Black Excellence Month: PBS Videos

Five part series! Part one: Judge Constance Baker Motley recalls her childhood and education, including her first experience with Jim Crow. Part two. Judge Motley recalls the NAACP Legal Defense Fund campaign to address the lack of adequate graduate and professional schools for African American students in the South. Part three. Motley describes the grassroots revolution for civil rights after the Brown decision as a surprise to the legal strategists at the NAACP. Part four. The judge shares her memories of the early days of the NAACP Legal Defense Fund, especially hearing stories by Thurgood Marshall about Charles Hamilton Houston and William Hastie. Part five. Judge Motley lists the many changes since the Brown decision.

Uses a wealth of archival film, photographs and documents to uncover the story of this Jamaican immigrant who between 1916 and 1921 built the largest black mass movement in world history.

The in-depth and intimate story of one of the most important African Americans to live in the first half of the 20th century. Tells the story of Jack Johnson, who was the first African American boxer to win the most coveted title in all of sports--Heavyweight Champion of the World. Includes his struggles in and out of the ring and his desire to live his life as a free man in race-obsessed America.

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