Digital Legacies Project

In July 2007, Facing History and Ourselves facilitated a four-week digital filmmaking program for Boston Public School students focusing on the civil rights movement in Boston. Through research, writing, interviewing, video production, and dialogue, the students developed documentary films about local civil rights leaders who, through schools, churches, and community-based organizations, struggled for fair representation in the media and equal access to education and housing. Throughout a summer marked by increased violence in the city of Boston, the student interns explored the story of how a few courageous individuals sparked an ongoing effort to challenge racism and segregation in Boston's schools and neighborhoods.

During a focus group led by Facing History's evaluation team on the last day of the program, one student reflected about their interview with a pioneer of the civil rights movement:

What was so meaningful about this experience was...being able to meet... I don't want to call them our ancestors but...being able to meet somebody who pretty much changed our lives today, so that we don't live- we wouldn't live the same lives they did in the 60s...."

The films provide a glimpse into how these individuals chose to confront injustice and how the legacies of their actions echo in Boston's schools and communities today. The student films have been incorporated into the Boston Public Schools' tenth-grade civil rights curriculum.

Read more at the Digital Legacies Project Blog

Related Links

	For Roxbury	For Roxbury is a student-produced video that highlights Sarah-Ann Shaw, the first African American female reporter for WBZ-TV in Boston, who fought for fair representation in the media.
	Our Destiny	Our Destiny is a student-produced video that explores historical and contemporary issues of race in Boston through an interview with political activist, author, and professor Mel King.
	The Struggle for a Good Education	The Struggle for a Good Education is a student-produced video that highlights issues in education in the greater Boston area during the civil rights movement through an interview with Jean McGuire, the Executive Director of the Metropolitan Council for Educational Opportunity, Inc. (METCO), and reflections from the METCO students, Sophia and Teeyana, who produced the film.
	The Makings of a Leader	In the student-produced video The Makings of a Leader, two high school students explore what it means to be a leader through an interview with civil rights activist and professor James Breeden.