PBS
Gabrielle Union Discusses The Color Purple
Gabrielle Union discusses the role Alice Walker's Pulitzer Prize-winning novel, The Color Purple, plays in her life. She stresses the importance of readers being able to find reflections of themselves in literature.
PBS
George R.R. Martin Discusses Lord of the Rings
George R.R. Martin, famous in his own right for heroes, villains, dragons, and direwolves, offers his rationale for why viewers should vote for J.R.R. Tolkien's Lord of the Rings with its elves, wizards, and hobbits as part of the Great...
PBS
Why Do Our Brains Love Fake News?
Fake news is all about the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex versus the orbitofrontal cortex. Huh? Get the facts, the real deal, with a short video that explains clearly and succinctly what's going on in our brains that leads us to listen...
PBS
Fact vs. Fiction in the Media
How can people tell the difference between real news and inaccurate stories? Viewers watch a video about discerning fact from fiction in news sources. Next, pupils use a set of discussion questions to further analyze the topic.
TED-Ed
Why Should You Read “Dune” by Frank Herbert?
Not every reader is a sci-fi fan. Sad, but true. However, a short TedEd video may just convince nonfans to delve into Frank Herbert's modern epic Dune. Who could help but be intrigued by an epic tale of heroes, villains, and monsters?
PBS
Ralph Ellison and the Black Arts Movement
The ideas of the leaders of the Black Arts Movement were in direct contrast to those of Ralph Ellison. A clip from the American Masters film Ralph Ellison: An American Journey clarifies these conflicts between Ellison and the younger...
PBS
Dr. Bledsoe: A Fictional Booker T. Washington
Many critics believe that the character of Dr. Bledsoe in Ralph Ellison's Invisible Man was modeled after Booker T. Washington. After watching a clip from the film Ralph Ellison: An American Journey about the Washington Bledsoe...
PBS
Invisible Man: The Trueblood Incident
How is the reader of Ralph's Ellison's Invisible Man supposed to react to "The Trueblood Incident" of Chapter 2? A short clip from the American Master film Ralph Ellison: An American Journey offers differing critical analyses from two...
PBS
Invisible Man: Battle Royal
A film reenactment of the "Battle Royal" scene in Chapter 1 of Ralph Ellison's Invisible Man offers readers a chance to compare the film version of the scene to the novel's depiction. The discussion questions ask readers to consider the...
PBS
Invisible Man: The Hero's Journey
The narrator of Invisible Man is on a quest, a quest to find out who he is and what his place is in a deeply divided American society. An episode from the American Masters series asks readers to consider Ralph Ellison's acclaimed novel...
PBS
Invisible Man: Plot Summary
Although labeled as a plot summary, this resource from the American Masters series is so much more. In addition to clips from the American Masters film, the packet contains teaching tips, discussion questions, a background reading, and...
PBS
Invisible Man by Ralph Ellison
Created for the Great American Read series, a short video encourages viewers to vote for Invisible Man. Musician Wynton Marsalis and Dr. Carla Hayden, the Librarian of Congress, among others, share their rationale for why Ralph...
PBS
An Introduction to Ralph Ellison
Powerful and painful, Ralph Ellison's acclaimed Invisible Man is a must-read. A short video from the PBS American Masters series introduces viewers to Ellison and the major themes of the novel.
PBS
Public Reaction to Their Eyes Were Watching God
While white literary critics praised her work, the black literary establishment trashed Zora Neale Hurston's Their Eyes Were Watching God. See what other writers have to say about the novel in a short video from the PBS Masters series.
PBS
Documenting Rural Southern Black Culture
"Sweet Speech," the vernacular of southern blacks that Zora Neale Hurston captures in her novel, Their Eyes Were Watching God, is the subject of a resource from the PBS American Masters series. An anthropologist, Hurston drew on her...
PBS
Their Eyes Were Watching God
Prepare first-time readers of Zora Neale Hurston's Their Eyes Were Watching God with a short video that provides information about how Hurston came to write the novel and how her use of free indirect discourse enriches the story and...
PBS
Their Eyes Were Watching God
Zora Neale Hurston's Their Eyes Were Watching God is the subject of a Crash Course Literature episode narrated by John Green. Here, Green shares the critical reactions to the novel as well as his own thoughts about its importance.
PBS
Resurrecting Zora Neale Hurston | American Masters: Alice Walker
Zora Neale Hurston, her life, her work as an anthropologist recording the customs and speech of southern Black people, and her novels would have remained largely ignored if not for the efforts of Alice Walker. An American Masters video...
PBS
John Green Talks about the Importance of The Catcher in the Rye
A part of The Great American Read series, John Green shares his passion for J.D. Salinger's The Catcher in the Rye and urges viewers to include the novel on their list of great books.
PBS
The Catcher in the Rye and First-Person Narrative
Testimonials for The Catcher in the Rye demonstrate the power of J.D. Salinger's story of a young man who wants to protect innocent children from the phonies in the adult world. Part of the Great American Read series, speakers urge...
PBS
American Masters: The American Dream in the Grapes of Wrath
For many farmers displaced by the Great Depression and the droughts of the 1930s, California represented the American Dream: a place to find work, to establish a new life, and to provide for their families. The reality they found, as...
PBS
The Valley of Ashes — The Great Gatsby
The Valley of Ashes, the billboard advertising Dr. T.J. Eckleburg, and Wilson's garage are haunting symbols that F. Scott Fitzgerald uses to bring into focus the dark side of the American Dream. A resource from the PBS American Masters...
PBS
American Masters Gatsby Chases the American Dream
What's so great about Gatsby? A teaching guide asks readers to consider whether Gatsby's quest represents the embodiment of the American Dream or a reflection of the American nightmare, a green light, or a valley of ashes.
PBS
American Masters Meet F. Scott Fitzgerald’s Gatsby
Introduce readers to the great Jay Gatsby with a short video from the American Masters series. Narrators analyze how Fitzgerald's choice of narrator and point of view create the dreamlike qualities and near-mythic status of Jay Gatsby.