Black Journal: 3; Biafra / The Bandits: Museum Object and Cultural History

The object in the museum catalogue

16mm black and white film of two short dramatic films produced by the National Educational Television's Broadcast Training School for Episode 3 of the Black Journal television series.

"Biafra" is a short dramatic film produced by the National Educational Television's Broadcast Training School directed by Jim Morris. The film opens up with African drum music playing over a shot of a young African American girl playing on a slide in an outdoor park, children playing in the pool, and a group of teenage boys playing at the outdoor basketball court. This is followed by handheld shots of an outdoor market on a city sidewalk. The camera pans some of the merchandise on the tables. The music fades out during a transition to a wide shot of a group of men and women walking in a field. Many of them are wearing dashikis or other clothing with African motifs. They form a circle, and a close-up shot reveals a gun in one of their hands. They form two straight lines and face each other. In a series of medium and over the shoulder handheld shots, they each shoot another and pass the gun to the next person in line. Eventually, everyone is laying on the ground pretending to be dead. Audio of a crying baby begins to play as the last person is shot. An ending title card reading "BIAFRA CAN HAPPEN ANYWHERE" appears before the ending credits.

"The Bandits" is a short dramatic film produced by the National Educational Television's Broadcast Training School, written and directed by Carlos Patrick. This film begins with a car pulling up to the curb and parking. Two men exit the car and try to pay the meter with no success. One of the men hit the meter out of frustration before both men walk away. A narrator begins to dramatically inform the viewer about the effect of small time "bandits" in American cities. The following footage consists of a montage of scenes showing the two men trying to purchase things from various types of vending machines with no success. Each time the vending machine fails one of them, they hit the machine and walk away. The film concludes with the two men noticing two parking tickets underneath their windshield wipers, and the narrator saying "How much did they take you for today?" The ending credits play.

Materials, dates and provenance

• Date: 1968
• Produced by: National Educational Television, American, 1954 - 1970
• Directed by: Jim Morris
• Edited by: Samuel B. Holmes
• Edited by: Mack L. Leslie III
• Edited by: Vernon West
• Directed by: Carlos Patrick, American
• Edited by: Winston Sims
• Edited by: Christopher Williams
• Type: sound films
• Type: black-and-white films (visual works)
• Type: 16mm (photographic film size)
• Medium: acetate film
• Dimensions: Physical extent (film): 400 ft
• Dimensions: Duration: 11 min.
• Place filmed: New York City, New York County, New York, United States, North and Central America
• Place depicted: Nigeria, Biafra, West Africa, Africa
• Topic: African American
• Topic: Activism
• Topic: Africa
• Topic: Children
• Topic: International affairs
• Topic: Public television
• Topic: U.S. History, 1961-1969
• Topic: Urban life
• Object number: 2012.79.1.57.1a
• Credit Line: Collection of the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture, Gift of Pearl Bowser
• Data Source: National Museum of African American History and Culture

Sources and reuse

Catalogue descriptions and facts adapted from National Museum of African American History and Culture through the Smithsonian's official Open Access dataset. This record explicitly marks its metadata CC0 1.0; formatting and selection have been changed. The underlying object's rights statement is: © National Educational Television Permission required for use. Proper usage is the responsibility of the user.