During the 1994 July 4th holiday, the world was introduced to Forrest Gump.

The affable is slow-witted lead character of the major motion picture by the same name.

Played by Tom Hanks, Gump's innocent missteps took him on a lifelong adventure through memorable moments in modern U.S. history.

From the stand in the schoolhouse door and the assassination of JFK through the Vietnam War in Watergate scandal to the start of the AIDS epidemic.

The film was a box office sensation,

earning nearly three-quarters of a billion dollars in worldwide ticket sales during its premiere year.

It was also a critical success, taking home the 1995 Academy Award for Best Picture,

as well as five other Oscars, including the Oscar for Best Visual Effects,

for its seamless insertions of Forrest Gump into archival footage of major historical events.

The phenomenon that was Forrest Gump has never abated, from VHS tapes and laser discs to ultra-blue ray DVDs, home video

sales have always been strong. And during a time when big box stores don't keep anything

on their shelves that doesn't move immediately, when anyone can stream the movie online, one

can still walk into Target or Walmart and find a copy of Forrest Gump.

And if you scroll through the guide on your TV, I promise you, you can find it playing on some channel just about every day.

But Forrest Gump is also a staple of middle school and high school social studies classes.

From general U.S. history and American government to a push.

Whenever I teach African American history through film,

a class that enrolled 70 this semester,

I always ask my students to raise their hand if they

have seen Forrest Gump. And without fail, nearly every hand goes up, with most saying

they watched it in school. And then I asked them to raise their hand if they ever learned about the Black Panther Party.

And once again, almost every hand goes up.

...