The Museum of Broadcast Communications Provides Access to Powerful Sources Describing American Civil Rights Movement

The Museum of Broadcast Communications Provides Access to Powerful Sources Describing American Civil Rights Movement

CHICAGO, May 24 /PRNewswire/ -- From the sight of barking dogs in Alabama to the sounds of protest songs in Mississippi, the American Civil Rights Movement is brought to life for students and teachers through an online educational project by The Museum of Broadcast Communications (MBC).

The MBC has created a free, web-based resource for K-12 teachers to use when introducing students to civil rights history. Supported by The Oprah Winfrey Foundation, the project features a searchable database and on-demand video and audio programs that can compliment textbooks and print material.

By visiting http://www.museum.tv/ (click on Education/ Resources), teachers and students statewide can see and hear 215 television and radio programs documenting the struggle for civil rights in America online.

These programs highlight dramatic events and include personal accounts describing life before, during, and after the 1960s Civil Rights Movement. In addition, many of the programs trace the influence and accomplishments of the Movement's leaders, including Rosa Parks, Reverend Martin Luther King, Jr., Malcolm X, and Reverend Jesse Jackson.

The programs also include: extensive on-air appearances by Harold Washington, Chicago's first African-American mayor, including the 1983 mayoral debates. They also include the landmark Destination Freedom radio series.

The online Civil Rights collection, which feature dramatic reenactments, historical news footage, and testimonies, cover a broad range of themes that can align with a variety of subjects, including history, social studies, language arts, and literature, as well as tolerance, anti-bias, and multicultural education.

The MBC is currently designing supplementary lesson plans and teacher guides that will meet national educational standards and that will facilitate the integration of select programs into existing curricula. The standards- based lesson plans and teacher guides will be available free online.

"Students of the 21st century will have a greater understanding of the civil rights struggle of the 1960s when they see the powerful images that defined the movement. Television played a significant role in this important American story," said MBC Founder and President Bruce DuMont. "By providing free, on-demand access to 215 Civil Rights programs, the MBC offers this extensive collection of primary source materials for teachers and students -- all at one's fingertips."

The documentaries and broadcast programs, which are part of the MBC's media archives, have been contributed by various networks, producers, and copyright holders. Contributing members, who granted permission to the MBC to use materials for educational purposes, include:

Networks/ Stations Producers/ Individuals
-- Arkansas Educational Television -- Constance B. Barone
Network -- The Documentary Institute
-- CBS News -- Clarice Durham
-- CNN -- Abigail Ginzberg
-- Georgia Public Television -- Kupcinet Productions
-- WABC (New York, NY) -- Judith McCray
-- WSVN (Miami, FL) -- University of Alabama
-- WMAQ (Chicago, IL) -- Iverson White
-- WSFA (Montgomery, AL)
-- WTTW (Chicago, IL)

With the mission of preserving important radio and TV programs, the MBC seeks to maximize the influence of its collection and use digital content in service of Illinois' economic, educational, and cultural development.

The Museum's complete Civil Rights collection of over 450 programs will be available for listening and viewing in the Media Cafe of the new MBC, scheduled to open in 2006 at State and Kinzie in Chicago.

The Museum of Broadcast Communications is one of three broadcast museums in the United States. In addition to preserving history, the new MBC will also conserve energy and is committed to being the first public museum in the nation to achieve a LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) Gold certification from the U.S. Green Building Council.

For more information, please visit http://www.museum.tv/ .

Source: Museum of Broadcast Communications

CONTACT: Raissa Allaire of MBC, +1-312-396-0104

Web site: http://www.museum.tv/

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