America Revisited II - Make It Funky: The History of Funk

Make It Funky: The History of Funk is a syncopated voyage through the history of funk music, spanning its African and early jazz roots.

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Series and Special Projects
Headshot of Stanley Nelson
Producer/Director

Stanley Nelson

Stanley Nelson is an Emmy Award-winning documentary filmmaker, MacArthur “genius” Fellow, and member of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. He was awarded the National Humanities Medal by President Obama in August 2014. Nelson has directed and produced numerous acclaimed films, including Black Panthers: Vanguard of the Revolution (Independent Lens), Freedom Summer, Freedom Riders, Jonestown: The Life and Death of People’s Temple… Show more and The Murder of Emmett Till. He is also the co-founder and Executive Director of Firelight Films and co-founder of Firelight Media, which provides technical support to emerging documentarians. Show less

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America Revisited II - In Our Own Image: The Story of African-American Art
The Black Panthers: Vanguard of the Revolution
A Place of Our Own
Tell Them We Are Rising: The Story of Black Colleges and Universities

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The Film

Make It Funky: The History of Funk is a syncopated voyage through the history of funk music, spanning its African and early jazz roots, to the early work of James Brown and the rise of Parliament Funkadelic, through today. Distinctly urban, funk music reflected a post-Civil Rights Movement sensibility. The film examines the symbiotic relationship between the explosion of funk music and the turbulent political and racial dynamics in 1970s inner-city America. 

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