How did American society justify unequal treatment based on skin color and national origins? How did it reconcile that contradiction? America created a story, a story of race. “The Story We Tell,” an hour-long episode in the three-part series Race: The Power of an Illusion broadcast on PBS and produced by California Newsreel that has been described as “one of the most important, sweeping and groundbreaking documentaries in recent memory,” uncovers the history of the concept of race in America, and reveals how this powerful and enduring narrative took hold and became the lens through which we view our world. With the help of America’s leading academics and the use of virtual 3-D animation of archival paintings, photographs and documents, the program presents this startling exploration of the history of an idea that continues to shape life in the United States with a dynamic and striking visual style. This program was produced as Diner Media.

Air Date: 2003

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