Filmography - The Civil War and the Reconstruction era

This is a selective list of video holdings in the American University Library. Filmographies are created by doing multiple keyword searches in the catalog to capture as many titles on a topic as possible. 

For complete, up-to-date holdings please search the library catalog search box on the Media Services homepage. (http://www.american.edu/library/mediaservices/) Finding Aids on the same page includes other subject oriented content.

For more information take a look at the Streaming Video Guides and Browsing Collections. 

Abolition broken promises. 1992.  1 streaming video file (51 min.). For most African-Americans, the end of slavery did little to improve their lives in post-Civil War America. Both Northerners and Southerners refused to accept them as equals, and in many cases looked the other way while their rights were regularly abused on both sides of the Mason-Dixon line. This program presents a grim picture of the black experience after slavery as seen through the eyes of those who experienced it firsthand and of their families. Topics include the shortcomings of Reconstruction, the establishment of the Ku Klux Klan, the failure of the post-war land-distribution act, the deliberately cultivated image of black males as criminals and rapists, and the perpetuation of the Jim Crow laws well into the 1950s. Original BBC broadcast title: Sold Down the River. (51 minutes).  Streaming video

African-American lives the promise of freedom. 2005.  1 streaming video file (60 min.). This program looks at how African-Americans defined their freedom after slavery. Henry Louis Gates, Jr. reviews courthouse records of land acquisitions, documents from the Freedmen's Bureau and the 1870 census--the first in which African-Americans were counted as citizens, not property--to trace his subjects' lineages through Reconstruction. A vein that continues throughout the series is Gates' personal story, and in this episode he seeks to confirm a family legend--that a white slaveholder is one of his 19th-century ancestors. Distributed by PBS Distribution. Part of the series African-American Lives. (54 minutes).  Streaming video

Aftershock Beyond the Civil War. 2006.  American history in video.  1 online resource (90 min.). "In 1866, the year immediately following the end of the war, America was supposed to be reuniting, healing its wounds, and moving past years of civil unrest. However, a closer look into this historic time reveals a sinister snapshot of a discordant nation caught in the midst of deadly race riots and angry insurgencies ... Examines the disturbing reality behind the murder, terrorism, and chaos that marked the uncertain period of Reconstruction in America"--Original container.  Streaming video

Banished. 2007.  1 videodisc (84 min.). Documentary about three communities which forcibly expelled African American residents between the Civil War and the Great Depression. Includes interviews with residents from those communities: Pierce City, Missouri; Harrison, Arkansas; Forsyth County, Georgia.  DVD 9653

C.S.A The Confederate States of America. 2006.  1 videodisc (ca. 89 min.). Satirically humorous, and sometimes frightening, look at the history of an America where the South won the Civil War.  HOME USE COLLECTION DVD 2417

Conclusion at Appomattox The war ends, but not its impact. 1987.  1 streaming video file (52 min.). In 1865, the laying down of arms was just the beginning of the long battle for equal rights facing African-Americans. After documenting the final months of the War Between the States-Lincoln's second inauguration, Sherman's march through the Carolinas, the Siege of Petersburg, the destruction of Richmond, General Lee's surrender at Appomattox, and Lincoln's assassination-this program considers the outcome of the war and its cost, Reconstruction, the century of racism and segregation following the war, and the emergence of Martin Luther King, Jr., as the voice of the civil rights movement. Commentary by Eric Foner, Shelby Foote, and James McPherson is featured. A part of the series The Divided Union: The Story of the Civil War, 1861-1865 (5 Parts) (52 minutes).  Streaming video

The conspirator. 2011.  2 videodiscs (122 min.). "In the wake of Abraham Lincoln's assassination, seven men and one woman are arrested and charged with conspiring to kill the President and others. Against the ominous backdrop of post-Civil War Washington, war hero Frederick Aiken (James McAvoy) reluctantly agrees to defend the lone woman charged, Mary Surratt (Robin Wright), before a military tribunal. As the nation turns against her, Surratt is forced to rely on Aiken to uncover the truth and save her life"--Container.  Feature film. HOME USE COLLECTION DVD 9150

Dr. Toer's amazing magic lantern show. 2006?  Who built America?  1 videodisc (21 min.). In this dramatized narrative illustrated with photographs and illustrations from nineteenth century books and periodicals, the struggle to realize the promise of freedom is depicted through the experiences of J.W. Toer, a Baptist minister and ex-slave, traveling the rural South with his traveling picture show in the years following the Civil War.  DVD 7496

Found voices The slave narratives. 1999.  1 streaming video file (21 min.). How did it feel to be bought and sold like cattle, only to be liberated with nowhere to go and no one to turn to for help? In this profoundly moving program, Ted Koppel of ABC News presents the African-American slave experience in the voices of those who knew it firsthand. Thanks to tapes-now digitally remastered-from a project undertaken during the 1930s and 40s by John Henry Falke and others, 101-year-old Fountain Hughes, who was born in 1848, and other ex-slaves give their recollections of life before Emancipation and during Reconstruction. (22 minutes).  Streaming video

Homecoming Sometimes I am haunted by memories of red dirt and clay. 200-99.  1 video file (56 min.).  A documentary film exploring the history of ownership of farm lands by African Americans from Reconstruction to the present day. Their struggle for land of their own pitted them against both the Southern white power structure and the federal agencies responsible for helping them. As part of Reconstruction, Congress alloted 45 million acres of land to former slaves but little land was ever actually distributed. Despite formidable obstacles one million African Americans, mostly former sharecroppers, managed to purchase over 15 million acres of land by 1910.  Streaming video  

Images of glory. 1 streaming video file (57 min.). The Rocky Mountains were like the stairs of heaven after the last soul has ascended earth,said Fitz Hugh Ludlow. Said Sitting Bull of the Battle of the Little Bighorn, Our young men rained lead across the river and drove the white braves back. This is the time of the Civil War in the East, the last of the Indian Wars, the final spike in the transcontinental railroad. Thomas Moran and Albert Bierstadt paint a mythical Eden, while pioneer photographers Eadweard Muybridge and Timothy O'Sullivan whet America's appetite for Western adventure. It is the beginning of the end of the Wild West.(57 minutes).  Streaming video

Jesse James. 2005.  1 streaming video file (60 min.). American hero or violent outlaw? The story of Jesse James remains one of America's most cherished and wrong-headed myths. So the legend goes, he was a Western outlaw, but in reality, he never went west. He has been called America's own Robin Hood, yet he robbed both rich and poor, and was never seen to share his ill-gotten gains. Less heroic than brutal, James was a product of the American Civil War; a Confederate partisan of expansive ambition who helped invent his own valiant legend. Jesse James, from the PBS American Experience collection, is the true story of the legendary bandit who has captured the imagination of Americans for generations. Distributed by PBS Distribution. (60 minutes).  Streaming video

The Klan A legacy of hate in America. 2009.  1 videodisc (30 min.). Using archival footage and stills traces the beginnings of the Klan after the Civil War to its growth in the 1920s and resurgence in the 1960s. Also discusses recent actions taken by the Klan against minority groups in various parts of the United States.  DVD 1818

The Ku Klux Klan A secret history. 2002.  1 videodisc (100 min.). Presents a history of the Ku Klux Klan, from its beginnings after the Civil War to recent years, and its practices of terror against minorities.  DVD 1332

Long Shadows The legacy of the American Civil War. 1994.  1 streaming video file (89 min.). Ruined cities, scorched countryside, over 600,000 deaths, these were the Civil Wars direct results. But its long-term effects were no less cataclysmic and are still at work in American society. From North to South, from civil rights to foreign policy, from individual to collective memory, this classic program by award-winning filmmaker Ross Spears explores the cultural, political, and economic echoes of the War Between the States. Reflections come from a wide range of distinguished guests, including former President Jimmy Carter, poet and novelist Robert Penn Warren, scholars Robert Coles and John Hope Franklin, and author Studs Terkel. Civil rights activists, West Point graduates, Vietnam War veterans, battlefield tour guides, relic collectors, and blues musicians also add commentary to this evocative study.  Streaming video

Military tech. 2007.  1 streaming video file (45 min.). The romance of the Old West sometimes obscures the fact that it was, in a sense, one vast battlefield-which American military technology eventually dominated. This Wild West Tech program offers an up-close look at the cutting-edge technologies of the late 19th century and shows how weapons created for the Civil War were put to use on the frontier. Artifacts from the world's most complete collections are spotlighted and some are even demonstrated on the firing range. Meanwhile, historians help document the encounters in which these weapons proved effective-such as Pancho Villa's raid and the Wagon Box Fight of 1867, where 26 U.S. soldiers and six citizens held off 800 Sioux warriors. 2004 A&E Television Networks, LLC. A part of the series Wild West Tech.  Streaming video

New York, a documentary film. 2004.  1 videodisc (120 min.). The third segment in an 8-part series chronicling the history of New York City from 1609 through 2003. Episode three: Covers the city during the period after the Civil War -- "the Gilded Age." From 1865 through 1898, the city grows at a staggering rate--demographically, geographically and financially--and takes on enormous challenges such as the building of the Brooklyn Bridge, and sees the rise of Tammany Hall and Boss Tweed. By the end of the decade, New York has become home to the world's greatest concentration of wealth, and of poverty.  DVD 4808

The Presidents 1865-1885. 2005.  1 streaming video file (45 min.). This program illustrates the monumental task of reconstructing the nation after four years of civil war and a presidential assassination. Defining aspects of the period include the impeachment trial of Andrew Johnson, the triumphant ascendancy of Ulysses S. Grant, the backroom politics of Rutherford B. Hayes, the unfulfilled aspirations of James Garfield, and the civil service reforms of Chester A. Arthur. Distributed by A&E Television Networks. A part of the series The Presidents. (45 minutes).  Streaming video

Reconstruction The second Civil War. 2004.  1 videodisc (180 min.). The story of the tumultuous years after the Civil War during which America grappled with how to rebuild itself, how to successfully bring the South back into the Union and, at the same time, how former slaves could be brought into the life of the country.  DVD 5990

Reconstruction The second Civil War Retreat. 2004 .  1 streaming video file (90 min.). This episode of Reconstruction shows how the whole Southern world was turned upside down. And yet, despite these challenges and terrible racial violence in this period, so much was accomplished. Reconstruction brought public schools to the South for the first time. Black Southerners were elected to local and national offices. And the nation committed itself to equality under the law for all Americans, regardless of race, by passing the Fourteenth Amendment. Reconstruction laid the groundwork for the civil rights movement of the 1950s and 60s, and the foundation for the American society we live in today. Distributed by PBS Distribution. (60 minutes).  Streaming video

Reconstruction The second Civil War Revolution. 2004.  1 streaming video file (90 min.). This episode of Reconstruction shows how, in just a few years, a series of stunning events--the Emancipation Proclamation, the Fourteenth Amendment granting ex-slaves citizenship in 1868, the enfranchisement of blacks the following year--reversed centuries-old patterns of race relations in America. People who for generations had been the property of others were now free to run their own lives. Distributed by PBS Distribution. (60 minutes).  Streaming video

The rise and fall of Jim Crow. 2004?  1 videodisc (224 min.). Offers the first comprehensive look at race relations in America between the Civil War and the Civil Rights Movement. This definitive four-part series documents the context in which the laws of segregation known as the "Jim Crow" system originated and developed.  DVD 1455

Slavery and the making of America. 2004.  1 videodisc (ca. 60 min.). Episode 4. Looks at Civil War and Reconstruction through the experiences of South Carolina slave Robert Smalls. It chronicles Smalls' daring escape to freedom, his military service, and his tenure as a congressman after the war. As the events of Smalls' life unfold, the complexities of this period in American history are revealed. The episode shows the transformation of the war from a struggle for union to a battle over slavery. It examines the black contribution to the war effort and traces the gains and losses of newly freed African Americans during Reconstruction. The 13th amendment abolished slavery in 1865, the 14th and 15th amendments guaranteed black civil rights, and the Freedmen's Bureau offered aid to former slaves throughout the 1870s. Yet simultaneously, the formation of militant groups, such as the Ku Klux Klan threatened the future of racial equality and segregation laws began to appear across the country. Slavery's eradication had not brought an end to black oppression.  DVD 1528

Two dollars and a dream. 1989.  Filmakers library online.  1 online resource (51 min.). This is a biography of Madame C.J. Walker, the child of slaves freed by the Civil War, who became America s first self-made millionairess. By interweaving social, economic and political history, it also offers a view of black America from 1867 to the 1930 s. Mrs. Walker' fortune was built on skin and hair care products. She parlayed a homemade beauty formula into a prosperous business, marketing her products from coast to coast. Her daughter, A Leilia Walker, was an important patron of the Harlem Renaissance. The two women lived in royal style, complete with a mansion and chauffeured limousines. This little known story is both entertaining and informative. It combines interviews, historical stills and unique film footage including scenes from Harlem s famous Cotton Club. The film is punctuated with the music of Duke Ellington, Cab Calloway and other masters of that era.  Streaming video

Unchained memories Readings from the slave narratives. 2003.  1 videodisc (75 min.). When the Civil War ended in 1865, more than 4 million slaves were set free. By the late 1930's, 100,000 former slaves were still alive. In the midst of the Great Depression, journalists and writers traveled the country to record the memories of the last generation of African-Americans born into bondage. Over 2,000 interviews were transcribed as spoken, in the vernacular of the time, to form a unique historical record.  DVD 316

Women in American life.  1988.  5 videodiscs (ca. 91 min.). Five-part video documentary of the experiences and contributions of women in American history, from the Civil War through the 1970s. HOME USE COLLECTION DVD 2394