This 28-minute mini-documentary, intended for 11th and 12th grade students, focuses on the stories of young people who took part in the civil rights movement protests of the 1950s and the 1960s. It begins with the story of the Little Rock Nine, the first African American students to attend Central High School, AR, following Brown v. Board of Education; continues with interviews with people who participated in the movement as children and teenagers; and ends with present-day examples of struggles for civil rights.

Curriculum to complement the video is available at the same URL as the video, below.

From the Constitution Center website:

"2009 marks the 70th anniversary of one of the most dramatic concerts in American history: world famous African American contralto Marian Anderson's concert at the Lincoln Memorial in Washington. In a conversation moderated by scholar Sheldon Hackney, award-winning historian Raymond Arsenault tells the story of Marian Anderson, one of the most enduring and iconic figures of the civil rights movement. Through immense raw talent and unrelenting determination, Anderson overcame racial prejudice to inspire all Americans and to become one of the greatest singers of her time."

To listen to this lecture, scroll to the August 12th, 2009, program.

University of Iowa history professor Marshall Poe interviews Leslie Schwalm on her book Emancipation's Diaspora: Race and Reconstruction in the Upper Midwest. The book traces the migration of African Americans to Iowa, Wisconsin, and Minnesota during and after the Civil War and the harsh reception they received.

From the Library of Congress website:

"Author Ralph Eubanks discusses his personal story that began with his grandparents: James Richardson, a white man from a middle-class family, who defiantly married Edna Howell, a light-skinned black woman in 1914 in Alabama."

Kansas Museum of History curators look at a banner that memorializes the 50-year anniversary of a civil rights-era sit-in in Wichita, KS. This sit-in preceded both the famous Oklahoma City, OK and Greensboro, NC sit-ins.

From the Civil War Traveler website:

"Late in the evening on Oct. 16, 1859, John Brown and a small band of insurgents entered Harpers Ferry (then Virginia), planning to ignite and arm a slave insurrection. This tour covers raid-related sites in the national park at Harpers Ferry (now West Virginia)."

From the Library of Congress website:

"In this interview from 1940, Mr. George Johnson of Mound Bayou, Mississippi, shares memories of slavery times, including his relationship with Jefferson Davis, President of the Confederacy."

From the National Constitution Center website:

"With the assassination of Abraham Lincoln, an old-fashioned southern Jacksonian Democrat of pronounced states' rights views became the seventeenth president of the United States. In a surprising turn of events, Andrew Johnson was charged with the reconstruction of the defeated South, including the extension of civil rights and suffrage to African American Southerners. It quickly became clear that the president supported the enactment of 'black codes' and would block efforts to force Southern states to guarantee full equality for African Americans, igniting a fierce battle with congressional Republicans. Acclaimed author David O. Stewart returns to the Constitution Center to discuss the impeachment trial of President Johnson, which became the central battle of the struggle over how to reunite a nation after four years of war."

To listen to this lecture, scroll to "Impeached: The Trial of President Andrew Johnson," which is the June 26, 2009 post.

Alice Kessler-Harris reads a paper by John Hopkins University's Blanche Wiesen Cook at the Organization of American Historians 2009 meeting. The paper relates Cook's experiences as a John Hopkins student during the civil rights movement, fighting for desegregation.

Fred Israel of City College of New York, speaking at the Organization of American Historians 2009 meeting, discusses his work with Gallup public opinion data and the history of the Gallup Opinion Poll. He looks at changes in public opinion on the acceptability of diverse candidates for the presidency, as indicated by the polls.