A film about achievements of various African American men and women citizens in the United States. A statue of Booker T. Washington, founder of Tuskegee University in Alabama. View of African American scientist and inventor George Washington Carver, as an elderly man, working with another scientist in a laboratory. African American judge of New York city court. African American explorer Matthew Henson is seen looking at a globe (he was with Admiral Peary planting the American flag at the North Pole in 1909), and an unnamed African American surgeon at work in an operating room in New York. Next scene shows famous "father of the blues" musician and composer W.C. Handy (William Christoper Handy) smiling. Next is seen the financier and publisher of the Amsterdam News, Dr. C.B. Powell (Clilan Powell) greeting three uniformed African American women during a World War 2 war bond drive, and handing them a check (close up is shown) for 25,000 dollars, dated January 4, 1942, for the war bond drive. It is from the account of the Victory Mutual Life Insurance Company which Dr. Powell also owned. The check is signed by C.B Powell and Philip M.H. Savory (Dr. Savory was co-owner of the New York Amsterdam News). The next scene shows Elise Johnson McDougald, better known as Gertrude Elise Ayer, who was the first black full-time public school principal after the consolidation of New York City schools in 1898. She was also a noted woman writer during the Harlem Renaissance. She is seated in her office at her desk, likely in P.S. 119 in Harlem, since this is approximately year 1945 and she was at P.S 119 at that time. Her name plaque is visible on the front center of the desk. Principal Ayer smiles as a woman delivers a document to her. Next is seen the African American historian, author, and professor, Lawrence D. Reddick, serving in his role as the curator of the Schomburg Collection of African American Literature. In an art studio is seen the famous "Harlem Renaissance" African American sculptor and painter Charles Alston, at work on a sculpture. Next scene shows the famous African American contralto singer, Marian Anderson, receiving a bouquet of flowers and smiling after a performance. This transitions to a view of African American orchestra conductor Dean Dixon leading an orchestra in a performance of Beethoven's 9th Symphony. Several views of different sections of the orchestra performing under Dixon's direction. Clip closes with brief shots of campuses of several historically black colleges and universities in the United States like Howard University, Hampton, Tuskegee, Fisk, Prairie View. A football game underway in one of the colleges, and view on the field as quarterback throws a pass.
Allied operations in Germany during World War II. A map of Germany. A headline in a newspaper reads 'Russians strike Berlin'. People stand on a bridge in Cologne. View of Cologne cathedral. Past events show Nazi troops during a parade in March, 1936, crossing the River Rhine during rearmament of Germany. U.S. soldiers in advance in Germany in 1945, in combat from house to house in a German town. The German soldiers being taken as prisoners of war. Scenes with Nazi German soldiers with their hands up in the air. A large group of German Prisoners of War being marched on a road under guard by American soldiers. Allied aircraft bombard German towns. P-38 aircraft taking off and gun camera footage while strafing a target. P-38 landing on a snow covered airfield. An American single-propeller fighter aircraft crash lands with difficulty and slides into another parked aircraft on the snow. Aerial views of B-24 and B-17 aircraft in formation flight. Bombs being dropped in night bombing raids and day bombing raids over Berlin, Germany. Smoke rises. Aircraft in flight as they leave behind vapor trails. United States soldiers on the ground in combat with enemy Germans in a German town. Infantrymen fire rifles and advance house to house. Wounded Americans being carried on litters for medical care. Germans fire at the wounded Americans.Sergeant Peter Di Guiseppi, from Pennsylvania, of 1st Armored Division, being interviewed. Private Pat Brady of Hollywood California narrates an incident where a gunner aboard a tank fired fiercely at the enemy. He talks about tanks getting caught in a fire and the following rescue efforts.
African American women soldiers of the 6888th Central Postal Directory Battalion, nicknamed “Six Triple Eight", Women's Army Corps (WACS), march in formation on February 15, 1945, during World War 2. Location is Birmingham, England, United Kingdom, at the time of the unit's arrival in Birmingham. A military band of male soldiers precedes the group of marching WACS. The long column of African American WACS, marching 4 deep, is led by commanding officer Major Charity Adams. Close up views of the women marching. WACS in front of the unit carry the American flag in the procession.
During World War 2, African American women soldiers of the Women's Army Corps (WACS) stand in formation at a parade ground in Birmingham, England, United Kingdom, during a formal military review on February 15, 1945. The women are from the 6888th Central Postal Directory Battalion, nicknamed “Six Triple Eight, which had just arrived in Birmingham. The WACS' commanding officer, Major Charity Adams, stands beside General John C.H. Lee. The African-American female soldiers of the WACS march in a column, eight deep, passing by General John CH Lee and Major Charity Adams, who salute the soldiers. Other male officers stand on the review stand behind officers Lee and Adams. Note: Major Charity Adams (Charity Edna Adams; later Charity Adams Earley) was the first African-American woman officer in the WACS, and, at the end of the war, then Lieutenant Colonel Adams was the highest ranking African-American woman in the United States military.
German Luftwaffe pilots prepare to fly early in the morning of January 1, 1945 during World War 2. Luftwaffe fighters taking off from an airfield. A group of fighters in flight. Luftwaffe pilot pushes the remote button for machine gun. Fighter propeller moving. Cockpit view of German aircraft strafing Allied bombers on the ground. Allied aircraft being attacked as seen from target. German pilot looks on inside aircraft. Dogfighting between the Luftwaffe fighters and Allied bombers. Luftwaffe fighter aircraft in flight. An Allied bomber catches fire from strafing. Fighter machine gun strafes the wings and body of Allied aircraft. A group of Messerschmitt Bf 109 fighters in flight. German fighter pilots in cockpits. German fighters strafe Allied planes, sustaining significant damage. Flames in damaged bomber from Luftwaffe strafing. The German Reichsadler eagle.
Scene from a movie production showing German actor and film pioneer Paul Wegener as he dumps a sack on the ground. Paul Molander talks in one of the scenes from the 1945 German film “Der Fall Molander” (“The Molander Case”). Scene changes to Hitler Youth members skiing downhill in the dark with torches in their hands as they celebrate the German folk festival Winter Solstice in World War II. A Hitler Youth stops at the bottom slope and lights a bonfire with his torch. Crowds of Hitler Youth gather by the bonfire with their torches at night. Hitler Youth leader Baldur von Schirach is seen in the event.
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