1. East Africa : ends and beginnings (50:53)

Date:
unknown/unknown
Summary:
Presents an investigative report on the political, economic, and social development in Kenya and Tanzania, including an extensive interview with Tanzanian President Julius K. Nyerere. Observes that under Kenya's President Kenyatta the capitalistic system of business and trade is largely controlled by foreign investors which has led to increased unemployment and poverty. Explains that in Tanzania people are working together toward socialism as outlined by the Arusha Declaration and foreign investors must invest their profits in Tanzania so that Tanzanians may benefit.

2. Rank and file (17:09)

Date:
unknown/unknown
Summary:
Segment from episode 20 of Black Journal. Points out that discrimination within labor unions restricts minority membership, thus perpetuating the existing power structure. Notes that minorities in the New York local of the Transport Workers Union are trying to overcome discrimination by forming their own union. Indicates that although the TWU organizes on Transit Authority property, other groups are not allowed to do so.

3. Still a brother : inside the Negro middle class (1:31:05)

Date:
unknown/unknown
Summary:
Dr. St. Clair Drake states that the middle class is not only based on the economy, but is a way of life. Black middle and upper classes parallel those of the whites, yet he is "still a brother" and without a "mental revolution" will never escape the bonds of prejudice.

4. The Indiana University Speech and Hearing Center residence program (22:48)

Date:
unknown/unknown
Main contributors:
Strout, Ben (Director, Editor)
Summary:
This film shows a typical day at the Exchange Home near the Speech and Hearing Center at Indiana University. Founded in 1938, it is named after the Exchange Clubs of Indiana, which provided funding for the home. The Exchange Home is a two story residence that includes a kitchen, dining rooms, laundry room, play room, TV lounge, and bedrooms for 25 children. A house mother and students majoring in speech and hearing live in the Exchange Home with the children.

6. Asi Fue (So It Went) (56:42)

Date:
1986
Main contributors:
Strout, Toby (Writer, Producer); Schwibs, Susanne (script); Sumpter, Wally (Director); Arnove, Robert (Producer); Michael Luhan(Producer);
Summary:
Documents the political issues and diverse views of the people of Nicaragua during the period surrounding the elections of 1984; the first elections held since the overthrow of the Somoza regime. Sampling the campaigns of seven contending political parties, several major issues surface repeatedly and dominate debate: the direction of national reconstruction, changing social roles and responsiblities (particularly of women and young people), the war with the Contras, economic conditions, the makeup of the electoral process, and the conduct of the election itself.

7. The human tree players (29:48)

Date:
1976
Main contributors:
Strout, Ben (Photographer)
Summary:
A documentary on the Human Tree Players, a drama group composed of mentally challenged individuals.

8. Digging for black pride (19:55)

Date:
1971
Summary:
Shows children in Brooklyn's Bedford-Stuyvesant section learning about their African heritage through classroom activities and "digs" in vacant lots and urban renewal areas to locate artifacts linking them to their 19th century ancestors. Explains that under "Project Weeksville" the black children are piecing together the history and organization of this self-sufficient black community which existed in the early 1800s. Examines how the Bedford- Stuyvesant residents held off white raiders during the Draft Riot of 1863.

9. The tribe that hides from man (1:02:26)

Date:
1970
Summary:
Warning: This film contains nudity and close up images of corpses. Focuses on Brazilian explorers Orlando and Claudio Villas Boas who, with the aid of the disc-lipped Tchukahmei, search the Amazon jungle from the air and ground for the Kreen-Akrore Indians, a group which has previously killed on sight. Explains that the objective is to bring the Kreen-Akrore to the 8,500 square mile Xingu National Park where Indian culture and economy survive. Records similar efforts to save other Amazon tribes.

10. None of my business (31:52)

Date:
1969
Summary:
Part of episode 221 of PBL. Studies the widespread and often erroneous notions about welfare recipients. Presents the fallacy that many people on welfare could work if they wanted to. Reveals that 90 percent of all welfare recipients are young children or are aged, blind, or totally disabled. Attempts, through interviews, to give a view of welfare life. Shows segments of the hearings of the President's Commission on Income Maintenance.

11. The suicide clinic : a cry for help (27:51)

Date:
1969
Summary:
Indicates that a suicide attempt is a cry for help, sympathy, and understanding--all of which can be handled by the suicide clinic. Indicates that most suicide attempts are the result of a crisis which passes leaving the person fully recovered. Shows that suicides cross all socioeconomic levels and that these individuals are not necessarily emotionally unstable. Links most suicides with long-term depression involving love, work, or physical illness. Looks at the need for recognition and therapy of persons with suicidal tendencies.

12. Tomorrow's television : get what you want or like what you get (36:24)

Date:
1969
Summary:
Examines the competitive struggle of cable television operators against movie-theater owners, commercial broadcasters, and the telephone company. Discusses the differences in programming philosophies of commercial and cable TV. Includes a discussion of Federal Communications Commission policies in the regulation of broadcasting.

13. Last reflections on a war (46:58)

Date:
1968
Summary:
This is an excerpt showing one segment of episode 117. Presents critical comments and views of Asian scholar and war correspondent, Bernard B. Fall. Discusses the nature of the war in Vietnam, its effect upon the people, and the possibility of a practical solution. Includes taped comments.

14. Stop ruining America's past (21:45)

Date:
1968
Summary:
One segment from episode 119 of PBL. Describes the campaign to save Illinois' archaeological sites from urban and industrial expansion. Interviews Stuart Struever, archaeology professor at Northwestern University, who explains the significance of the sites. Shows Struever and others surveying and digging at sites. Ends with the suggestion that the area's heritage could be saved with the help of others.

15. The drinking American (59:41)

Date:
1968
Summary:
Explores the underlying reasons for alcohol abuse, the third largest health problem after heart disease in the United States. Shows that drinking is linked to sexual interests, the desire to relax or to overcome loneliness, and discusses lack of uniform state and local laws regulating use of alcohol. Interviews experts such as Maurice Chafetz who advocates removal of age barriers for drinking which would remove the attraction that such a taboo creates.

16. Goodbye and good luck (32:09)

Date:
1967
Summary:
A Black G.I. returns from Vietnam and is confronted by various Black Power activists. He is forced to question his reasons for having served in the military and what he wants to do in the future.

17. Medicine men of Africa : part I (29:03)

Date:
1967
Summary:
The effectiveness of the African medicine man or “witch doctor” has been a subject of much speculation among the lay public and professional medical men for many years. In this program a Western physician investigates the work of “witch doctors” in Nigeria. The viewer is shown actual “healing” sessions and sees the results of what many doctors believe is mass hypnosis induced in his patients by the “witch doctor.” Nigerian physicians and psychiatrists give their explanations of the healing phenomenon.

18. Medicine men of Africa : part II (28:33)

Date:
1967
Summary:
A continuation of the filmed record of a Western physician’s trek to Nigeria to investigate the healing phenomena attributed to the African “witch doctors.”

19. The troubled cities (59:49)

Date:
1966
Summary:
Probes, in documentary style, the attempts which are made to solve the problems which have been brought about by the urban population explosion. Cites slum areas, racial unbalance in the schools, and the needs of untrained or illiterate rural immigrants as some of the elements involved. Points out projects in urban renewal and urban rehabilitation, bussing children from one school district to another, and antipoverty programs as attempted solutions.

20. Cities : crime in the streets (1:01:31)

Date:
1965
Summary:
Discusses the two major aspects of the crime problem in the United States--police protection of citizens from crime and rehabilitation of juvenile offenders through training schools and reformatories. Aspects of these problems are examined by police experts, criminologists, and others. Methods of operation used by the Chicago Police Department are evaluated; training schools are visited; and their methods are contrasted with community programs designed to keep the juvenile from ever becoming a criminal.