Film Study Guide: Fruitvale Station

[Frank W. Baker]

Fruitvale Station is a narrative film that recreates the last day in the life of Oscar Grant,an unarmed young man who died in an altercation with BART police on New Year’s Eve 2009. A class screening of the film may supplement a social studies, civics, or US history curriculum. Taught in conjunction with this guide, the film will challenge students to think critically about institutionalized racism, civil rights, and police brutality. Discussion questions, activities, and supplemental materials facilitate further research into related topics such as privilege and opportunity in American society, how to de-escalate violence in an interaction with police, and the use of media and storytelling in an activist context.