DVD Collection

Assaulted : Civil Rights Under Fire is a documentary that takes audiences into the heart of the controversial issue that is dividing our nation: gun control. Narrated by Ice-T, a critically-acclaimed rapper and actor, the film takes a critical look at current gun laws and the rising movement to restrict the rights guaranteed by our Second Amendment.
Writer/Director: Kris Koenig
Narrator: Ice-T
Stream the video: Assaulted : Civil Rights Under Fire

This forum was organized by the U.S. Association of Constitutional Law, American University, Washington College of Law. Justices Antonin Scalia and Stephen Breyer spoke of the relevance of foreign law for American Constitutional adjudication, including the use of foreign court precedents in deciding U.S. constitutional cases and whether the United States should consider shifting world standards on social and moral issues such as the death penalty. Originally broadcast live on January 13, 2005.
Moderator: Norman Dorsen, New York University law professor, Founder and President
U.S. Assn. of Constitutional Law
Speakers: Stephen G. Breyer, Associate Justice, U.S. Supreme Court
Claudio Grossman, Dean, American University Washington College of Law
Michel Rosenfeld, President, U.S. Assn. of Constitutional Law
Antonin Scalia, Associate Justice, U.S. Supreme Court
Stream the video: Constitutional Relevance of Foreign Court Decisions

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

v. 1. Awakenings, 1954-1956 ; Fighting back, 1957-1962
v. 2. Ain't scared of your jails, 1960-1961 ; No easy walk, 1961-1963
v. 3. Mississippi : Is this America?, 1962-1964 ; Bridge to freedom, 1965
v. 4. The time has come, 1964-1966 ; Two societies, 1965-1968
v. 5. Power! 1966-1968 ; The promised land, 1967-1968
v. 6. Ain't gonna shuffle no more, 1964-1972 ; A nation of law? 1968-1971
v. 7. The keys to the kingdom, 1974-1980 ; Back to the movement, 1979-1985.

In American history, no document has sparked as much reverence, discussion, and controversy as the Constitution. But how does it really affect our everyday lives? Join Bill Moyers for this eleven-part series, originally produced to mark the Constitution's bicentennial, that delves into the fascinating history and contemporary relevance of the ultimate law of the land. Originally broadcast on PBS in 1987.
Disc 1. Episode 1. In the beginning. Episode 2. Mr. Justice Blackmun. Episode 3. Mortimer Adler : teaching the Constitution.
Disc 2. Episode 4. Mr. Justice Brennan. Episode 5. Ronald Dworkin : the changing story. Episode 6. God and the Constitution.
Disc 3. Episode 7. Strictly speaking. Episode 8. Justice Sandra Day O'Connor. Episode 9. For the people.
Disc 4. Episode 10. 1987 v. the Constitution. Episode 11. Justice Lewis F. Powell, Jr.
Director: Vern Diamond (and others)
Host: Bill Moyers

This documentary tells how an African American construction worker's personal-injury lawsuit against his employer evolved into a landmark jury selection case on the Sixth Amendment right to an impartial jury. The U.S. Supreme Court ruled in Edmonson v. Leesville Concrete Co. that under the 14th Amendment's equal protection clause, parties in civil cases cannot use race-based peremptory challenges to reject potential jurors.
Writer/Director/Narrator: Robe Imbriano
Stream the video: Jury selection : Edmonson v. Leesville Concrete Company

The story of Richard and Mildred Loving, an interracial couple, whose challenge of their anti-miscegenation arrest for their marriage in Virginia led to a legal battle that would end at the US Supreme Court. Based in part on the documentary "The Loving story" by Nancy Buirski.
Writer/Director: Jeff Nichols
Cast: Joel Edgerton, Ruth Negga, Marton Csokas, Nick Kroll, Michael Shannon

This documentary tells the inspiring and heartwarming story of Mildred and Richard Loving, an interracial couple who married in 1958 despite Virginia's anti-miscegenation laws. After hearing the Loving v. Virginia case, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled unanimously in favor of the Lovings on June 12, 1967. This precedent-setting decision resulted in 16 states being ordered to overturn their bans on interracial marriage. Alabama was the last holdout, finally repealing its anti-miscegenation law in 2000.
Director: Nancy Buirski
Writers: Nancy Buirski and Susie Ruth Powell

In 1942, Fred Korematsu was an average 23-year-old California native working as a shipyard welder. But when he refused to obey Executive Order 9006, which sent 120,000 Americans of Japanese ancestry into internment camps, he became something extraordinary - a civil rights champion. The film brings to life the inspirational story of an ordinary man's courageous actions, and the legal fight for his exoneration, which became a landmark episode in the civil rights struggles of the 20th century. Originally broadcast on the television program POV in July 2001.
Writer/Director: Eric Paul Fournier

U.S. Supreme Court Justices Stephen G. Breyer, Anthony Kennedy, and Sandra Day O'Connor fielded questions in Washington Tuesday, May 16, 2006 from 50 high school students from the Philadelphia and Los Angeles areas. The students and justices discussed the significance of the judiciary and the ways that independence is protected by the Constitution.

Moving from slavery to civil rights, The Road to Brown provides a concise history of how African-Americans finally won full legal equality under the Constitution. Its depiction of the interplay between race, law and history adds a crucial dimension to courses in U.S. History, Black Studies, Constitutional Law, Law & Society, Social Movements and Government. It opens up a discussion of the true significance of the Brown v. Board decision on the path towards racial equality. The example of Charles Houston's persistence and determination will inspire today's students to take America further down the long road to social justice.
Directors/Writers: William Elwood, Mykola Kulish

Based on the ground-breaking Brown vs. the Board of Education case in 1954; viewers follow a young Thurgood Marshall, the lawyer who argued the racially-charged lawsuit before the Supreme Court. When the black students of Clarendon County, South Carolina are denied their request for a single school bus, a bitter and courageous battle for justice and equality begins. Originally aired as a television mini-series in 1991.
Director: George Stevens, Jr.
Cast: Sidney Poitier, Burt Lancaster, Richard Kiley, Cleavon Little.

The Supreme Court is an unprecedented series exploring the history, impact and drama of America's highest court. It's 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. Originally broadcast on PBS on Jan. 31st and Feb. 7th, 2007.
v. 1. One nation under law
v. 2. A new kind of justice
v. 3. A nation of liberties
v. 4. The Rehnquist revolution.

Thurgood is the remarkable celebration of the life and legacy of Civil Rights advocate and Supreme Court pioneer Thurgood Marshall, the first African American appointed to the nation's highest judicial bench. The one-man play was filmed in front of a live audience at the Kennedy Center’s Eisenhower Theater in Washington, D.C. It originally aired in 2011 on HBO.
Director: Michael Stevens
Writer: George Stevens, Jr.
Actor: Laurence Fishburne