The UALR Center for Arkansas History and Culture (CAHC) is one of 473 institutions across the country selected to participate with the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) in a special project called Created Equal: America’s Civil Rights Struggle, marking the 150th anniversary of the Emancipation Proclamation.
As part of the Bridging Cultures initiative by NEH, 473 communities across the nation were chosen to receive a packaged set of NEH-funded films on Civil Rights history, accompanied by programming resources to guide public conversations about the changing meanings of freedom and equality in U.S. history.
The powerful documentaries, The Abolitionists, Slavery by Another Name, Freedom Riders, and The Loving Story, include dramatic scenes of incidents in the 150-year effort to achieve equal rights for all. Freedom Riders received an Emmy in 2012, and The Loving Story and The Abolitionists have been nominated for Emmys in 2013.
To introduce these four documentaries with riveting new footage illustrating the history of civil rights in America, CAHC will offer a series of screenings and discussion forums beginning in 2014 centered around the films. CAHC is partnering with the Little Rock Central High School National Historic Site to select locations for the screenings.
Created Equal: America’s Civil Rights Struggle is an initiative of NEH that uses the power of documentary films to encourage community discussion of America’s civil rights history. NEH has partnered with the Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History to develop programmatic and support materials for the sites.
“These films chronicle the long and sometimes violent effort to achieve the rights enumerated in the Declaration of Independence—life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness—for all Americans,” said Dr. Deborah Baldwin, associate provost of the center and dean of the College of Arts, Humanities, and Social Sciences. “We are pleased to receive a grant from NEH to provide programming around these films.”
Each of the films was produced with NEH support, and each tells remarkable stories of individuals who challenged the social and legal status quo of deeply rooted institutions, from slavery to segregation. Created Equal programs bring communities together to revisit our shared history and help bridge deep racial and cultural divides in American civic life.
The Created Equal film set is made possible through a major grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities, as part of its Bridging Cultures initiative, in partnership with the Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History.
About the Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History
Founded in 1994, the Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History is a nonprofit organization that promotes excellence in the teaching and learning of American history. Programs include publications, teacher seminars, a national Affiliate School Program, traveling exhibitions, and online materials for teachers, students, and the general public.
About the National Endowment for the Humanities
Created in 1965 as an independent federal agency, the National Endowment for the Humanities supports learning in history, li-
terature, philosophy, and other areas of the humanities. NEH grants enrich classroom learning, create and preserve knowledge, and bring ideas to life through public television, radio, museum exhibitions, and programs in libraries and other community places.
