History
Lincoln Highway Groundbreaking - 1915
A promotional film for the Lincoln Highway from 1915, this short reel shows a groundbreaking ceremony for Carl G. Fisher's dream project, the first coast-to-coast automobile highway. Conceived by headlight entrepreneur Fisher, also said to be the first car dealer in US history, the man, like many an American, seems to have become a visionary in the eternal quest of making the almighty buck.
In fact, the Lincoln Highway was the first memorial to Abraham Lincoln, predating the monument in Washington, DC by perhaps more than ten years.
Although Thomas Edison and Theodore Roosevelt were active boosters and financiers of Fishers idea, it is hard to say if these are the two men orating in this film. Hundreds of towns across the US lobbied to have the Lincoln Highway pass through their way with songs, articles and public events dedicated to the new interstate. This appears to be one such film.
Ultimately, the highway would follow a historically American path, stretching from Times Square in New York City, along the Chambersburg Turnpike so associated with Gettysburg, then in tandem with portions of the legendary Pony Express, up and over the dreaded Donner Pass and on to the final destination of Lincoln Park in San Francisco, California.
Carl G. Fishers Lincoln Highway would go on to become the major influence of Eisenhower's future Interstate System and Germany's Autobahn.
Black Colleges During Wartime - 1944
This documentary produced by the US War Department commences with a stone memorial to Booker T. Washington. We are then presented with an overview of how African-American universities were contributing the nation’s effort during World War II.
With “Progress through education and industry” the rallying call, an overview of how institutions like Tuskegee, Prairie View, Howard, and Hampton are putting in their effort.
Notable cameos include Tuskegee Airmen, scientist George Washington Carver, and Dr. Charles Richard Drew.
One wonders however with such promise depicted in this film, what would become of many of these workers once the war was over and there would be no such job and skill shortage in an unequal America.
Still, many students who had the opportunity to thrive in these courses would become important and respected members in their professional fields.
America's Presidents - 1950's
In this educational film from the 1950's, a laundry list of America's Presidents shows where the nation came from and where it was going at the brink of the Eisenhower era.
After hearing the short, and often sanitized, description of each US leader, one wonders how this film might have continued to Nixon, Clinton, W and Barack Obama.
Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. - "I Have a Dream"
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The full version of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr's famous "I Have a Dream" speech.
