Driving While Black

Name: Driving While Black
Director: Gretchen Sorin,Ric Burns
Released: 2020

Gretchen Sorin Ric Burns 2020

The automobile and the highway brought a promise of adventure, agency and self-expression to African Americans in particular. With powerful feelings, freighting hope and fraught of danger and anxiety, they resonate a still-relevant narrative of freedom, mobility, and race in America.

Part One of the educational version of Driving While Black discusses the root of racism in America, the Civil War and Reconstruction, the Jim Crow Era, the Great Migration, the birth of the automobile, the myth of mobility in America and the dangers of road travel during segregation.

Part Two celebrates Black entrepreneurship, introduces The Green Book, highway construction and its impact, the cruel reality of ‘driving while Black’ in contemporary society and the ongoing struggle for Civil Rights in America.

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Running Time:

57 + 69 min.

Spoken Languages:

English

Directors:

Gretchen Sorin Ric Burns

Producers:

Emily Pfeil, Emir Lewis, Kathryn Clinard, Steve Bennett

Cinematographers:

Buddy Squires

Editors:

Emir Lewis

Production Companies:

Artemis Rising Foundation, Ford Foundation - Just Films, Steeplechase Films

African American Studies

Press

CNN.com

"An extremely rich and detailed PBS documentary, exploring the long history of restrictions on Black movement, from slavery through the present."

Brian Lowry
Arizona Republic

"Informative, infuriating and almost shockingly of the moment even when addressing issues 400 years ago, it is two hours well spent."

Bill Goodykoontz

Festival Participation

Martha's Vineyard Film Festival - 2019
Official Selection

Additional Materials

Film Poster

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