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Death of a Prophet, The Last days of malcolm X
This film follows the events in the final 24 hours of the life of religious and political leader Malcolm X. Fanatics tried to firebomb his home. They tried to murder him while he slept. Why was he so hated? Where were the police on the day of his assassination? How did his killers manage to escape?
Starring:
Morgan Freeman Yolanda King
Director: Woody King Jr.
Composer: Max Roach
Narrator: Ossie Davis
Negroes with Guns: Rob Williams and Black Power
Date: 1/1/2005Call Number: V 566Format: DVDProducers: Sandra Dickson, Churchill RobertsCollection: Robert F. Williams!
Robert F. Williams was the forefather of the Black Power movement and broke dramatic new ground by internationalizing the African American struggle. Negroes with Guns is not only an electrifying look at an historically erased leader, but also provides a thought-provoking examination of Black radicalism and resistance and serves as a launching pad for the study of Black liberation philosophies. Insightful interviews with historian Clayborn Carson, biographer Timothy Tyson, Julian Bond, and a first person account by Mabel Williams, Robert’s wife, bring the story to life.
Robert Franklin Williams was born in Monroe, North Carolina in 1925. As a young man he worked for the Ford Motor Company in Detroit until he was drafted into the United States Army in 1944—where he learned to take up arms.
Back in Monroe, Williams married Mabel Robinson, a young woman who shared his commitment to social justice and African American freedom. After the 1954 Brown v. Board of Education decision, Klan activity in Monroe skyrocketed, successfully intimidating African Americans and nearly shutting down the local chapter of the NAACP. Williams revived it to nearly 200 strong by reaching out to everyday laborers and to fellow Black veterans—men who were not easily intimidated. When repeated assaults on Black women in the county were ignored by the law, Williams filed for a charter from the NRA; the Black Armed Guard was born. During a 1957 integration campaign that faced violent white resistance, Williams’ armed defense guard successfully drove off legions of the Klan and electrified the Black community.
In 1961, Freedom Riders came to Monroe, planning to demonstrate the superior effectiveness of passive resistance over armed self-defense. They were bloodied, beaten and jailed, and finally called on Williams for protection from thousands of rioting Klansmen. Despite the threatening mobs, Williams sheltered a white family from violence, only to be later accused of kidnapping them. Fleeing death threats, Rob and Mabel gathered their children, left everything behind and fled for their lives—pursued by FBI agents on trumped-up kidnapping charges.
Williams and his family spent five years in Cuba where he wrote his electrifying book, Negroes With Guns and produced Radio Free Dixie for the international airwaves. They later moved on to China, where they were well received — but always longed for their forbidden home. In 1969, Williams exchanged his knowledge of the Chinese government for safe passage to the States. Rob and Mabel lived their remaining days together in Michigan where he died in 1995. His body was returned at long last to his hometown of Monroe, N.C.
The Murder of Fred Hampton
Date: 1/1/1971Call Number: V 243Format: DVDProducers: Film Group of Chicago: Mike GrayCollection: Fred Hampton
Directed by Howard Alk. Produced by Mike Gray. Associate Producer: Emmett Grogan; Camera: Mike Gray, Howard Alk; Sound: Jones Cullinan, John Mason, Chuck Olin; Editor: Howard Alk; Assistant editors: Jones Cullinan, John Mason; Additional Photography: Gordon Quinn; Production Manager: Jim Dennett.
In 1968 the Film Group, a Chicago production company, began filming a documentary about the Illinois chapter of the Black Panther Party and their chairman Fred Hampton. A fiery orator, Hampton was only 20 years old at the time, but his electrifying words and actions were inspiring young Black people to demand respect and to insist that their power and voice be felt in local politics, in any politics. But Fred Hampton's dream included all people when he proclaimed in the voice of the prophet, "... if we don't stop fascism it'll stop us all."
At that same moment the FBI/CIA was implementing their notorious domestic counterintelligence program (COINTELPRO) aimed at illegally suppressing domestic dissent and aimed especially at growing radical political organizations like the Black Panther Party. One FBI memo stated their charge as the need to "prevent the rise of a 'messiah' who could unite and electrify the militant black antinationalist movement." Working with local police departments, the government moved against Black Panther chapters and leaders across the country.
On December 4, 1969, in a predawn FBI-directed Chicago police raid, four Panthers suffered gunshot wounds, and Mark Clark and Fred Hampton were murdered. Within hours, Panthers arranged to get the Film Group crew into the scene and they were able to record the carnage. The film shows vividly what the police do to those who dare to openly, aggressively challenge government authority. In addition, the footage of the bloody, bullet-riddled wreckage directly contradicted the State's Attorney's version of the raid, and so filmmakers and Panthers came together to prove that Hampton had been the designated target of the violent, punitive raid. The film's inquiry pursues official spokesmen and traps them in their own lies and attempt at a cover-up of a brutal orchestrated assassination.
Vicki Ama Garvin - December 18, 1915 - June 11, 2007
Memorial for Vicki Garvin in New York City.
Victoria H. Garvin, African-American liberation activist and dedicated internationalist, died at the age of 91 on June 11, 2007, after a long illness.
Leaving Eldridge
Author and Black Panther Party member Eldridge Cleaver met with the critic and scholar Henry Louis Gates Jr. for an in-depth discussion in early 1997. Cleaver died shortly after the interview. Also archival footage, a past discussion between the two that occurred in 1975 in Paris and an interview with Kathleen Cleaver.
Self Respect, Self Defense & Self Determination
Date: 3/14/2004Call Number: M 062Format: DVDProducers: Collision Course VideoCollection: Robert F. Williams!
An event held at the First Congregational Church in Oakland with Mabel Williams and Kathleen Cleaver. Both women were welcomed and introduced by Angela Davis.
Malcolm X: Make it Plain - Part 1
American Experience marks the 40th anniversary of Malcolm X's murder. Actress Alfre Woodard narrates the special.
Chronicles Malcolm X's remarkable journey from his birth on May 19, 1925 in Omaha, Nebraska, to his assassination at the Audubon Ballroom in New York City on February 21, 1965. His compelling story is told through the memories of people who had close personal and working relationships with him: prominent figures such as Maya Angelou, Ossie Davis and Alex Haley; Nation of Islam associates, including Wallace D. Muhammad, the son of Elijah Muhammad; and family members, including his wife, Betty Shabazz, and his oldest daughter, Attallah Shabazz. Included is extensive archival footage of Malcolm X, speaking in his own words at meetings and rallies, and in media interviews.
Malcolm X: Make it Plain - Part 2
American Experience marks the 40th anniversary of Malcolm X's murder. Actress Alfre Woodard narrates the special.
Chronicles Malcolm X's remarkable journey from his birth on May 19, 1925 in Omaha, Nebraska, to his assassination at the Audubon Ballroom in New York City on February 21, 1965. His compelling story is told through the memories of people who had close personal and working relationships with him: prominent figures such as Maya Angelou, Ossie Davis and Alex Haley; Nation of Islam associates, including Wallace D. Muhammad, the son of Elijah Muhammad; and family members, including his wife, Betty Shabazz, and his oldest daughter, Attallah Shabazz. Included is extensive archival footage of Malcolm X, speaking in his own words at meetings and rallies, and in media interviews.
Geronimo Pratt closing arguments - 1
Courtroom Coverage of closing arguments in Geronimo ji Jaga's dismissal motion by Stuart Hanlon and John Cochran. Judge Dickey
Geronimo Pratt closing arguments - 2
Courtroom Coverage of closing arguments in Geronimo ji Jaga's dismissal motion by Stuart Hanlon and John Cochran. Judge Dickey
