Watch Preview

Ailey

1m 1s
Discover the legendary choreographer Alvin Ailey whose dances center on the Black American experience with grace, strength and beauty. Featuring previously unheard audio interviews with Ailey, interviews with those close to him and an intimate glimpse into the Ailey studios today.
Watch Clip

Elsa Sjunneson: DeafBlind author—Extended Audio Description

13m 16s
This short film is an extended look at some of the themes explored in American Masters – Becoming Helen Keller, and aims to provide an updated representation of modern DeafBlind role models today. Elsa Sjunneson is a DeafBlind professor and media critic, skilled fencer and hiker, and published author who has written for Marvel Comics. This version contains extended audio description.
Watch Preview

Becoming Helen Keller

1m 4s
Revisit the complex life and legacy of the author, advocate and human rights pioneer. Helen Keller, who was deaf and blind, used her celebrity and wit to champion rights for women, people with disabilities and people living in poverty.
Watch Clip

Helen Keller studied socialism [Audio Description]

1m 41s
Helen Keller became interested in politics and read extensively on socialism. She began to write articles for The Call, a socialist paper in New York City. "It can't be unreasonable to ask of a society a fair chance for all. It can't be unreasonable to demand the protection of women and children and an honest wage for all," she said.
Watch Clip

Helen Keller the suffragist

59s
Helen Keller was a social activist and suffragist, lending her name to the labor movement and the women's movement. "This inferiority of woman is man-made," she said in a speech in 1916.
Watch Clip

Keller's use of oral communication [Audio Description]

2m 31s
Alexander Graham Bell encouraged Helen Keller to practice oralism, where deaf people communicate through speech and lip-reading instead of sign language. "Oralism in general, I think, has a very oppressive quality to it, because what oralism is predicated on is the idea that the only way to communicate effectively is being able to speak," said disability rights advocate Rebecca Alexander.
Watch Clip

Keller's use of oral communication

2m 31s
Alexander Graham Bell encouraged Helen Keller to practice oralism, where deaf people communicate through speech and lip-reading instead of sign language. "Oralism in general, I think, has a very oppressive quality to it, because what oralism is predicated on is the idea that the only way to communicate effectively is being able to speak," said disability rights advocate Rebecca Alexander.
Watch Clip

Helen Keller studied socialism

1m 41s
Helen Keller became interested in politics and read extensively on socialism. She began to write articles for The Call, a socialist paper in New York City. "It can't be unreasonable to ask of a society a fair chance for all. It can't be unreasonable to demand the protection of women and children and an honest wage for all," she said.
Watch Clip

How Latine People are Excluded in the Media

48s
"You can't be 20% of the population and be less than 1% of the stories. That's exclusion." Actor and director John Leguizamo and Felix Sanchez, co-founder of the National Hispanic Foundation for the Arts, discuss the "digital segregation" of Latine people in the media.
Watch Clip

How Rita Moreno became a social activist

1m 6s
Rita Moreno's first foray into social justice was attending the March on Washington with Martin Luther King, Jr. "I was there when he uttered the 'I Have a Dream' speech," she said. She continued to be a conscious activist throughout her career, fighting for Latine and women's rights.
Watch Clip

The two people Buddy Guy admires most as a musician

1m 41s
On a trip to Germany, Buddy Guy met some of his musical heroes, including John Lee Hooker and Big Mama Thornton. Meeting them was a huge achievement for Guy; he said, “I don't care if I ever get a chance to make a record or nothin'. I done met the people who I admired the most as a musician."
Supported by