Independent Lens

American Denial

In the wake of recent events that have sparked a national dialogue, American Denial explores the power of unconscious biases around race and class. Using Gunnar Myrdal’s 1944 investigation of Jim Crow racism as a springboard, the film shows how unrecognized, unconscious attitudes continue to dominate racial dynamics in American life.

American Denial: An American Dilemma

2m 54s

In this excerpt from the Independent Lens documentary American Denial, we are introduced to Swedish researcher Gunnar Myrdal, who began his investigation into American values and views on equality in the 1930s. Myrdal’s unsettling study An American Dilemma was published in 1944, and the questions it raised about racial oppression still trouble us today.

  • American Denial: People at the Margins: asset-mezzanine-16x9

    American Denial: People at the Margins

    S16 E9 - 1m 55s

    In this excerpt from the Independent Lens documentary American Denial, researcher Sudhir Venkatesh talks about his own survey of African Americans entrenched in poor housing projects. One leader of a gang told him, “If you really want to know what life is like you gotta get closer, hang around with us.” This is what Gunnar Myrdal tried to do as well, in his landmark study of race in America.

  • American Denial: Implicit Bias Test: asset-mezzanine-16x9

    American Denial: Implicit Bias Test

    S16 E9 - 2m 14s

    This excerpt from the Independent Lens documentary American Denial looks at the “Implicit Bias Test,” which was created to test people’s unconscious bias toward words and concepts, and toward races. It is not about conscious attitudes and beliefs, as one researcher tells us in the film, but about something you yourself may not know you have.

  • Coming to Independent Lens: American Denial: asset-mezzanine-16x9

    Coming to Independent Lens: American Denial

    S16 E9 - 30s

    In the wake of recent events that have sparked a national dialogue on race dynamics, American Denial explores the impact of unconscious biases around race and class, using Gunnar Myrdal’s 1944 investigation of Jim Crow racism.

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