High

Social Studies (X) - High (X) - Middle (X)

The Persuaders (2004)

Icon: 
DVD icon

FRONTLINE takes an in-depth look at the multibillion-dollar "persuasion industries" of advertising and public relations. To cut through mass-media clutter and to overcome consumers' growing resistance to their pitches, marketers have developed new ways of integrating their messages deeper into the fabric of our lives.

Grade Level: 
Middle
High
Length: 
01:30
The Persuaders

Essential Art House Pygmalion

Icon: 
DVD icon

George Bernard Shaw was once quoted as humorously saying, "Do not try to live forever. You will not succeed." Yet his Pygmalion has lived on. His play, indeed, is better known to contemporary readers than the Greek myth (about a sculptor who falls in love with one of his statues) from which it derives its title. Shaw's rag-to-riches comedy made the leap from stage to screen in 1938, but it wasn't a smooth transition.

Grade Level: 
Middle
High
Length: 
01:30
Essential Art House Pygmalion

Freedom Riders (2011)

Icon: 
DVD icon

In 1961, segregation seemed to have an overwhelming grip on American society. Many states violently enforced the policy, while the federal government, under the Kennedy administration, remained indifferent, preoccupied with matters abroad.

Grade Level: 
Middle
High
Length: 
02:00
Freedom Riders

Nine From Little Rock (2005)

Icon: 
DVD icon

The heroism of nine students in Little Rock, Arkansas
Pioneers of desegregation

Nine From Little Rock chronicles the Arkansas school integration crisis and the changes wrought in subsequent years.

Grade Level: 
Middle
High
Length: 
00:19
Nine From Little Rock

Little Rock Central: 50 Years Later (2007)

Icon: 
DVD icon

In 1957, Little Rock Central High School became a symbol of the Civil Rights Movement when, in defiance of federal orders to integrate the school, the Governor of Arkansas called out the National Guard to prevent nine African-American students from entering the building.

Grade Level: 
Middle
High
Length: 
01:10
Little Rock Central: 50 Years Later

Unforgivable Blackness: The Rise and Fall of Jack Johnson (2004)

Icon: 
DVD icon

UNFORGIVABLE BLACKNESS: THE RISE AND FALL OF JACK JOHNSON tells the story of the first African-American boxer to win the most coveted title in all of sports and his struggle, in and out of the ring, to live his life as a free man.

Grade Level: 
Middle
High
Length: 
03:40
Unforgivable Blackness: The Rise and Fall of Jack Johnson

Lewis & Clark: The Journey of the Corps of Discovery (1997)

Icon: 
DVD icon

Sent by the President Thomas Jefferson to find the fabled Northwest Passage, Meriwether Lewis and William Clark led the most important expedition in American history—a voyage of danger and discovery from St. Louis to the headwaters of the Missouri River, over the Continental Divide to the Pacific.

Grade Level: 
Middle
High
Length: 
04:00
Lewis & Clark: The Journey of the Corps of Discovery

Thomas Jefferson (1996)

Icon: 
DVD icon

Revered as the author of the Declaration of Independence, the most sacred document in American history, yet condemned as a lifelong owner of slaves, THOMAS JEFFERSON remains the enigma that is America.

Grade Level: 
Middle
High
Length: 
03:00
Thomas Jefferson

Horatio's Drive: America's First Road Trip (2003)

Icon: 
DVD icon

HORATIO'S DRIVE recounts the simultaneously inspirational and hilarious saga of Horatio Nelson Jackson, an eccentric Vermont doctor, who in 1903—on a visionary whim and a 50-dollar-bet—became the first person to drive an automobile across the continent, heralding the future of the "horseless carriage" as a vehicle destined for more than inner-city travel and as a machine that would transform Am

Grade Level: 
Middle
High
Length: 
02:30
Horatio's Drive: America's First Road Trip

Mark Twain (2001)

Icon: 
DVD icon

Samuel Clemens rose from a hardscrabble boyhood in the backwoods of Missouri to become Mark Twain, America's best-known and best-loved author. Considered in his time as the funniest man on earth, Twain was also an unflinching critic of human nature who used his humor to attack hypocrisy, greed and racism.

Grade Level: 
Middle
High
Length: 
04:00
Mark Twain

Frank Lloyd Wright (1998)

Icon: 
DVD icon

Frank Lloyd Wright was the greatest of all American architects. He was an authentic American genius, a man who believed he was destined to redesign the world, creating everything anew.

Grade Level: 
Middle
High
Length: 
02:30
Frank Lloyd Wright

A Long Walk to Water

Icon: 
ipod icon

In 1985 southern Sudan is ravaged by war. Rebels and government forces battle for control, with ordinary people... people like the boy, Salva Dut... caught in the middle. When Salva's village is attacked, he must embark on a harrowing journey that will propel him through horror and heartbreak, across a harsh desert, and into a strange new life.

Grade Level: 
Lexile: 
720L
Length: 
02:41

South Sudan crisis explained-in 60 seconds

Icon: 
Web resource icon

At least 1,000 people are believed to have died in clashes in South Sudan between rival army factions - in a conflict escalated by ethnic undertones.

President Salva Kiir says the violence started after a coup attempt, blaming soldiers loyal to former Vice-President Riek Machar for the trouble. Mr Machar denies this.

The BBC outlines the background to the crisis - in 60 seconds.

Video produced by Michael Hirst

Sudanese conflict: What you need to know

Icon: 
Web resource icon

4 May 2012

Only 10 months after South Sudan gained its independence from Sudan, the two countries could be on the brink of all-out conflict.

The crisis started in April, after months of border skirmishes, when South Sudan seized an oil field, which is internationally accepted to be in Sudan, saying the area was being used as a base for Sudanese attacks on its territory.

Defined borders and how oil revenues will be shared are some of the issues still to be resolved by both countries.

Sudan Profile

Icon: 
Web resource icon

Overview of Sudan along with a timeline from the beginning of Sudan's independence to now.

Pages