We hope your are enjoying a wonderful holiday season with friends and family on Hanukkah, Kwanzaa, and Christmas!
Here’s to a bright New Year and a fond farewell to the old; Here’s to the things that are yet to come and to the memories that we hold!
This holiday season we are taking time to relax a bit, get some recreation, and find ourselves watching several documentaries and films on Netflix and PBS. We were totally blown-away by HARRIET TUBMAN: VISIONS OF FREEDOM on PBS that goes beyond the legend and introduces the inspiring Black woman who repeatedly risked her own life and freedom to liberate others from slavery. Born 200 years ago in Maryland, Harriet Tubman was a conductor of the Underground Railroad, a Civil War scout, nurse, and spy, and one of the greatest freedom fighters in our nation’s history. The PBS preview provides a taste of the thought-provoking learning experience.
Documentaries are one way of expanding your map of reality and becoming a more well-rounded person in how you view the world. They can also help cultivate more interdisciplinary thinking by introducing you to topics you normally never think about, which can improve creativity and problem-solving skills. They are also dramatic with fantastic writing and acting performances. The best documentaries are just as entertaining as the best dramatic blockbusters like; To Kill a Mockingbird, Schindler’s List, and Boys Don’t Cry.
Documentary Group Discussions Make Excellent DEI Events
Black history and civil rights documentaries are good starting points if you’re looking to learn more about topics such as systemic racism, white privilege, police brutality, and the #blacklivesmatter movement, or also if you’re looking to gain a better understanding of the protests currently happening around the world. While the majority of these documentaries focus on American communities, they echo experiences of marginalized communities around the globe.
Virtual or live Documentary Discussions create spaces and opportunities for documentary screenings and conversations facilitated by experts. In bringing these virtual discussions to groups of employees, it promotes several DEI objectives; education, empathy, cultural competence, anti-racism, social justice and more.
For example, several major colleges and universities are using the PBS documentary “The African Americans: Many Rivers to Cross” the Emmy Award-winning series that premiered in 2013 for classroom instruction and looks at more than just Black history, it explores Black identity and what it means to be an African American in the U.S. today.
Last June, Inclusive Leaders Group facilitated a group discussion for a company’s six employee resource groups (ERGs) celebrating Juneteenth using parts of the PBS documentary “Slavery by Another Name” a 90-minute documentary that challenges one of Americans’ most cherished assumptions: the belief that slavery in this country ended with the Emancipation Proclamation. The film tells how even as chattel slavery came to an end in the South in 1865, thousands of African Americans were pulled back into forced labor with shocking force and brutality.
Culture and DEI experts believe a lasting change in corporate attitudes about racial justice and race equity will only occur if White people at all levels of an organization, learn about Black history and culture. DEI initiatives to disrupt unconscious bias, reduce microaggressions, promote allyship & belonging, and develop inclusive leaders will be improved by including Black history and culture education.
Our company Inclusive Leaders Group has been designing and facilitating Virtual Documentary Group Discussions about race, privilege, racism, and inclusion for many types of organizations. Corporate employers, not-for-profit organizations, industry trade organizations, hospitals & health systems, and universities are all requesting virtual town-halls and group conversations focused on an outstanding documentary facilitated with a framework by an Inclusive Leaders Group Senior Consultant like Courtney McCluney and Reginald H. White.
Documentaries On Race Group Discussions As DEI Events
Reflections on the past and resilience of the future – Have you thought of a virtual or in-person Documentary Group Discussion on Race for your employees?
Race, anti-racism, and racial equity should be educated, recognized, and celebrated 365 days per year. However, planning is presently underway by organizations to schedule Documentaries On Race Group Discussions for the first half of 2023:
January: On Martin Luther King Jr. Day, the entire nation pauses in remembrance of a civil rights hero. At least, that’s the point of the federal holiday that takes place on the third Monday of each January. MLK Day was designed to honor the activist and minister assassinated in 1968, whose accomplishments have continued to inspire generations of Americans.
February: Black History Month: February was chosen to celebrate African American History because it holds the birthdays of two men who helped eliminate slavery: Frederick Douglass and President Abraham Lincoln.
March: International Day for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination (annually March 21st). International Day for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination reminds us of the time police opened fire and killed 69 people at a peaceful demonstration in 1960.
June: June 19th is known as Juneteenth and is celebrated in North America to mark the end of slavery in Texas. Canada has also officially marked the abolishment of slavery in its first nationwide Emancipation Day.
We will write a Blog post in the spring with Anti-racism calendar of important dates for July-December 2023. Subscribe to The Inclusive Enterprise Blog and join our community!
What Are the Best Race Documentaries for Workplace Group Discussions?
We like PBS who accurately and articulately helps employees’ re-live iconic moments in history like the 1963 March on Washington or climb aboard a Greyhound bus to join the Freedom Riders on their journey through the Jim Crow South.
These documentaries offer rich insight into our society and culture, connect us to some of our proudest and most shameful moments in American history, and remind us of how far we’ve come.
Let us help you choose from a list of powerful documentaries exploring Black history and culture in America and select the appropriate workplace framework and agenda for your BRAVE conversation.
Charlotte Hughes is CEO and Principal Consultant and Brian Hughes is Chief Strategy Officer of Inclusive Leaders Group, LLC a Black woman-owned boutique strategic consulting and training firm specializing in DEI as a business strategy. Inclusive Leaders Group provides, DEI strategy development, training, assessments, and speaking engagements and host The Inclusive Enterprise Podcast.
