The Struggle for Justice (National Portrait Gallery)

The Smithsonian Institution's National Portrait Gallery exhibition "The Struggle for Justice," covering the struggle in the U.S. for equal rights for women, African-Americans, Native Americans, the disabled, and gays and lesbians is now online. It includes six video clips narrated by CNN's Soledad O'Brien, portraits of those people who were instrumental in fighting for justice (like the one of A. Phillip Randolph, right), a lesson plan , related web links and a reading list.We cover human rights in lesson six of The Class of Nonviolence.

Films To Help Us Rethink War

The Voices Education Project has a marvelous list of films about war (and a great section on curriculum ideas for using anti-war films and documentaries.) Some are old favorites and some that are new to me. Last week I ordered a copy of the 1938 J'Accuse.  The NYT said of the film:

"This 1938 sci-fi and horror-tinged war drama from writer/director Abel Gance is an updated remake of Gance's own 1919 silent feature of the same name. J'accuse stars Victor Francen as Jean Diaz, a scientist who, after witnessing the unspeakable horrors of the battlefield during the First World War, dedicated his life to ensuring that history doesn't repeat itself. Diaz eventually invents a device that promises to bring an end to war forever. However, with WWII on the horizon, the government instead opts to use the machine against its enemies rather than for peace. This drives Diaz to the brink of insanity and leads him to resort to more unexpected measures to get his point across."

In the Class of Nonviolence we talk about war films in session seven. In the Facilitator's Manual for the Class of Nonviolence there is a list of war films and a sample class exercise.