Green Book — winner of the 2019 Best Picture Oscar —is a road movie about friendship and race relations in the 1960s American South. The film takes its title from a guide book published for almost thirty years from 1936: The Negro Motorist Green Book. These online resources will help you explore the real Green … Continue reading “Green Book: Online Resources”
In honour of the Black History Month, the Institut Franco-Américain in Rennes has two events centered around author James Baldwin, just in time for the release of the Oscar-nominated If Beale Street Could Talk. Born in 1924 in Harlem, New York, Baldwin is remembered as a novelist, poet, playwright, essayist and social critic. From 1948 … Continue reading “Black History Month in Rennes”
Green Book — winner of the 2019 Best Picture Oscar —is a road movie about friendship and race relations in the 1960s American South. The biopic is based on a real story: In 1964, Dr Don Shirley, a virtuoso classical pianist, was booked to play a series of concerts across the Deep South. Dr Shirley … Continue reading “On the Road with the Green Book”
An exhibition in Montpellier shows the 1960s civil-rights movement in the U.S.A. through 300 photos, many never exhibited before. The exhibition takes its name, “I am a Man” from the slogan of the sanitation workers’ strike Martin Luther King, Jr was supposed to lead the day he was assassinated 50 years ago. The photos collected … Continue reading “I Am a Man: Civil Rights Photos in Montpellier”
With the midterm elections approaching, the U.S.A. is being inundated with political advertising. But a group of artists wants to take back the country’s billboards for non-partisan, thought-provoking messages. Following a crowdfunding campaign they are putting up messages on billboards in all 50 states. For Freedoms was created in 2016 by artists Hank Willis Thomas … Continue reading “Billboards for Citizens”
The silent protest of two African American athletes on the podium at the 1968 Mexico Olympics was an iconic moment in civil-rights history. We’ve selected some teaching tools for language classes on the Black Power protest. In 2016, the prestigious Smithsonian opened a new, and long-awaited museum, the National Museum of African American History and … Continue reading “Mexico Olympics Black Power Protest Video”
Fifty years after the Mexico Olympics, when African-American medallists Tommie Smith and John Carlos made a Black Power salute to protest at discrimination, all three men on the podium that day have been recognised for their courage. On 16 October, 1968, two American sprinters made a symbolic gesture that became an iconic image of fight … Continue reading “Black Power at the 1968 Olympics Fifty Years On”
Aretha Franklin, dubbed “the Queen of Soul”, was one of the most influential musicians in the U.S. charts. She won 18 Grammy awards but also made a massive contribution to the civil rights movement: her songs would become their anthems. Aretha Franklin grew up in the 1950s in Detroit, where her father was a popular … Continue reading “The Soul of Civil Rights”
Spike Lee’s latest film, BlacKkKlansman, is based on the true story of an African-American police officer who managed to infiltrate the Ku Klux Klan in the 1970s. Incredible as it sounds, Ron Stallworth masterminded an infiltration operation by posing as a white racist on the phone. The film, which won the Grand Prize at the … Continue reading “Spike Lee is Back”
Spike Lee’s new film BlacKkKlansman is based on the true story of Ron Stallworth, a Colorado Springs policeman who infiltrated the Ku Klux Klan. This downloadable audio interview with Stallworth is excellent for listening comprehension. The 13-minute interview is a downloadable podcast from the BBC World Service. It’s very clear and extracts are understandable from … Continue reading “Teaching with BlacKkKlansman”