This section provides links to and suggestions of films, documentaries, and talks about Black histories and liberation.
Ask an Elder by Myseum of Toronto
Myseum of Toronto and Elder Duke Redbird brought back Wigwam Chi-Chemung in an online and physically distanced format. These 10 short videos feature conversations on a variety of topics, including Remote Learning, Land Acknowledgements Band Coucils, Foster Care, Canada's history, and other important topics.
The New York Times writers suggest works that illuminate and tackle issues of police brutality, social injustice and racial inequity. Artists and thinkers have already shown us how: Bryan Stevenson, the crusading lawyer and founder of the Equal Justice Initiative, has a memoir, and a movie based on it, “Just Mercy,” that is attracting a new audience, alongside the National Memorial for Peace and Justice, the Alabama museum dedicated to the history of lynching, which embodies his life’s work. The filmmaker Ava DuVernay made the documentary “13th,” about the roots of mass incarceration, and has long been boosting independent black voices with her distribution company Array. Here, writers recommend other works that illuminate and confront racism, tracing a path, thorny as it may be, forward.
In her first public address Rachel Cargle will be in community and conversation around the realities of the revolutionary moment we are in today. Using her three pronged approach; Knowledge, Empathy, Action, Rachel will address the recent police brutality and racist incidents in Minnesota and across America, analyzing the modern manifestation of America's racist history and making a call to action for all those who are ready to say, "no more". This address will serve as a launching point for more critical language, a more critical lens and most importantly more critical action to lead us toward the revolution, which is now. #BlackLivesMatter Revolution Now Simple Syllabi: A starting point for finding your place in the revolution
This documentary pays tribute to a group of Canadians who took racism to court. They are Canada's unsung heroes in the fight for Black civil rights. Focusing on the 1930s to the 1950s, this film documents the struggle of 6 people who refused to accept inequality. Featured here, among others, are Viola Desmond, a woman who insisted on keeping her seat at the Roseland movie theatre in New Glasgow, Nova Scotia in 1946 rather than moving to the section normally reserved for the city's Black population, and Fred Christie, who took his case to the Supreme Court after being denied service at a Montreal tavern in 1936. These brave pioneers helped secure justice for all Canadians. Their stories deserve to be told.
13th by Ava Duvernay is a documentary that explores the history of racial inequality in the United States, focusing on the fact that the nation’s prisons are disproportionately filled with African-Americans. Access the film for free on Youtube by clicking the image above or the title, or watch directly on Netflix.