Kwanzaa Webpicks

Posted by Speakeasy News > Thursday 21 December 2017 > Webpicks

If you’d like to introduce your pupils to the annual African-American  celebration Kwanzaa, from 26 December to 1 January, these articles, an audio sketch and festive music interactive can help you. This interactive feature from the Smithsonian has examples of celebration songs from different cultures in the U.S.A. and around the world. Click on number … Continue reading “Kwanzaa Webpicks”

Detroit: Modern History on Film

Posted by Speakeasy News > Wednesday 25 October 2017 > What's On

Detroit tells the true story of an incident during the “race riots” which swept U.S. cities in the summer of 1967. The film, directed by Kathryn Bigelow, has won praise for its portrayal of police corruption and racial tensions during that long hot summer. 1967 is remembered for the hippie Summer of Love, but July … Continue reading “Detroit: Modern History on Film”

U.S. School Segregation Today

Posted by Speakeasy News > Wednesday 27 September 2017 > In the News

On 25 September 1957, U.S. civil rights activists won the right for African American children to go to the same schools as white children at Little Rock, Arkansas. But 60 years on, many schools in the U.S.A. are still separated along color lines. And one of the most segregated school systems in the country is … Continue reading “U.S. School Segregation Today”

Little Rock School Integration, 1957

Posted by Speakeasy News > Wednesday 27 September 2017 > Celebrate

September 25, 2017, marks 60 years since the “Little Rock Nine”, a group of African American students managed to gain access to the all-white Central High School in Arkansas. It was a landmark moment in the civil-rights movement to obtain equal treatment for all citizens, irrespective of colour. In 1954, the U.S. Supreme Court had … Continue reading “Little Rock School Integration, 1957”

Little Rock School Integration Videos

Posted by Speakeasy News > Tuesday 26 September 2017 > Webpicks

2017 marks the sixtieth anniversary of the a major landmark in ending school segregation in the U.S.A.: when nine courageous black students braved screaming mobs, police and troops to gain access to Little Rock Central High School in Arkansas. Both the National Parks Service Visitors’ Center on the site, and the Dwight Eisenhower Memorial have … Continue reading “Little Rock School Integration Videos”

Sorry Day Teaching Resources

Posted by Speakeasy News > Friday 19 May 2017 > Webpicks

Reconciliation Australia is an NGO set up to facilitate reconciliation between the wider Australian population and Indigenous Australians. They have a very attractive learning section on their Share Our Pride website which includes the following videos. It’s perfect for a theme about Indigenous Australians and/or Sorry Day. This is a relatively simple, short explanation (less … Continue reading “Sorry Day Teaching Resources”

Saying Sorry

Posted by Speakeasy News > Friday 19 May 2017 > Celebrate

For more than 150 years, tens of thousands of Australian Aboriginal children were forcibly removed from their families and communities. On 26 May, Australia recognises and commemorates this injustice on Sorry Day. Policies of “assimilating” indigenous children started early in the British colonial period in the nineteenth century. It accelerated and became more systematic from … Continue reading “Saying Sorry”

“I Am Not Your Negro”

Posted by Speakeasy News > Tuesday 09 May 2017 > What's On

In 1987, James Baldwin died without having finished his last book. He left just thirty pages of the manuscript. The book was intended to be a personal account of the assassination of three of his friends: Medgar Evers, Malcolm X and Martin Luther King, Jr.  In the documentary film I Am Not Your Negro, Raoul … Continue reading ““I Am Not Your Negro””

Oscars 2017: NotSoWhite

Posted by Speakeasy News > Thursday 16 February 2017 > What's On

The 2016 Oscars received as much publicity for the people and subjects it didn’t honour as the red-carpet dresses or the tearful speeches. The #OscarsSoWhite campaign complained that the nominations to all four top categories only featured white faces and white stories. The 2017 nominations are a radical change. Even if the nostalgic musical La … Continue reading “Oscars 2017: NotSoWhite”

Fighting for the Right to Love

Posted by Speakeasy News > Thursday 16 February 2017 > Webpicks

Loving tells the astonishing true story of an American couple who married in 1958 and spent the first nine years of their marriage fighting the segregationist laws that found them guilty of the crime of loving someone who was a different colour. Richard Loving and Mildred Jeter were childhood sweethearts in Virginia. When Mildred became … Continue reading “Fighting for the Right to Love”