Race the power of an illusion Cover Image

Video

Race [videorecording] : the power of an illusion / written, produced and directed by Christine Herbes-Sommers, Tracy Heather Strain, Llewellyn M. Smith.

Pounder, C. C. H. (Added Author). Adelman, Larry. (Added Author). Herbes-Sommers, Christine. (Added Author). Strain, Tracy Heather. (Added Author). Smith, Llewellyn. (Added Author). California Newsreel (Firm) (Added Author).

Summary:

Challenges one of our most fundamental beliefs: that humans come divided into a few distinct biological groups. This definitive three-part series is an eye-opening tale of how what we assume to be normal, commonsense, even scientific, is actually shaped by our history, social institutions and cultural beliefs.

Episode 1: The difference between us. Everyone can tell a Norwegian from a Nubian, so why doesn't it make sense to sort people into biological races? Examine the contemporary science - including genetics - that challenges our assumptions about human groups.

Episode 2: The story we tell. Hasn't race always been with us? Explore the roots of the race concept, including the 19th-century science that justified it and how it gained such a hold over our minds.

Episode 3: The house we live in. Race may be a biological myth, but racism gives different groups vastly different life chances. Forty years after the Civil Rights Movement, the playing field is still not level and "colorblind" policies only perpetuate inequality.

Record details

Physical Description: 1 videodisc (171 min.) : sd., col. with b&w sequences ; 4 3/4 in. (DVD) + 1 booklet (11 p. ; 18 cm.)
Publisher: [San Francisco, Calif.] : California Newsreel, 2003.

Content descriptions

General Note:	Originally produced as a three-episode documentary television series in 2003. Program notes and scene descriptions (11 p. ; 18 cm.) inserted in container. Special features: Excerpted versions of each episode (37 min., 34 min., and 39 min.)
Formatted Contents Note:	The difference between us (57 min.) -- The story we tell (57 min.) -- The house we live in (57 min.)
Creation/Production Credits Note:	Editors, Chuck Scott, Andrea Williams, Randall MacLowry, Cob Carlson, and Bernice Schneider ; music, Claudio Ragazzi.
Participant or Performer Note:	Narrator, CCH Pounder.
System Details Note:	DVD.
Language Note:	Closed captioned.