Diversity DVD Library
Latino/a
1. A Class Apart: A Mexican
American Civil Rights Story (DVD - 60 mins.) In the samll
down of Edna, Texas, in 1951, a field hand named Pete Hernandez killed a
tenant farmer after exchanging words in a gritty cantina. From this
seemingly unremarkable murder emerged a landmark civil rights case that
would forever change the lives and legal standing of tens of millions of
Americans. This AMERICAN EXPERINECE film tells the little-known
story of an underdog band of Mexican American lawyers who took their case,
Hernandez v. Texas, all the way to the U. S. Supreme Court, where they
challenged Jim Crow-style discrimination against Mex cian Americans.
2. Ballet Folorico
Nacional (DVD - The National Folkloric Ballet of Mexico was
formed back in May, 1960 by Sylvia Lozano, a young and hightly talented
ballerina, who has been its Director and Choreographer throughout its 30+
years existence. The acclaimed Ballet has a prestigious team that
specilized in the history of Mexico's folklore, dance, music and regional
dress. In 1977, the Ballet group was given the status of official
company of the Mexican Government with the right to represent Mexico abroad.
3. Brown is the New Green:
George Lopez and the American Dream (DVD - 60 min.s) This
film examines how efforts to profit from Latinos are shaping the
contemporary Latino identiy. The documentary's focal point is
comedian George Lopez, an icon and advocate for Lainos' move inth the
mainstream. The film's rare behind-the-scenes access to Lopez's life
and world as he shares his struggles to represent Latinos in a manneer
true to their realities and asperiations. Lopez normalizes the image
of Latinos in a way that delights and entertains.
4.
Farmingville (DVD – 78 min.s) This DVD is
part 20 years of independent point-of-view (POV) documentary
storytelling on PBS. The shocking, hate-based attempted murders of two
Mexican day laborers (winner – Sundance Film Festival Special Jury
Prize) catapult a small Long Island town into national headlines,
unmasking a new front line in the border wars: suburbia. For nearly a
year, Carlos Sandoval and Catherine Tambini lived and worked in
Farmingville, New York so they could capture first-hand the stories of
residents, day laborers and activists on all sides of the debate.
5. College
Zone(DVD 22 min.s) The College Zone sponsored by the
Illinois Student Assistance Commission (ISAC), a public, not-for-profit
agency created by the Illinois General Assembly with the mission of making
college affordable for Illinois students created this video for the
Latino/a community. This is a four original novelas
program:
A. "Amor Escolar (My Love
for Education)" (5 min.s), shows the dynamic that exists between a
mother and her daughter who is a first generation college student taking
classes at a community college and is planning to attend a four-year
college.
B. "No Nacimos Ricos (We
Were Not Born Rich)" (8 min.s), Presents the misconceptions
that exist in the Latino Community about financial aid and the process
to apply for student loan.
C. "Full Time" (4 min.s),
a young, single mother shares with her co-worker the opportunities and
resources available to her as she attends college and is employed.
D. "Hire Education" (5
min.s), shows a young Latino male being mentored by role models as he
learns the importance of a college education.
6. History of Hispanic Achievement in America (DVD 4 hrs 8 programs)
Is a story that began more than 500 years ago when
Christopher Columbus stepped on the fertile shores of “the new world”. It
is a story rich with the stunning achievements, heroic exploits, ceaseless
courage and the remarkable discoveries of Hispanic immigrants from all
over the world who have become part of the diverse fiber of this nation.
Vol 1: 1492 – 1719
Prog 1: Spain Comes to the New World
Prog 2: Spanish American Exploration and Colonization
Vol 2: 1720 – 1847
Prog 3: Spanish Americans Move Toward Independence
Prog 4: A New Hispanic Identity Emerges
Vol 3: 1848 – 1958
Prog 5: Hispanics Become United States Citizens
Prog 6: Hispanics Become and American Minority
Vol 4: 1959 – 2007
Prog 7: Emergence of a Unique Hispanic Culture
Prog 8: Era of the Hispanic American Hero Begins
7. Made in L.A. (DVD – 70 min.s – Facilitator’s Guide)
Traces the moving transformation of three Latina
garment workers on the fault lines of global economic change. Through a
groundbreaking lawsuit and consumer boycott, they fight to establish an
important legal and moral precedent: to hold an American retailer liable
for the labor conditions under which its products are manufactured. The
video provides an intimate view into both the struggles of recent
immigrants and into the organizing process itself.
8. Maid In America (DVD
– 60 min.s) is an intimate, eye-opening look at
the lives of las domésticas, as seen through the eyes of Eva, Telma
and Judith: three Latina immigrants, each with a very different story, who
work as nannies and housekeepers in Los Angeles, California. Filmmakers
Anayansi Prado and Kevin Leadingham followed their subjects for several
years, and their cameras caught some of the most intimate moments of these
women’s lives, both on and off the job. The challenges faced by these
women are as diverse as their stories. Maid In American, is the story of
the American dream as seen from the perspectives of three women, all
looking longingly through the glass – a the same time they are cleaning
it.
9. Mendez
vs. Westminster (DVD 45 min.s) Seven years before Brown vs.
Board of Education, Mendez vs. Westminster began unraveling of school
segregation in the U.S. Among many surprises, two key persons played
important roles in both cases; NAACP attorney Thurgood Marshall, who later
argued and won Brown vs. Board of Education; and then Governor Earl Warren
who desegregated California as a result of Mendez and later, as Chief
Justice of the Supreme Court wrote the Brown decision.
Seven years before Brown v. Board of Education,
Mendez vs. Westminster began unraveling of school segregation in the
U.S. Among many surprises, two key persons played important roles in
both cases; NAACP attorney Thurgood Marshall, who later argued and won
Brown v. Board of Education; and then-Governor Earl Warren who
designated California as a result of Mendez and later, as Chief Justice
of the Supreme Court wrote the Brown decision. Mendez vs.
Westminster is the award winning Public Television documentary that
tells the story of this little known; but important chapter of American
civil-rights history. 2007 marked the 60-year anniversary of the
Mendez decision, and the U.S. Postal Service issued a stamp to honor
this historic contribution to our schools.
10. Viva
La Causa (DVD 39 min.s) On a warm evening in 1965, hundreds of
Mexican farm workers packed into a church hall in the small farming town
of Delano, California. A momentous decision lay before them, should
they join a strike against California grape growers started 11 days prior
by their Filipino counterparts. Would this improve their appalling working
conditions in the fields and help them earn enough to feed their
families?
Viva La Causa tells the story of
how the powerless stood up in the powerful and gained their victory, not
by violence and weapons; but by their strong will.
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