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How Bella Abzug elevated feminist causes while in office

2m 15s
While in Congress, Bella Abzug elevated feminist causes, including women's financial independence. She helped pass the Equal Credit Opportunity Act, which allowed women to have their own credit. "We always talk about helping people survive, helping people succeed," said Nancy Pelosi. "And then there's Bella Abzug who's there to transform."
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How Max Roach fused jazz and hip hop

2m 48s
Max Roach was excited by the premise and promise of rap when it first hit the music scene. Roach was introduced to the genre by his godson and hip hop pioneer Fab 5 Freddy, and would later collaborate with him. "The fact that he saw that vision before it became cool in the early nineties, for you to mix your hip hop and your jazz together, shows how ahead of the curve he was," said Questlove."
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Documenting the legacy of drummer Max Roach

2m 29s
Director Sam Pollard was captivated by the life story of drummer and activist Max Roach 35 years ago. "Seeing Max Roach sit behind a drum set, he had a regal quality about him," said Pollard. "And I remember saying, 'Somebody should do a film on Max Roach.'"
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How Max Roach created the experimental sound of M'Boom

2m 13s
Max Roach founded M'Boom, a jazz group made up of experimental percussionists. M'Boom was his way of venturing into a more abstract, adventurous sound—including a song that recreated the sounds of a storm through music. "Max was one of the people redefining what the music is gonna be in every decade that he was active," said musician Greg Tate.
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Peaceful protest with Joan Baez

2m 32s
Members of the farmworkers’ movement were committed to nonviolence amidst danger on the picket lines. Singer-songwriter Joan Baez was one of those peaceful protesters. "I've always been the happiest when I was doing activism and music at the same time,” said Baez. “So that was an obvious place for me to be, with Cesar."
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How the farmworkers’ movement used concerts to fundraise

3m 41s
Music promoter Jim Cassell organized concerts as fundraisers for the farmworkers’ movement with the likes of Kris Kristofferson, Jerry Garcia, Cheech and Chong, Crosby Nash, Taj Mahal, Cheech and Chong, Malo, Tower of Power and others. “It was an era when the United Farm Workers Union movement was so supported by everybody, so the bands would perform basically for free," said Cassell.
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The music of America’s farmworkers

3m 11s
When musician and composer Daniel Valdez first read the poem "Brown-Eyed Children of the Sun," he was reminded of his parents, who were migrant farmers from Mexico. He was inspired to create a bolero, typically a romantic ballad, dedicated to farmworkers and their families.
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Cesar Chavez's love of jazz and pachuco culture

3m 28s
Labor leader and civil rights activist Cesar Chavez expressed an interest in music from an early age. He grew up identifying as a pachuco, a young Mexican-American who wore zoot suits and listened to jazz, blues and swing music. "A lot of people have no idea that the leader of the Farm Workers Union was this guy that had this urban soul inside him," said filmmaker Luis Valdez.
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A Song for Cesar

1m 53s
Trace the life and legacy of labor activist Cesar Chavez. Through interviews with Maya Angelou, Joan Baez, Carlos Santana and more, see how music and the arts were instrumental to the success of the farmworkers’ movement Chavez helped found.
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Floyd Abrams: Speaking Freely

2m 21s
Follow the 50-year career of preeminent First Amendment lawyer Floyd Abrams. See how his landmark cases—from the Pentagon Papers to Citizens United to Clearview AI—helped define free speech as it is known today. Join Dan Abrams, Ari Melber, Nina Totenberg and more as they explore how Abrams' career has shaped major changes in law, public discourse and civic action since the 1960s.
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The history of the First Amendment

2m 49s
Did you know that the Supreme Court didn't begin interpreting the First Amendment as law until 1919? "We were making up, in a sense, First Amendment law as we went along," said lawyer Floyd Abrams. Free speech as we know it today was established through national security cases and gains made during the civil rights movement.
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When The New York Times published the Pentagon Papers

2m 23s
The New York Times sought the legal counsel of First Amendment lawyer Floyd Abrams after publishing the Pentagon Papers. The media organization was accused of being disloyal to the country, but Abrams successfully argued that The Times were within their First Amendment rights. The case later became known as a landmark case for protecting press freedom.
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The case that protected corporate spending in elections

2m 27s
During the 2008 presidential elections, Citizens United, a conservative non-profit organization, wanted to air a film criticizing then-democratic candidate Hillary Clinton. Although Abrams disagreed with the politics of the film, he argued that Citizens United were within their rights to air the film, declaring that the First Amendment protects independent spending by corporations in elections.
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The moment Jerry Brown found politics

1m 15s
While studying for the bar exam at the Governor's Mansion, Jerry Brown overheard his father talking politics. "There was a vitality and intensity, maybe like watching an exciting movie," recalls Brown. "But it wasn't a movie; it was a reality that was imaginable for me to be a part of."
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Jerry Brown's second shot at governor

2m 12s
28 years after his first term, Jerry Brown runs for governor a second time and becomes the oldest sitting governor in California's history. "One of the things that made him so effective in his second tour as governor was that he remained what he'd always been, the un-politician's politician," said journalist and author Todd Purdum.
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