This Bus Stops
In central Illinois communities in 1968, the yellow school
became a central issue in black parents’ insistence on a quality
education for their children. This documentary looks at school
busing and the grievances of black students and parents. Decatur
high school students discuss their reasons for a school walkout
on Nov. 25, 1968, including a need for more black teachers and
counselors, more black history courses, and a greater voice in
the educational process. Champaign activist John Lee Johnson
discusses the work of the Concerned Citizens Committee formed to
look at what was happening to black students in schools.
view edited segment (length: 5:55)
view full episode archive (length: 1:28:28)
Black and Proud
Black and Proud explores the growing awareness among black
residents of central Illinois of their heritage and
contributions to American society. Homemaker Eunice Patterson
demonstrates her method of cooking soul food including collard
greens, chitlins, sweet potato pie, cornbread and heavenly hash.
A University of Illinois student group demonstrates African
dance, and models present an Afro-American style show with
traditional clothing from Africa. In one of several discussion
segments, the founders of The Black Vanguard, a black newspaper
in Danville, Ill., talk about why they began publishing in April
1968.
view edited segment (length: 7:22)
view full episode archive (length: 1:00:10)
Once a Ghetto
Once a Ghetto looks at urban renewal projects in Decatur,
Danville and Champaign-Urbana, Illinois, and at the growing
awareness that bulldozing a neighborhood for urban renewal
involved more than replacing the demolished housing with better
structures. Does the bulldozer destroy the social bonds of the
residents? What happens to the people who lived in the
neighborhoods? What have cities done to assist them? The program
examines the Greenwood Urban Renewal Project in Decatur and
follows urban renewal attempts by the Committee for Community
Rehabilitation in Danville. A panel discussion about the
psychological effects of public housing and how public housing
could be improved includes Erma Bridgewater, Champaign urban
renewal activist, and others.
view edited segment (length: 4:48)
view full episode archive (length: 1:28:15)
Justice: Color Blind … or Just Blind?
Justice: Color Blind … or Just Blind? looks at black
community attitudes toward the court system, with discussions
among lawyers, public defenders, law professors and prosecutors
about the validity of complaints about racial inequities. In
part one, black leaders of the Association for Black Action in
Decatur voice beliefs that black people in central Illinois are
presumed guilty until found innocent. WILL-TV’s Henry Lippold
questions officials, including prosecutors and judges, about
issues such as whether whites are more often released from jail
on their own recognizance than blacks, whether bond is set
higher for blacks than whites in similar cases, and whether
juries are racially balanced. Part two features discussions with
defense attorneys and public defenders about incarceration of
indigent defendants before they are found guilty and other
issues of inequity.
view edited segment (length: 8:46)
view full episode 1 (length: 1:01:26)
view full episode 2 (length: 1:00:52)
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