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VIDEO TAPES, BEGINNING WITH LETTER L

 

Lackawanna Blues. New York, N.Y.: HBO Video, 2005. 1 videodisc (95 min.)
Based on the award winning play by Ruben Santiago-Hudson, this poignant and colorful drama tells the inspirational story of a courageous woman, Nanny, whose spirit and strength served as the foundation for a struggling community trying to survive during the segregation era. AFR Videodisc 51

Ladies First: Rwandan Women Help Heal Their Nation. Princeton, N.J.: Films for the Humanities & Sciences: Films Media Group, 2006.1 videodisc (ca. 60 min.)
After genocide ripped their nation apart in the 1990s, the women of Rwanda have led the healing process and have helped usher in a much-needed era of stability. By depicting the multifaceted efforts of women activists to build a sustainable peace between the majority Hutus and minority Tutsis, this Wide Angle documentary explores the challenges facing Rwanda. AFR Videodisc 269

Lady Day: The Many Faces of Billie Holiday. Long Beach, N.J.: Kultur, 1990. 1 videocassette (60 min.)
This documentary features rare TV and movie clips, along with commentary by a stellar group of jazz instrumentalists and singers who knew her well. AFR Video 383

Lady sings the blues. Hollywood, Calif.: Paramount Home Entertainment, 2005. 1 videodisc (143 min.)
Diana Ross stars in this musical drama charting the life of Billie Holiday, a life tormented by racism and drug abuse. AFR Videodisc 78

The Language You Cry In. San Francisco, CA: California Newsreel, 1998. 1 videocassette (53 min.)
Traces the history of a burial song of the Mende people brought by slaves from Sierra Leone to the rice plantations of Georgia and South Carolina more than two hundred years ago. AFR Video 442

Laurel Avenue. New York: HBO Video, 1993. 1 videocassette (156 min.)
The struggle of day-to-day life is captured in one weekend of the life of the Arnett family in St. Paul, Minnesota, each trying, in their own way, to do the right thing. AFR Video 647

Lenny Bruce: Without Tears. New York, N.Y.: First Run Features, 2004?1 videodisc   (75 min.)
Documentary about comedian Lenny Bruce, who died in 1966. In his personal life he was a tortured soul, and his humor was ahead of the times, but his influence was enormous. He attacked hypocrisy, racism, war and organized religion, and was rewarded by being hounded by the police.  AFR Videodisc 282

Let’s Do It Again. Burbank, CA: Distributed by Warner Home Video, 2003. 1 videodisc (112 min.)
Working class brothers swindle big time gamblers to save their fraternal lodge in the second pairing of Poitier and Cosby (Uptown Saturday Night). AFR Videodisc 86

Lethal Weapon. Burbank, Calif.: Warner Home Video, 1997. 1 videodisc (110 min.)
The story of two Vietnam-vets-turned-cops who have just one thing in common: both hate to work with partners. But their partnership becomes the key to survival when a murder investigation leads to war with a heroin ring. AFR Videodisc 6

Lewis & Munday: Breaking New Ground, Building an Institution / a film by Steve Palackdharry. 2002. 1 videocassette ( 15 min.)
Reuben A. Munday and David Baker Lewis discuss the history and founding members of Reuben & Munday Law Firm that is founded by African American lawyers in 1972. AFR Video 553

L'éveil de l'Europe. 2, "Oublier l'arabe"= Europe Awakes. Princeton, N.J.: Films for the Humanities & Sciences, 2001. 1 videocassette (27 min.)
Why was Islamic philosophy, once the epitome of learning, eventually rejected by Muslims? And why, after assimilating it, did Europeans distance themselves from its formulators? This program seeks to understand the religious climate of the late Middle Ages, in which universities and madrassas became centers of power and models for evolving sociopolitical systems. The potentially heretical nature of philosophy is also analyzed--in Islamic lands the djinni of intellectuality was put back in the bottle, but in Christendom it escaped the control of those who used it, paving the way for Renaissance humanism. AFR Video 477

The Liberation of L.B. Jones. Blax Films, 200? 1 videocassette (101 min.)
Lord Byron Jones is a black businessman who owns a successful undertaking business, and is married to the very young and desirable Emma. His ability to cooperate with the white community is clearly an asset in the genteel town of Somerset, Tennessee. When Emma has an affair with a white policeman, divorce ensues and the stage is set for high drama. AFR Videodisc 97

Liberia: A Fragile Peace. San Francisco, Calif.: distributed by California Newsreel, 2005. 1 videodisc (60 min.)
Chronicles the period from the departure of Charles Taylor to the election of Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf, the first African woman head of state, and presents the difficulties of rehabilitating a nation destroyed by war. AFR Videodisc 271

Liberia: An Uncivil War. San Francisco, Calif: distributed by California Newsreel, 2005.1 videodisc (103 min.)
In Liberia, the summer of 2003 was pure insanity: two armies are in the final battle of a decade-long civil war, holding the capital under siege while thousands die from mortar shells launched from afar. As the soldiers, mostly teenagers, fight a bloody urban battle, the nation prays that American forces show up to put an end to the violence. Liberia, a country founded by freed American slaves, has a long intertwined history with America. While the rebel army, the LURD, attempts to overthrow the Liberian government, President Charles Taylor and his army maintain a strong grip on the city. AFR Videodisc 266

The Life and Art of William H. Johnson. Wilton, CT: Reading & O'Reilly, 1991. 1 videocassette (28 min.)
Johnson's life and work are examined in the social context of time through the use of old photographs, Johnson's paintings and contemporary music. AFR Video 88

Life and Debt. New York: New Yorker Films, 2001. 1 videocassette (86 min.)
Set in Jamaica, this film is a case study of how contemporary free trade policies and global financial institutions such as the International Monetary Fund, World Bank and World Trade Organization affect the economies of developing nations. Includes interviews with IMF Deputy Director Stanley Fischer, Haitian president Jean-Bertrand Aristide, Jamaica's former Prime Minister Michael Manley as well as tourists, farmers, Rastafarians, factory workers and others. AFR Video 531

The Life and Death of Malcolm X. Plymouth, MN: Simitar, 1992. 1 videocassette (89 min.)
Shows dozens of Malcolm X speeches, interviews, and a special TV show. AFR Video 149

The Life and Legend of Sojourner Truth. Princeton, N.J.: Films for the Humanities & Sciences, 2001. 1 videocassette (57 min.)
Traces the life and legend of the former slave who could neither read nor write, yet earned a reputation as one of the most articulate and outspoken antislavery and women's rights activists in the United States. Includes interviews with authorities on the subject's life, Calton Mabee, Nell Painter, Roseann Mandzink, Gerald Sorin and Paul Gaffney; accompanied by archival footage, photographs and period music. AFR Video 462

The Life and Times of Sara Baartman : "The Hottentot Venus". New York, NY: First Run Icarus Films, 1998. 1 videocassette (52 min.)
A documentary film of the life a Khoi Khoi woman who was taken from South Africa in 1810 and exhibited as a freak across Britain. The image and ideas for "The Hottentot Venus" (particularly the interest in her sexual anatomy) swept through British popular culture. A court battle waged by abolitionists to free her from her exhibitors failed. In 1814, a year before her death, she was taken to France and became the object of scientific research that formed the bedrock of European ideas about black female sexuality. AFR Video 410

Looking for A Face Like Mine. Bowling Green, Ohio: Bowling Green State University, 2004. 1 videodisc (30 min.)
Shows the works of five African American artists juxtaposed against images found historically in our culture. Included are Ashley Bryan, Wil Clay, Jerry Pinkney, Tom Feelings, and Pat Cummings. The artists discuss their work and the effect book illustrations have on children. AFR Videodisc 27

Losing Isaiah. Hollywood, Calif.: Paramount Pictures, 2003. 1 videodisc (106 min.)
A woman who has adopted an abandoned child to give it a new life has to fight for him when his birth mother shows up and wants him back. AFR Videodisc 244

The Lost City of Zimbabwe. Princeton, NJ: Films for the Humanities & Sciences, 1993. 1 videocassette (22 min.)
Studies the archaeological site of the Great Zimbabwe and the work being done to investigate its African origins and history. The ruins suffered years of neglect while racist assumptions attributed the site to some ancient white culture. AFR Video 109

Lumumba. New York: Zeitgeist Films, 2002. 1 videodisc (115 min.)
Dramatizes the life of Congolese revolutionary, Patrice Lumumba, who lead his country to independence from Belgium in 1960. He served for less than a year as the first elected prime minister, until he was brutally assassinated. AFR Videodisc 3

Lumumba: La Mort du Prophete: Un Film. San Francisco, CA: California Newsreel, 1992. 1 videocassette (69 min.)
Meditation on the tragic events of Patrice Lumumba's twelve month rise and fall as Zaire's first and only popularly elected prime minister. AFR Video 73

Lying Lips. Chicago, IL: Facets Video, 1993. 1 videocassette (60 min.)
Classic melodrama from famed director Oscar Micheaux, stars Edna Mae Harris as a nightclub singer who is unjustly convicted and sent to prison for the murder of her aunt. AFR Video 166