An American Story: Race Amity and The Other Tradition is a one-hour documentary that explores iconic episodes in our nation’s history, some well-known and others less so, where people from vastly different backgrounds came together to achieve what they never could have accomplished separately. These historical examples of interracial and multiracial cooperation, harmony and amity are lessons we can draw on to foster racial amity in contemporary America. The film is a powerful tool to widen the circle of individuals who are resolved to take ongoing action to ensure the continuation of this dynamic, which is critical to moving our nation toward its founding promise: E Pluribus Unum—Out of Many, One.
The documentary was broadcast nationally on public television stations in 2019 and 2020.
As a follow up to the documentary, NCRA collaborated with WHS Media Productions LLC to produce a series of five half-hour programs, American Stories: Race Amity and The Other Tradition. Each program delves into additional inspirational stories of the power of race amity in advancing race unity, access and equity.
The five-part series made its debut in Boston television market on MLK Day 2021 and is distributed nationally on public television stations.
Please consider making a donation when viewing these films.
The one-hour documentary and five-part series have now been released under the Creative Commons “Attribution Non-Commercial No Derivatives” license. Please consider making a donation when using these films for home viewing or public screenings.
Suggested Donation:
$20 for Home Viewing
$100 for Public Screenings
Make your donation here.
The General & The Quaker (26 min.)
This half-hour episode in the series centers on the profound and loving friendship between Harriet Tubman, “General” of the Underground Railroad, and her little-known and closest collaborator, a Quaker merchant named Thomas Garrett.
The two undertook a dangerous and daring collaboration to emancipate slaves via the Underground Railroad.
Tubman’s extraordinary bravery and wisdom merged with Garrett’s selfless nature and loving regard for humanity to assist over two thousand souls to be emancipated from the brutality of slavery.
Amity & Brotherhood For Education (26 min)
Outside of Brown v Board, one of the most impactful actions affecting the education of African Americans in the United States was a private project which built over 5,000 schools, mostly in the south, during the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries.
This incredible enterprise served as the backbone for black literacy in the American South and was carried out through the collaboration of two men, one black and one white.
Julius Rosenwald, a member of the white financial elite in America, and Booker T. Washington, an innovative and controversial black educational leader, shared an incredible and unwavering tenacity in pursuit of that vision.
Their deep friendship created a personal association rarely found in 21st-century progressive circles.
Low Country Teacher & The Liberal Hillbilly (26 min)
During the civil rights era, citizenship schools were an integral part of the effort to educate African Americans about their rights as United States citizens so they could vigorously assert these rights in the fight against segregation.
Citizenship schools were the brainchild of an African American South Carolina school teacher, Septima Clark. Her work attracted the interest of Myles Horton, a radical-thinking white organizer from the hills of Tennessee. Horton had founded a training center, The Highlander Institute, as a resource for people engaging in non-violent change in society.
Clark and Horton teamed up to provide an efficient and productive training program to prepare civil rights leaders to educate local people in strategies for making change. Rosa Parks, Fannie Lou Hamer, Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., and many others attended and learned there.
Along with the tactic of non-violent protest, citizenship schools were the single most effective tool powering the Civil Rights Movement.
Godmothers of Race Amity (26 min.)
The friendship of Mary McLeod Bethune and Eleanor Roosevelt is a textbook example of the power of amity as the moral counterweight to the racist traditions of America.
Race Amity, the “Other Tradition,” — as exemplified by these two remarkable women — resulted in extraordinary actions to advance access, equity, and social justice in America.
The relationship of Bethune and Roosevelt epitomizes the concept of race amity, providing further proof that women are the primary nurturers of human development.
From being initial advocates for the establishment of a training program for African American pilots in Tuskegee, Alabama during World War II to the establishment of the “Black Cabinet” in Franklin Roosevelt’s Administration, these two women framed pathways for long-term change in America.
The Preacher & The Rabbi (26 min)
This central story of the series discusses the relationship and moral/spiritual partnership of two men, Rabbi Abraham Joshua Heschel and the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., that inspired their own cultural and racial communities and others to advocacy for access, equity, and social justice in America.
The remarkable serendipity of their backgrounds and collaboration, which impacted the nation, is seen by many as providential.
The moral certitude presented in The Preacher and The Rabbi offers a powerful, meaningful road sign as America travels a divided highway regarding issues of race.