‘Everyday Courtesy’ is a 1949 film for elementary school
civics courses.
Children marched to the school’s auditorium to watch the
film then marched back to the classroom for a discussion.
Some people criticize the film for being a product of its time,
but teaching our President the fundamentals of good manners
seems like a damned good idea.
‘Everyday Courtesy’ – 1947.
In traditional cultures the elder functions as a source of wisdom
and folk history.
Our elders, the visionaries who wrote and passed so many of the laws and public services that made American Democracy the most prosperous democracy in human history used film to teach their children what they had learned from the Great Depression and the horrors of fascism.
This ten-minute film includes a brief discussion of feudalism; the film analyses why Germany, one of Europe’s great democracies , succumbed to fascism.
Democracy, released in 1945 was made by Encyclopedia Britannica for high school civics classes.
Found on the Internet Archives
All material in the Public Domain
It’s Your America (Part 2) 1945
U.S. War Office
An American soldier puzzles over what it means to be an American as he observes the enemy and interacts with the other men in of his platoon.
“When we were kids we never thought much about freedom or liberty, maybe that’s because we had so much of it.”
Released in 1945 but made while U.S. Forces were still in combat, “An American soldier, realizes the greatness of his country and determines to assume the share of responsibilities of good citizenship upon his return to civilian life.“
“The structure of world peace cannot be the work of one man, or one party,
or one nation…it must be a peace which rests on the cooperative effort of
the whole world.”
Franklin Delano Roosevelt March 1, 1945
A film made in 1953 that explains how the United States came
to be a culturally diverse nation going back to the founding.
The film is not without problems: there is no mention of the
horrors of slavery or the slaughter of indigenous people.
The film was made for children in elementary school who
watched it in an auditorium and returned to their classes
for discussion.
These discussions often included the American Civil War and
America’s struggle to expand the scope and inclusiveness of
civil rights.
This is another film designed to prevent the rise of fascism, which
relies heavily on successfully demonizing immigrants and people
of color.
Published 1953 Usage Public Domain
Found at the Internet Archives
Art by Rob Goldstein 