*Please use your HCC username and password to access the documentary. If you have questions or experience access issues, please contact cclose@hcc.edu

Voting rights activist and Civil Rights Leader Fannie Lou Hamer, born in 1917 in Montgomery County, Mississippi, was the granddaughter of a slave and the youngest of 20 children. Raised by hard working parents who were sharecroppers, she was no stranger to poverty or hardship. An inspirational speaker and writer, she used her powerful voice to raise the cause of equality and freedom for all blacks in America and became a defining force in the fight against social injustice during the early years of the civil rights movement.

In this rare documentary, her struggles and triumphs are expressed through Hamer's own words as well as those of friends and colleagues. While attending the 1964 Democratic National Convention, Fannie Lou Hamer posed the defining question: "Is this America? The land of the free and the home of the brave? Where we have to sleep with our telephone off the hook, because our lives be threatened daily because we want to live in peace as human beings in America?" She will be remembered for winning the right to vote for Black Americans and exposing America's poverty by giving a voice to those in need. This program is an inspiration to anyone who has ever faced oppression and acts as a powerful reminder of what one individual is capable of achieving in the face of adversity.

*Please use your HCC username and password to access the documentary. If you have questions or experience access issues, please contact cclose@hcc.edu

We witness the moving story of a valiant heroine of the Civil Rights struggle in Mississippi. Her courage inspired the poor and voiceless to demand the vote and to finally achieve political power. Her triumph is measured by the Black men and women who now take their rightful seats in City Halls, State Legislatures, and the U.S. Congress.

An intimate account of legendary U.S. Representative John Lewis’ life, legacy and more than 60 years of extraordinary activism. After Lewis petitioned Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. to help integrate a segregated school in his hometown of Troy, Alabama, King sent “the boy from Troy” a round trip bus ticket to meet with him. From that meeting onward, Lewis became one of King’s closest allies. He organized Freedom Rides that left him bloodied or jailed, and stood at the front lines in the historic marches on Washington and Selma. He never lost the spirit of the “boy from Troy” and called on his fellow Americans to get into “good trouble” until his passing on July 17, 2020.

*Please use your HCC username and password to access the documentary. If you have questions or experience access issues, please contact cclose@hcc.edu

Recalling a watershed event in US politics, this Peabody Award-winning documentary takes an in-depth look at the 1972 presidential campaign of Shirley Chisholm, the first black woman elected to Congress and the first to seek nomination for the highest office in the land.

Shunned by the political establishment and the media, this longtime champion of marginalized Americans asked for support from people of color, women, gays, and young people newly empowered to vote at the age of 18. Chisholm's bid for an equal place on the presidential dais generated strong, even racist opposition. Yet her challenge to the status quo and her message about exercising the right to vote struck many as progressive and positive.

Official Selection at the Sundance International Film Festival and the SXSW Film Festival.

"A refreshing antidote to the opportunism and cynicism that rules the political roost today...an inspiring tale of someone who made a difference." - James Greenberg, Hollywood Reporter

An exploration of the Fourteenth Amendment as the most enduring hallmark of democracy in the United States; with Mahershala Ali, Diane Lane, Samuel L. Jackson, Pedro Pascal, Yara Shahidi, and others.

What is the 14th Amendment? If it took you longer than five seconds to answer, then there’s a series that’s required viewing. “Amend: The Fight for America” is a six-part docuseries spanning six hours created by Robe Imbriano and Tom Yellin, directed by Kenny Leon(“American Son”) and Reinaldo Marcus Green (“Monsters and Men”), and hosted by Will Smith. The series takes viewers through the importance of the 14th Amendment—which outlines the rights of citizens under “the equal protection of the law”—and how it’s affected everything from black folks and women’s voting rights to abortion to gay marriage. Throughout its six episodes, the series revisits historic court rulings that have been engendered by the law. - Robert Daniels, rogerebert.com