PBS: The Central Park Five - Movie Questions

This resource includes movie questions for PBS’s The Central Park Five documentary.  In which filmmakers Ken Burns, David McMahon, and Sarah Burns present the events surrounding the 1989 case of the Central Park jogger.  Five young men of color were in the park that night - a night where teenagers were harassing others in the park.  They were arrested and later charged with the assault and rape of a white woman.  Shortly after their confessions, the five boys recanted their statements, claiming they were coerced into confessing.  Throughout this documentary, students will learn how the media sensationalized the story, the public cried for justice, and five young men fought to get their lives back.

The assignment breaks the movie down into 5 sections that average about 20 minutes in length.  Each section is titled with the topic of that section and the times from the DVD are listed.  Students will be asked to answer 30 open ended questions over the course of the documentary.  

Please make sure to review the preview to make sure that this resource is right for you and your students.

***This resource is a PDF file and Google Docs within a Google Drive folder. You'll need to grant permission to TPT to access your drive (if you have any issues, Teachers Pay Teachers has great tech support and a FAQ page).