colin Lasu, Ashley Hindsman, Greta Wheeler, Brianca Holloman, Dontae Lee, Travon Duhart, Shelby Ridley, Franklin Turner, Kim Broughton, Andrea Latimore, Renee Sowell, Terence Turner, Ebonie Ward, Kristen King

Delaware State University: The DSU Movement: Briefcases To Bookbags

DSU is an HBCU, the only black university in the state until desegregation in the 1950s. This 10-minute video, "Briefcases To Bookbags" tells the history of the school through interviews with living alumni, interspersed with footage on the civil rights movement in that era. The purpose is to evaluate this historical era while evaluating how HBCUs have changed.

As a follow-up, this project will be extended to create a multi-media history of the university for multiple purposes while providing academic enrichment and practical experiential learning for current university students. It will include student projects that will focus on archival work, interview research and selection, and documentation and finished product generation. The original "Eyes on the Prize" film is the first step in that direction and will make our history public. Very few young people today know about the history of segregated colleges. Today people can choose to attend a HBCU; before the 1950s, they could not.

The goal of the film is to share this history with a new generation that has not experienced it and at the same time celebrate the achievements of noted alumni in an era when choice was not possible.

Producers Myna German, Sharon Kelly Baker, Vincent Chelli, Jordan Lewis, William Heywood, Kyesha Craig

Florida A & M University: Guardians Of The Dream

famuactivism.com

Guardians Of The Dream chronicles three significant historical events in which FAMU activism helped bring change to the local community and shed national light on what was virulent injustice towards African Americans. Through the website, three mini-documentaries tell the story of FAMU students' roles in the 1956 Tallahassee Bus Boycott, the 2000 protest of Jeb Bush's One Florida Initiative against Affirmative Action, and the 2006 March against the murder of a young black man, Martin Lee Anderson. The entire project was student-produced and faculty-advised. Eleven students made up the project's five teams.

Producers James Hawkins, Kenneth Jones, Mahalia Bowman, Driadonna Roland, Brent Hatchett, Yanela Gordon, Shakaya Andres, Serge Beaubrun, Jessica Larche, William Jiles, Shimika Clarke, Brittany Prince, Christina Hordge, Robert Richardson, Darius Dinkins, Tamika Johnson

Fort Valley State University: A Forgotten History: The 1906 Atlanta Race Riots

The documentary A Forgotten History: The 1906 Atlanta Race riots explores the racial environment that led to the riots in 1906, addresses the truths surrounding the event and reveals the effects of the riots on the city of Atlanta today. It explores the Profound effects that this tragedy had on the city’s economy, politics and race relations. The goal of the production is to serve as an educational tool to reach a generation of Americans who are unaware that the riots took place and aims to break the silence surrounding the riots and encourage dialogue among all races of people.

Producers Troy White, Shirly L. Ellis, Phyllis Stripling, Ervin Williams, Randy Jackson, Ebonice Attkins, David Wells, Octavion Dwight, Earl Robinson III, Jean Paul Cassagnol

Hampton University: Voting Rights, Northern Style

nbpc.tv/hampton

"Voting Rights, Northern-Style," aka "Cooper vs. Power" begins with Andrew W. Cooper's decision to challenge the absence of one-man, one-vote principles in his hometown, Brooklyn.

In the mid-1960s civil and voting rights battles by blacks in the South were well documented: Montgomery, Birmingham and Selma, Ala., Greensboro, N.C., Albany, Ga., and Philadelphia, Miss., are well-known markers in civil and voting rights story. In 1964 Congress passed a Civil Rights Act that ended most legal racial discrimination, and a year later in 1965, a Voting Rights Act ended misconduct that denied Southern blacks opportunities to vote.

So were conditions just swell in the North? Northern blacks were not rebuffed violently, yet their ability to exercise rights as full American citizens was denied systematically, Cooper reasoned. His neighborhood Bedford-Stuyvesant was fragmented among five different congressional districts. The large black community could not have a united voice in the selection of a congressman.

Cooper, with Joan Baccus Antoine and Paul Kerrigan sued New York officials in 1966. A three-judge federal court heard the case. The Liberal Party of N.Y. initiated a similar suit that challenged redistricting.

In December 1967, the courts ruled on the latter case and directed statewide redistricting. Redistricting is normally done by state legislatures shortly after the new U.S. Census is tabulated each decade. In the case of Brooklyn and N.Y. State, they were ordered to go back and redraw new districts that were compact and also eliminated gerrymandering, which Cooper said occurred in Bedford-Stuyvesant.

In March 1968, New York's legislature created the 12th Congressional District. That spring Shirley Chisholm, an assemblywoman, who with Cooper once belonged to the same activist political club, announced she would run for the new seat. Chisholm the Democrat defeated James Farmer, the black GOP candidate who was imported to N.Y. for the race.

Producers Wayne Dawkins, Van Dora Williams, Austin Bogues, Antonio Hawthorne, Azania Jenkins, Crystal Peters

Howard University: From Black Power To Black Monday

blackcollegeview.com

Proud young men and women with determination in their eyes and cries of change on their lips have authored new chapters of world history. They range from Howard University alumnus Stokely Carmichael, a.k.a Kwame Ture, a leader of Student Non-Violent Coordinating Committee (SNCC), to the hearing-impaired students who fought for a new president at Gallaudet University.

The purpose of this project is to chronicle the history of student activism in the nation's capital from the 1960s. This important story offers a decade-by-decade look at the issues and events that drove students out of the classrooms and into the streets. By shining a mirror on the past, this project will close gaps in our knowledge and provide insight to understand the challenges of tomorrow.

Producers Byron Ezell, Jason Humphrey, Ray L. Baker, Heather Faison, Kierra Jones, Debbie Origho

Jackson State: Bridging The Gap

This Black College New Media project is a result of the first annual "Conference of the Veterans of the Mississippi Civil Rights Movement", which was hosted by Jackson State University on March 2-5, 2006 at the Mississippi e-Center on Raymond Road in Jackson. The conference wrapped up with a bus trip to Selma, Alabama for the "Bloody Sunday Commemoration" on March 5th.

The theme was "The Pursuit of Quality Education in the Ongoing Movement for Human Rights," and the gathering re-focused leadership on remedies for some of the issues affecting African Americans. The conference was sponsored by the Veterans of the Mississippi Civil Rights Movement in conjunction with Jackson State University and President Ronald Mason Jr.

The conference also was intended to be a forum for documenting and preserving an oral history of the Civil Rights Movement. Many of the freedom fighters are no longer living, and many more are senior citizens who are succumbing to age and poor health. The department of Mass Communications and the History department partnered to video and audiotape many of the presentations, so that a reference for the future will exist.

Producers Sunny C. Smith, Jonda Ross, Jeanetta Montgomery, Travoris Adams

Morehouse College: Black Power: The Story Of Mukasa Dada

Black Power deals with the change in landscape of the civil rights movement in America, documenting commentary on the effects of this shift, displacing certain figures within the civil rights community. Some think that the civil rights movement in America never ended, it just transformed. To them, this transformation has rendered certain methods obsolete, causing some to shelve grassroots activism in favor of a "safer" approach. Has activism become obsolete?

To answer this we profile civil rights activist Mukasa Dada, formerly known as Willie Ricks. Mukasa is credited with coining the term "Black Power" and for a time, was a significant figure in the American Civil Rights movement. Now residing in the Atlanta area, Mukasa is a staunch grassroots activist, organizing protests, sit-ins and using many of the traditional grassroots tactics. Has the landscape shift made figures like Mukasa Dada irrelevant?

Black Power tries to answer the aforementioned question. A significant theme of the video is an attempt to understand Mukasa's relationship to the current campus structure of Morehouse College. This relationship is a metaphor for the change in the sociopolitical climate of the country as seen in one community.

Producers Wendell Hassan Marsh, Marttise R. Hill, Julius Pryor IV, Webster Clayton, Offie Clark, Harold Henry, Ashton Dunn, Marquis Cannon, Steven Ford, and Samuel Livingston

Norfolk State University: Picked For A Purpose: The Norfolk 17

nsu.edu/norfolk17

The inspiration for this story was a group of students in the 1960s who were referred to as the Norfolk 17. When these Black students were bussed to White schools, the Norfolk school board closed all of the schools in Norfolk. This project will examine education in Norfolk, Virginia by addressing what happened to these students and assessing how African Americans have fared in this system since the 1960s to the present.

The purpose of this project is to evaluate the change in education in the Norfolk Public School system since the 1960s. We aim to increase awareness of the local African American civil rights struggle for education and to engage students in a discussion that will raise their consciousness regarding the importance and value of education.

Producers Paula C. Briggs, Tasha Lewis, Raymar Crosby

Oakwood College: The Birth Of An Institution

birthfilm.com

The Birth of an Institution is a film about the significance of historically Black college universities during the civil rights era and now. During the civil rights of the sixties, black colleges served as rallying points for civil rights speakers and encouragement for upcoming black speakers. The idea of this film is to give high school students a brief look at what black colleges stood for in the past and what they stand for now. After attending high school in the Pacific Northwest, Director Javan J. Cornelius had no visual resources to see what historically Black college universities offered. By shooting this film on Black college campuses and interviewing current students of Black colleges, this film plans to be the resource for many high school students when wanting visual information on historically Black colleges and universities.

Producers Javan J. Cornelius, Michael Johnson, Christiana Barry, Lyteka M. Camel, Josh Tyson, Carlos Ray, Lyneka Camel, Steven McWilliams

Prairie View A & M University: PV: Rap The Vote

This new media project tells the story of how Prairie View A & M University students stood up against the voting suppression attempt by the District Attorney of Waller County where this historically black university is situated. This attempt is one of numerous others since 1979 that aimed at changing the political demographics of the district. This documentary shows how the student government at Prairie View A & M University with the help of state officials orchestrated a successful, massive march in January 2004 that shocked the state of Texas and brought an end to the threats, intimidation and the suppression attempt by the District Attorney.

Producers Afif Arabi, Raquel Ramirez, Shannon McCleary, Godfrey Boston, Lonnie Abernathy, Uzoma Umoneke, Thomas Archie, Dejun Liu, Eun-Ho Yeo, Shannon McCleary, Lonnie Abernathy, Willie Franklin, Brent Watson, Jamil Hooper, Mike James, James Jackson

Savannah State University: From West Broad Street To MLK Boulevard

This new media project explores the effects of integration, urban renewal, and gentrification on the West Broad Street, formally known as the all black business hub of Savannah, Georgia. From West Broad Street to Martin Luther King Boulevard seeks to provide invaluable history on the contributions and legacy of African Americans in Savannah and to promote a new era of Civil Rights in the African-American community.

Producers Shenetha Solomon, Kai C. Walker, Jayme Bowens, Antoinette Ellis, Rebecca Faucette, Davida Walker, Lisa Lambert, Adrian Weems, Kiana Smith, Cliet Wilburn II, Revodia Flynn, Trina Samuels, Vanessa Butler, Sharisma Sawyer, Michael A. Cherry, and Erika Alexander.

Spelman College: Breaking Silences

This ten-minute documentary, "Breaking Silences", focuses on the increase in rape and sexual violence of female students on college campuses with a specific focus on the recent events surrounding the issue at Spelman College, one of two historically Black colleges for women in the U.S.

Producers Laura Rahman, Kashara Robinson, Angela White

Tennessee State University: The Ballad Of Birmingham

balladofbirmingham.org

The plot arc of "Ballad" is purposefully succinct: a quick montage of images from the bombing's aftermath follows with an atmospheric sound-wash, setting the mood for the song and the accompanying video. The goal is to create a new media 'tone-poem.'

The black and white archival footage, edited to accentuate the narrative storyline of the lyric, provides powerful visual accompaniment. The piece is arranged to create a model for digital content creation. This model will demonstrate the product potential of Tennessee State University's new media curriculum, currently piloted by the Office of Technology Integration and the Center for Service Learning and Civic Engagement.

This pilot will also be used in a larger effort: the state-wide Podcasting tournament hosted by TSU in the spring of 2007. This tournament will seek to promote digital literacy in new media through Service Learning pedagogy. The National Campus Compact has its Tennessee state headquarters at TSU, which is spearheading a digital-roots movement to extend New Media throughout all rural and urban local cohorts across the state. Apple and the Federal Express Institute are assisting the underwriting of this initiative. The initiative's ultimate goal will be to create a national 'sandbox' of new media scholarship.

Producers Robert Bradley, Kameka Word, Steve Conn, Thomas Johnson, Patrick Isbey, Santayana Harris, Bransen Edwards, Melba Joyce Boyd

Texas Southern University: Silencing Houston's Jim Crow

nbpc.tv/tsu

Silencing Houston's Jim Crow is a compelling new media project that explores how several brave Texas Southern University students tore down the walls of segregation in Houston, Texas from 1960 to 1963. This gripping tale documents the first sit-in in Houston on March 4, 1960 and features interviews with three of the students and original footage. The story was produced for an Internet-based audience and has interactive features to engage the viewer. It is the story of the civil rights movement's unsung heroes. It adds an important voice to the nation's civil rights story.

Producers Serbino Sandifer-Walker, Ted Irvine, Chad Lewis, Desmond Lewis, Charles Hudson, Dr. Dino Sandifer, Hollie Hogrobrooks, Lavoisier Breing, Christopher Burton, Odunze Clunkwemeka, Jamal Ensley, Chardae D. Glover, Myra Griffin, Esmond Gordon, Shalechia Moore, Gloria Okere, Laura Ashley Pickens, Daimaris Raleigh,Cherie Watson, Charslynn J. White, Tamika L. White, Katiera Winfrey