Instructify

BY JASON DON FORSYTHE

Like most children going through middle school and high school, I on occasion was shown one of those grainy black-and-white film on the day we had a sub. You know the ones, made during the good old days when the narrators talked in monotone, the music consisted of dramatic orchestra swells, and everyone wore suits or long dresses. Well, the good old days are back in full force with the government-funded FedFlix, an extensive archive of government-funded films made from back in the 1940s to the modern day.

My first inclination was to try and find all my favorites and I am happy to report Duck and Cover is in there, as well as some sound advice for little Susie to not take her dollies outside after an atomic bomb explodes. All joking aside, after moving through the collection it became apparent that there’s a lot of content that’s worth pulling out and using in the classroom. You can find videos dealing with ecology, different cultural groups, comparative religions, alternative energy concepts, and many more. Even the over-the-top Red Scare and World War II films have value in a historical, sociological, or government and civics curriculum for juxtaposing where we have come as a country over the past half century.

The entire collection is in the public domain, which makes them fair game for incorporating them into your own works. Maybe your class can make the long-awaited sequel to Duck and Cover.

FedFlix

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U.S. Department of State Office of the Historian