Product Description

49 documentaries on 6 DVD's. includes: Fighter for Freedom: The Frederick Douglas Story; The African Burial Ground: An American Discovery; Tuskegee Airmen Palmour Street; Malcolm X: Nationalist or Humanist; Scott Joplin; John Matzeliger and more. Bonus features include famous speeches

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #50811 in DVD
• Released on: 2008-01-08
• Rating: NR (Not Rated)
• Aspect ratio: 1.33:1
• Number of discs: 6
• Formats: AC-3, Box set, Black & White, Color, Dolby, DVD, NTSC, Surround Sound
• Original language: English
• Number of discs: 6
• Running time: 1093 minutes

Customer Reviews

Disgraceful representation
There is no pleasant picture to paint regarding the lives of Africans brought to America for slavery. Likewise, no means of media should ever try to downplay the hardships and torment that Africans endured. I find it appalling that the video collection entitled "Black History, from the Civil War Through Today" would try to do so. The videos' portrayals are as misleading as they are insulting and it should be pulled from shelves.

One segment of the series is entitled "The Plantation System in Southern Life." The quality of this segment is reminiscent of a Three Stooges or Little Rascals episode from the 30s. The film is spotted, choppy and at times inaudible. As the feature continues, it highlights a plantation house formerly occupied by a wealthy slave owning family. The narrator speaks of the grandeur of the house, its expensive furniture, and the generous amount of land surrounding the estate. As the narrator continues he states that plantation life was more than an "economic organization, it was an unusual class system." The subsequent scenes depict smiling slave owners riding on horseback inspecting the slaves as they pick cotton. The slaves were also smiling as their owners approached them and the two parties engage in eye to eye conversation. This is one of the most fallacious representations of slave life I have ever seen. Life on a plantation was not a class system nor was it an economic organization. For a class system to exist, all those within the system have to be considered, if nothing else, human. In the eyes of slave owners, slaves were not human; they were considered property, just like cattle or a plow. Secondly, slaves were never permitted to look a slave owner, his family, or any other white person in the eye. This was considered a form of disrespect and the infraction was met with the most serious of consequences. An "economic organization" it was, but not for the slave and not in the way the producers depict. An economic organization would imply that labor was employed and in return, employees were compensated. A slave owner would never fathom compensating a slave for their labor. The planation for a slave was a place of forced servitude, mental anguish and physical taxation. The director's attempt to categorize a plantation as anything other than that is a direct misrepresentation of history.

These are but a few of the misrepresentations of Black History presented in this collection. The directors, producers and editors have obviously not researched one true shred of Black History and should be ashamed for compiling this abomination.

Extraordinary
This is an extraordinary collection of historical presentations that must be viewed in its entirety to be truly appreciated. The producers have done an excellent job in digitally restoring the vintage audio/videos but as must be expected by anyone who is knowledgeable of the restoration process some of the restorations are a bit jumpy and choppy. However, it is still a masterful job. As for content, it is quite easy to look at the first few videos dealing with the civil war and the plantation system and take umbrage that not much emphasis is put on depicting the pain and suffering of the slaves, but it should be remembered that this is a report on the history and progress of African Americans and not merely an indictment of the evils of slavery. As such it is entertaining as well as informative and very well put together. My advice is to watch it with an open mind and don't let the poor quality of some of the older training films, movie clips and documentaries distract you from the significance of their content.

A great American history DVD set.
I'm a buff for American history and all of the different groups of people that has made America such a great country.Black history is American history that is seldom ever seen on TV or in schools.This dvd set has a lot of chapters of American history that has not been viewed by most of the public in this country.It deals with the Black American's story and how White America dealt with the question of race in the land of the free.If you buy this dvd set you may want to set aside some time to see each and every chapter due to it's length.But you will not stop wanting to see and learn more.This is an educational trip back in time in a country that had not planned on giving Black Americans any part in it's freedoms that it had gladly shared with most other races and groups that had came here from other countries seeking freedom and justice.In this dvd set you will see the many attempts of America trying to educate it's majority White population on how to treat the minority Black population as equals.You will view how many Black leaders and other trail blazers of color made American history that very few Americans today ever heard of or really know about.You'll see how far the people of African heritage have come to be where they are today.Get this dvd set and educate yourself to American History.