Dear Educator,
We are writing to alert you to a terrific opportunity for a free DVD on the
Lincolns. This DVD has many access features for deaf, hard of hearing,
blind and visually impaired viewers (see below).
Next week, American Experience, PBS' award-winning history series, will
present a six-hour special. Abraham and Mary Lincoln: A House Divided,
directed by David Grubin (producer of such acclaimed documentaries as FDR,
Truman, LBJ , and America 1900) is the first dual biography of the Lincolns.
The program
will air with closed captions and audio description (for blind and visually
impaired audiences) Monday through Wednesday nights, February 19-21, on PBS.
The film weaves stunning and evocative original cinematography with historic
daguerreotypes and photographs to create a vibrant sense of America in the
mid-19th century. An impressive cast of leading scholars and cultural
commentators help tell this story. They include Doris Kearns Goodwin, David
Herbert Donald, Mark E. Neely Jr., Donald Miller, and Margaret Washington,
among others. The film is narrated by Pulitzer Prize-winning author David
McCullough.
Following its broadcast on American Experience, A House Divided will be
available as a 3-DVD package, containing the entire film plus several
special features:
S Access features that make the DVD available to people who are deaf or hard
of hearing, through closed captioning, and to those who are blind or
visually impaired, through Descriptive Video Service, a special narration
track. The DVD also includes a first of its kind audio navigation feature,
the on-screen "menu" information is narrated, enabling blind and visually
impaired viewers to move independently through the layers of information
available on the disk
via their remote control. Access services are provided by the Media Access
Group at WGBH (The Caption Center, Descriptive Video Service and the
CPB/WGBH
National Center for Accessible Media).
S Interviews with David Grubin and his cinematographer, who talk about the c
hallenges of making documentaries on historical subjects, and highlight
several
shots in the film, including the "bullet shot" of Lincoln's assassination,
and the use of the Lincolns' house in Springfield, Illinois.
S "The Time of the Lincolns," a collection of voices from the time of the
Lincolns, incorporating narrated primary sources, photographs, and other
illustrations.
This section presents the viewpoints and lives of a range of mid-nineteenth
century individuals (including soldiers, a nurse, a former slave, an
Abolitionist, a defender of slavery, a spy, and a women's rights advocate)
in their own words.
S Links to further resources, including tours of historic sites, maps,
galleries of photographs, an extensive teacher's guide, and many more
primary sources, on a rich Web site created by the American Experience.
Limited numbers of the DVD package, which has been funded by the National
Endowment for the Humanities, will be distributed at no charge to interested
teachers and libraries. In exchange, American Experience seeks feedback.
To receive a free copy of the A House Divided on DVD, visit the American
Experience Web site at
www.pbs.org/lincolns/free_dvd.html
and register. After you receive your DVD, we will send you email asking for
feedback on how you use it. We are especially eager to learn your opinions
on the access features of this groundbreaking DVD. Quantities are limited,
so register early!
Sincerely,
Maria Daniels
Director of New Media
American Experience
Mary Watkins
Outreach Manager
Media Access Group at WGBH
(The Caption Center, Descriptive Video ServiceŽ,
CPB/WGBH National Center for Accessible Media)
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access.wgbh.org
125 Western Avenue
Boston, MA 02134
617 300-3700 v/fax
617 300-2489 TTY
WGBH Boston informs, inspires, and entertains millions through public
broadcasting, the Web, educational multimedia, and access services for
people with disabilities.
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