About Created Equal

The Independence Public Library is excited to kick off 2015 with the Created Equal: America's Civil Rights Struggle film series and programming.

Created Equal: America’s Civil Rights Struggle brings four outstanding films on the long civil rights movement to communities across the United States. As part of the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH)’s Bridging Cultures initiative, Created Equal will encourage communities across the country to revisit the history of civil rights in America and to reflect on the ideals of freedom and equality that have helped bridge deep racial and cultural divides in our civic life. Four outstanding documentary films, spanning the period from the 1830s to the 1960s, are the centerpiece for this project. Each of these films was supported by NEH, and each tells remarkable stories of individuals who challenged the social and legal status quo of deeply rooted institutions, from slavery to segregation.

As the Created Equal films have been viewed, they have begun a conversation. In public libraries, in school classrooms and churches across the nation, on Twitter, blogs and Facebook pages, people of all ages, different races and walks of life have been moved to continue talking about the themes raised by the films. Many are inspired; some are outraged. Often, viewers are left are pondering what it takes to achieve real change in a democracy, what can be learned from the struggles of those who went before us, and how to connect their own lives and experiences to this powerful history of heroism and struggle.

The Created Equal project extends and deepens those discussions, offering scholarly resources and program guides to help Americans to reflect on the legacy and meaning of our shared civil rights history. As we launch this project and distribute film sets to communities across America, we invite each of you to join in this important conversation.

Created Equal:America's Civil Rights Struggle is made possible through a major grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities, as part of its Bridging Cultures initiative, in partnership with the Gilder Lehrman Institute of American history.


To find out more information about the Created Equal grant click here. For more information on the Bridging Cultures initiative, click here. For more information on all of the Independence Public Library and programming, click here.