Instructional Video
PBS

Pbs Learning Media: Invisible Man: The Hero's Journey

9th - 10th
This video [2:41] from the American Masters film Ralph Ellison: An American Journey provides a plot summary of Invisible Man focusing on the protagonist's journey from innocence to maturity. The background essay describes the stages of...
Instructional Video
PBS

Pbs Learning Media: Invisible Man: Battle Royal

9th - 10th
This video [6:38] from the American Masters film Ralph Ellison: An American Journey features a reenactment of the famous Battle Royal scene in Chapter 1 of Invisible Man. Columbia University professor Farah Griffin discusses the...
Instructional Video
PBS

Pbs Learning Media: Invisible Man: Plot Summary

9th - 10th
This video [8:21] from the American Masters film Ralph Ellison: An American Journey features a plot summary of Invisible Man and discussion of the novel's significance in the history of African American literature. Students should watch...
Instructional Video
PBS

Pbs Learning Media: An Introduction to Ralph Ellison

9th - 10th
This video [3:14] from the American Masters film Ralph Ellison: An American Journey introduces students to Ellison's groundbreaking novel The Invisible Man. Scholars discuss Ellison's legacy and his place in the American literary canon....
Instructional Video
PBS

Pbs: Lorraine Hansberry: A Raisin in the Sun: Representation in Hollywood

9th - 10th
Learn about the challenges of adapting a play into a screenplay in this video [5:16] from the American Masters film, Lorraine Hansberry: Sighted Eyes/Feeling Heart. Hansberry wanted control over the changes made to her play for the movie...
Instructional Video
PBS

Pbs: L. Hansberry: Sighted Eyes/feeling Heart Writing, Politics, and Compassion

9th - 10th
Explore how Lorraine Hansberry's work rests at the intersection of writing, politics, and compassion in this video [1:58] from the American Masters film, Lorraine Hansberry: Sighted Eyes/Feeling Heart. In 1959, just weeks before A Raisin...
Instructional Video
PBS

Pbs: Lorraine Hansberry: A Raisin in the Sun: Hansberry's Writing Process

9th - 10th
Learn about the story behind the writing of A Raisin in the Sun in this video [5:57] from the American Masters film, Lorraine Hansberry: Sighted Eyes/Feeling Heart, and how Hansberry's feelings about the purpose of writing are reflected...
Instructional Video
PBS

Pbs Learning Media: Documenting Rural Southern Black Culture

9th - 10th
In this video [6:54] from the American Masters film Zora Neale Hurston: Jump at the Sun explores Hurston's celebrated anthropological research of rural Southern Black culture in the 1920s. Using video, discussion questions and associated...
Instructional Video
PBS

Pbs Learning Media: Lorraine Hansberry: A Raisin in the Sun: Theater as Protest

9th - 10th
Discover how art and drama can be used to address difficult societal issues in this video [5:39] from the American Masters film Lorraine Hansberry: Sighted Eyes/Feeling Heart. Learn how critics and the public responded to the...
Instructional Video
PBS

Pbs: Lorraine Hansberry: A Raisin in the Sun: Role of Women in the 1950s

9th - 10th
Explore the role of women in the 1950s in this video [6:39] from the American Masters film, Lorraine Hansberry: Sighted Eyes/Feeling Heart. Incorporating footage of women in the 1950s, Lorraine Hansberry's life, and scenes from the film...
Instructional Video
PBS

Pbs: Lorraine Hansberry: A Raisin in the Sun: American Dream Deferred

9th - 10th
In this video [2:56] from the American Masters film Lorraine Hansberry: Sighted Eyes/Feeling Heart, students learn how the play A Raisin in the Sun explores the impact of dreams deferred. Inspired by the famous Langston Hughes poem...
Instructional Video
PBS

Pbs Learning Media: Mexican American Photographer Pedro E. Guerrero

9th - 10th
This video [2:31] from the American Masters and VOCES co-presentation of Pedro E. Guerrero: A Photographer's Journey introduces to the Mexican-American architectural photographer, Pedro E. Guerrero. Guerrero is most known for his...
Instructional Video
PBS

Pbs Learning Media: Bodies Move

9th - 10th
In this video [2:18] from the documentary American Masters: Bill T. Jones: A Good Man, the Bill T. Jones/Arnie Zane Dance Company has been commissioned by the Ravinia Festival in Chicago to create a dance performance celebrating the...
Instructional Video
PBS

Pbs Learning Media: Pedro E. Guerrero: Opposing Vietnam

9th - 10th
In this video [1:42] from the American Masters and VOCES co-presentation of Pedro E. Guerrero: A Photographer's Journey, Guerrero discusses his opposition to the Vietnam War and the consequences of his actions as a member of the draft...
Instructional Video
PBS

Pbs Learning Media: Pedro E. Guerrero: Latinos in Wwii

9th - 10th
In this video from the American Masters and VOCES co-presentation of Pedro E. Guerrero: A Photographer's Journey, Guerrero discusses his reasons for enlisting in World War II. Like many children of immigrants, Guerrero felt a...
Instructional Video
PBS

Pbs Learning Media: Overcoming Segregation

9th - 10th
This video from the American Masters and VOCES co-presentation of Pedro E. Guerrero: A Photographer's Journey introduces students to the discrimination faced by Mexican Americans in Mesa, Arizona during the Great Depression. Guerrero...
Instructional Video
PBS

Pbs: Sammy Davis, Jr.: Celebrities, Activism, and the Civil Rights Movement

9th - 10th
Explore how celebrities can use their influence to support social and political movements in this video [5:06] from American Masters, Sammy Davis, Jr.: I've Gotta Be Me. Learn about the contributions of Sammy Davis, Jr. during the Civil...
Instructional Video
PBS

Pbs: Sammy Davis, Jr.: Race, Comedy, and Segregation in 1960s Hollywood

9th - 10th
Explore how segregation impacted entertainment in 1960s Hollywood in this video [4:38] from American Masters, Sammy Davis, Jr.:I've Gotta Be Me. Sammy Davis, Jr. had the kind of career that was indisputably legendary, vast in scope and...
Instructional Video
PBS

Pbs: Sammy Davis, Jr.: I've Gotta Be Me: Race, Politics, and Identity

9th - 10th
Explore the complex identity of Sammy Davis, Jr. and its impact on his career as a performer in this video from American Masters, Sammy Davis, Jr.: I've Gotta Be Me. As a black man in a predominantly white industry, Sammy struggled to be...
Instructional Video
PBS

Pbs Learning Media: American Masters: My Antonia

9th - 10th
This video [7:43] from the American Masters film Willa Cather: The Road Is All explores Cather's iconic novel, My Antonia. The novel recounts the narrator's memories of a childhood friend and is based on Cather's own experiences growing...
Instructional Video
PBS

Pbs Learning Media: Preaching the Gospel of the Revolution: American Masters

9th - 10th
James Baldwin was living in France in 1957 when he heard about Dorothy Counts, a black American teenager who was spat on after enrolling at an all-white North Carolina high school. He immediately vowed to return to the United States to...
Instructional Video
PBS

Pbs Learning Media: A Writer in the Making: American Masters

9th - 10th
Renowned novelist and activist James Baldwin laid the foundation for his lifetime of achievement during his childhood in 1930s Harlem. Baldwin spent countless hours in the 135th Street Public Library, soaking up as much knowledge as he...
Instructional Video
PBS

Pbs Learning Media: River Rewilding: Hester Dendy Installation

9th - 10th
In this video, a high school teacher and her students construct and install a Hester-Dendy sampler to collect macroinvertebrates. Learn how macro invertebrates can be an indicator of water quality. [3:03]
Instructional Video
PBS

Pbs Learning Media: All Men Are Brothers: American Masters

9th - 10th
This video [3:38] segment from American Masters' James Baldwin: The Price of the Ticket illustrates the activist's intolerance for violence or racial hatred expressed by anyone, black or white. In the mid-1960s, Baldwin's principles put...