Educational Media Reviews Online

As part of a project at George Washington High School in San Francisco, California twelve civil rights activists were invited to do oral histories and tell their stories to the students. These twelve men and women were from different parts of the country, represented different ethnic groups and socio-economic classes but came together for one purpose; to insure civil rights for all in the United States.

This presentation was created to satisfy requirements for California history teachers but will be of interest to teachers throughout the country. The speakers make sure to talk about what they were doing and experiencing when they were the age of the students in the classroom, helping to make the experience more real for the students and allowing them to compare and contrast their experiences with the speakers. Several of them discuss the murder of Emmitt Till and how this was a young man who was their age and that they could be killed just as he was. With many of the speakers the Till murder was the incident that led them to become involved in the movement.

Unlike many other programs on the civil rights movement this presentation includes a woman of Asian descent and a man of Latino descent. They are able to provide their points of view and in addition, the Latino gentleman talks about how he was able to take his experiences from working in the civil rights movement and use them in the fight to improve educational opportunities for Latino students in the California public schools, something that is rarely discussed in the literature of civil rights. It would have been wonderful to hear more about the Latino civil rights movement and show more of the linkages between that movement and the civil rights movement in the south.

The video is divided into eight chapters each focusing on a specific aspect of the civil rights experience. One section focuses on the role of women in the civil rights movement and how at the start of the movement they were considered second class citizens - the ones who typed the speeches the men gave. Women had to work to prove their worth and to show that there could be no discrimination in this movement if it was to succeed. Another section of the video focuses on the music of the civil rights movement and viewers are able to see some performances and hear the students participate in some group sing-alongs. It is noted that the civil rights movement was a movement of song and participants learn how music helped keep spirits high and get through the tough and dangerous times.

The program ends with discussion of how involvement in the civil rights movement shaped the participants’ futures including both their professional and personal lives. All are still activists and still working to support the rights of everyone.

This presentation is well edited and includes a number of images taken by Matt Herron, a press photographer during the civil rights movement and one of the participants in the oral history presentations.

Once the video presentation is over viewers can look at biographical films on each of the participants which delve a bit deeper into their lives and experiences. Most of these are absolutely fascinating. There are also history presentations for each chapter focusing on specific events. Also included is a teacher's guide providing instructional tips and quizzes to use after each section. Included as well are instructional ideas for ESL students. One note regarding the teacher's guide - it is not obvious how to access it unless viewers look at the one page handout included with the DVD.

As part of the oral history project students were encouraged to write poems or do other creative work to describe their experiences. Only seven are included, and it would be nice to see more. It is particularly frustrating not to see footage of student participation, except for one scene of them singing. The presentation could be enhanced by seeing how the students interact with the participants and the questions they ask.

In spite of this flaw, The Long Walk to Freedom is an excellent presentation and overview of the civil rights movement that should be part of high school curriculum libraries and academic libraries with teacher education programs. It may also find a home in libraries with large African American history and oral history collections.