3.0 out of 5 stars
An Original Leader: Impressive and Shameful, March 11, 2007
This review is from: Adam Clayton Powell Jr. (Black History Series) [VHS] (VHS Tape)
I was worried that this would be gushy, but they show Cong. Powell's warts as well as incredibly good looks.
It's so easy to think that civil rights only really got started in the 1960s. However, this work shows that Powell was boycotting businesses and fighting segregation two decades before that. As excited as I am about the success of Senator Obama of Illinois and Governor Patrick of MA, it was important to know that they had an antecedent. It's crazy that Powell did so much to help Blacks and Strom Thurmond did the opposite, but Thurmond changed with the times and survived whereas Powell did not and failed.
Still, like Churchill, Nkrumah, and many others, Powell wore out his welcome. I was disappointed to see how religious people could not care less about Powell's womanizing and adultery. It was shameful seeing an elected official be sloppily drunk in public. This work admits that Powell was going to accuse Dr. King and Bayard Rustin of being lovers, but it didn't add that this blackmail was the reason Powell was not invited to speak at the March on Washington.
This work may make some sad or nostalgic seeing Black leaders who have passed away such as Stokely Carmichael/Kwame Tour'e and Congresswoman Shirley Chisholm. I think many people may benefit from watching the fictional "Keep the Faith, Baby" alongside this documentary.
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