<I>Broken Rainbow</I>
date: label: Date
content: 1985
name: label: Directed by
content: Maria Florio
label: Directed by
content: Victoria Mudd, American, born 1946
label: Narrated by
content: Martin Sheen, American, born 1940
label: Subject of
content: Hopi Tribe of Arizona, Hopi
label: Distributed by
content: Earthworks, American, founded 1980
label: Owned by
content: D.C. Public Library, American, founded 1896
notes: label: Caption
content: This film was a part of the Washington D.C. Public Library's circulating 16mm film collection housed at the Martin Luther King Jr. Central Library. The collection is particularly noted for the wide variety of African American and African diaspora content.
label: Description
content: A documentary film with the title Broken Rainbow. It consists of a single reel of color 16mm polyester film with optical sound. The documentary discusses the plight of the Navajo and Hopi peoples who were forcibly relocated from Black Mesa, Arizona after the 1974 Navajo-Hopi Land Settlement Act. It opens with footage of a congressional hearing on the Navajo relocation. Other scenes/topics that arise in the documentary include a discussion of the origins of the Hopi and Navajo nations; footage of Navajo people doing everyday tasks such as herding sheep, farming and grinding corn, as well as harvesting medicinal berries; interviews with Navajo people in their native language where they talk about their connection to the land; archival footage of clashes between Europeans and Native Americans (the narrator comments that Nazis studied the internment camps used on the Navajo to design the ones in Europe); the attempted acculturation of the Navajo and Hopi peoples by white Americans; relations between Navajo and Hopi peoples; footage of the construction of the Santa Fe railroad and the consequences it had on the nations; creation of the Navajo Tribal Council Chambers; as well as the impact of World War II on the Navajo and the contributions the Navajo made to the American military. The final sections of the documentary discuss the creation of the Navajo Tribal Council Chamber and the impact of coal and other mining on the Navajo. The narrator and interviewees state that the Navajo gain miniscule pecuniary benefits from the mining industry but suffer immensely from the health consequences. One of the men featured suffered adverse health risks from unwittingly using radioactive ore to build his house. There are also scenes of Navajo and Hopi activism and resistance despite the government destroying the flora and livestock they rely on in order to remove them from the land.
place: label: Place used
content: Washington, District of Columbia, United States, North and Central America
label: Place filmed
content: Hopi Reservation, Arizona, United States, North and Central America
label: Place filmed
content: Navajo Nation, Arizona, United States, North and Central America
topic: label: Topic
content: African American
label: Topic
content: Activism
label: Topic
content: American West
label: Topic
content: Colonialism
label: Topic
content: Communities
label: Topic
content: Decolonization
label: Topic
content: Documentary films
label: Topic
content: Economics
label: Topic
content: Film
label: Topic
content: Government
label: Topic
content: Health
label: Topic
content: Race relations
label: Topic
content: Resistance
label: Topic
content: United States History
setName: label: See more items in
content: National Museum of African American History and Culture Collection
label: Collection title
content: DC Public Library Film Collection
label: Classification
content: Time-based Media - Moving Images
label: Movement
content: American Indian Movements
creditLine: label: Credit Line
content: Collection of the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture, Transferred from the DC Public Library
dataSource: label: Data Source
content: National Museum of African American History and Culture
identifier: label: Object number
content: 2017.55.92.1a
objectType: label: Type
content: documentaries
label: Type
content: sound films
label: Type
content: color films (visual works)
label: Type
content: 16mm (photographic film size)
objectRights: label: Restrictions & Rights
content: Restrictions likely apply. Proper usage is the responsibility of the user.
physicalDescription: label: Medium
content: polyester film
label: Dimensions
content: Duration: 56 Minutes
label: Dimensions
content: Length (Film): 2025 Feet