The statement “Black Lives Matter” has been offensive to some who fear it excludes the lives of others.  At the end of this video clip, Cornell West, Professor of Philosophy, explains the term’s intent to include the lives of Black Americans.  WGBY airs Black America Since MLK: And Still I Rise on Tuesdays, November 15 & 22, at 8pm.  In this new documentary Henry Louis Gates, Jr. takes a personal journey through the last 50 years of black history — from Stokely Carmichael to Barack Obama, James Brown to Beyoncé — charting the progress made and raising hard questions about the obstacles that remain.

Footage from programs such as this along with support materials can help teachers engage students in challenging subjects such as race.  At PBS LearningMedia you’ll find classroom resources that help to address

issues surrounding being black in America.  For example, the lesson plan It Takes Courage to be Weak uses video segments from The African Americans: Many Rivers to Cross to teach about the philosophy of non-violence and the role of nonviolent protest in the Civil Rights Movement.

For additional PBS LearningMedia resources on African Americans and related subjects — many hundreds of them — click here.