Political Science Videos: Home

"In the days immediately following the shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School that killed seventeen people, filmmakers Emily Taguchi and Jake Lefferman began filming with students and families whose lives were forever altered"--Container.

From the tea parties to healthcare and climate change, America's conservative citizens revolted against President Obama's reform agenda. But just how real were the roots of this supposedly grassroots uprising? Was it, in fact, an example of 'astroturfing', which is the practice of manufacturing citizens groups for the purpose of delivering corporate messages? Curious to find out, Australian filmmaker Taki Oldham went undercover to investigate.

They not only save the village, but the Barrier is pushed back behind the Green Line into No Man's Land. In the process, Ayed and Iltezam unleash an inspiring, yet little-known, movement in the Occupied Palestinian Territories that is still gaining ground today.

This story begins on the steps on the Lincoln Memorial in August 1963 when a 34-year-old preacher galvanized millions with his dream for an America free of racism. It comes to a bloody end almost five years later on a motel balcony in Memphis, Tennessee. In the years since those events unfolded, the man at the center, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., has become a mythic figure, a minister whose oratory is etched into the minds of millions of Americans, a civil rights activist whose words and image are more hotly contested, negotiated and sold than almost anyone else's in American history.

Come along on an epic road trip across America to all 50 states to meet a diverse group of brand new citizens from over a hundred different countries to find out why they chose America.

"The United States and China may well be on the road to war-and with a noose of US bases now encircling the world's newest superpower, nuclear war is not only imaginable but a nightmarish prospect. The Coming War on China is both a warning and an inspiring story of people's resistance to war and the occupation of their countries."

In this elegant, penetrating and moving portrait of the United States Congress, filmmaker Ken Burns profiles an American institution whose ideals and actions affect us all. Narrated by David McCullough, the program employs historic film footage and interviews with insiders" including David Broker, Alistair Cooke and Cokie Roberts to detail the personalities, events and issues that have animated Congress' first 200 years.

This 8-part series explores how The U.S. Constitution came to be.

Created by a Palestinian, Israeli, North and South American team, this film tells the story of an Israeli settler, a Palestinian ex-prisoner, a bereaved Israeli mother and a wounded Palestinian bereaved brother who risk their safety and public standing to press for an end to the conflict.

Vols. 1-3 tell the story of America's civil rights years from 1954 to 1965; vols. 4-7 examine the new America from 1966 to 1985, from community power to the human alienation of urban poverty.

Examines economics professor and Clinton Administration cabinet member Robert Reich's crusade to expose the problem of income inequality in the United States.

A comprehensive portrait of John F. Kennedy, complete with rarely-heard recordings of JFK and RFK, interviews with personal confidantes, insiders and highly-placed sources, and home videos of the Kennedy family.

In 2004, the Dover school board ordered science teachers to read a statement to their high school biology students about an alternative to Darwin's theory of evolution called intelligent design. The teachers refused to comply, and both parents and teachers filed a lawsuit in federal court accusing the school board of violating the constitutional separation of church and state.

Investigate the reasons North Carolina, long seen as the most progressive state in the South, became home to the largest Klan organization in the country, with more members than all the other Southern states combined, during the 1960s.

Who decides how life ends? This is a compelling and deeply personal exploration of four families and their terminally-ill loved ones as they face death. It brings up a multitude of matters implicit in an individuals' option to hasten death when the dying process makes life unendurable. Last Rights explores medical, ethical, and political issues.

Spanning seven years, this film follows six girls who participated in the Building Bridges for Peace camp in New York City for seven years following their experience of meeting "the enemy" in July 2002.

When a Palestinian boy loses half of his home to Israeli settlers in the Sheikh Jarrah neighborhood in East Jerusalem, he joins his community in a campaign of nonviolent protests. Scores of Israelis choose to stand by the residents' side.

We've been told again and again that sports and politics don't mix. In this documentary, Dave Zirin, sports editor of The Nation magazine, takes viewers on a tour of the good, the bad, and the ugly of American sports culture -- showing how sports have helped both to stabilize and to disrupt the political status quo throughout history. Explores how American sports, at their worst, have reinforced repressive political ideas and institutions by glamorizing things like militarism, racism, sexism, and homophobia, as well as looking at a history of rebel athletes who dared to fight for social justice beyond the field of play.

If our political system is like a game of Monopoly, how can outsiders have a voice when only money speaks? John Ennis documents comical corruption, follows political newcomers, and uncovers intrigue in this colorful journey that connects the dots of Big Money in our ever-challenging election process.

Profiles Theodore, Franklin, and Eleanor Roosevelt, three members of the most prominent and influential family in American politics. It is the first time in a major documentary television series that their individual stories have been interwoven into a single narrative.

The filmmaker, who grew up in the "golden years" of the 1970s and 80s in Cuba, revisits the sites of her childhood and reminisces with former classmates. Though they are largely disillusioned because of the failure for the Revolution to deliver on its promises, they remain nostalgic about a meaningful time in their lives.

Known as the court of last resort, the Supreme Court, where nine judges appointed for life make monumental decisions that govern our everyday lives, from the contents of the nation's daily newspapers to what we can do in the privacy of our own homes. With immense power and considerable mystery, the court of final appeal has helped author the history of America.

From the home grown American "patriots" to Al-Qaeda, from the IRA to Aum Shinrikyo, people willing to kill and be killed for religious, social and political aims have grown exponentially as they take on the powerful interests that they see as oppressing them. How did we get here? In this excellent program we take a look at terrorism all over the world in the light of the Obama administration. Targeting Terror is a comprehensive and accessible examination of this powerful political force.

This kit gathers teaching materials depicting the battle for civil rights, recalling the crises in Montgomery, Little Rock, Birmingham, and Selma, and revealing the heroism of the individuals involved.

This film focuses on what to expect while serving on a jury, the process of a trial, and explains the jury system.

Using historical footage and dramatic reenactments, this film focuses on one of the seminal events in the march for human rights -- the grape strike and boycott led by César Chávez and Dolores Huerta in the 1960s. Thousands of people from across the nation joined in a struggle for justice for the some of the most exploited people in the United States.

From the fearless resolve of a single woman to the remarkable voice of thousands marching, this History Channel special offers an overview of one of America's great defining periods. A compilation of materials on the civil rights movement, from personal narratives of life in the period, to insights into the Mississippi Sovereignty Commission, to the 1965 march on Montgomery, along with biographies of two of the leaders of the movement.

This film explores race and racism in the United States through the lens of whiteness and white privilege.

On May 17, 1954, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in the case of Brown vs. Board of Education that the concept of "separate but equal" school segregation was unconstitutional. Director Peter Gilbert explores the history and legacy of the legal decision.

The Yes Men again pull off one bold prank after another in an effort to raise political consciousness. Posing as top executives of giant corporations, they lie their way into big business conferences and pull off the world's most outrageous pranks.