13th
Ava DuVernay · 2016
Examines the intersection of race, justice, and mass incarceration in the United States, tracing the loophole in the 13th Amendment that allowed involuntary servitude to continue.
Learn moreRelated Cultural Works
12 Years a Slave
Steve McQueen · 2013
Based on Solomon Northup's 1853 memoir, this Oscar-winning film offers an unflinching depiction of American slavery and the brutal dehumanization of enslaved people.
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1619
Nikole Hannah-Jones · 2019
The Pulitzer Prize-winning magazine project that reexamines the founding of the United States by centering the year 1619, when the first enslaved Africans arrived in Virginia.
Learn moreA Change Is Gonna Come
Sam Cooke · 1964
Cooke's soul classic became a rallying cry of the civil rights movement, expressing hope and resilience in the face of racial injustice — often called the greatest civil rights song ever written.
Learn moreA Raisin in the Sun
Lorraine Hansberry · 1959
The first play by a Black woman on Broadway, it follows the Younger family's dreams and struggles in 1950s Chicago, confronting housing discrimination and Black aspiration.
Learn moreAmerican Gothic, Washington, D.C.
Gordon Parks · 1942
Parks photographed Ella Watson, a Black government employee, standing beside the American flag and symbols of domestic labor. The image uses portraiture to ask questions about citizenship, work, patriotism, and the meaning of American democracy.
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American People Series #18: The Flag Is Bleeding
Faith Ringgold · 1967
Ringgold's American People series examined race, identity, and American life during the Civil Rights and Black Power era. The Flag Is Bleeding asks students to consider who is represented by national symbols and who gets to claim them.
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