Civil Rights/black history
Movies involving civil rights and black history
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34 titles
- DirectorConnie FieldMarilyn MulfordStarsChude Pamela AllenHeather BoothL.C. DorseyChronicles the Mississippi voter registration drive from 1961- 64.
- DirectorGeorge T. NierenbergStarsWillie Mae Ford SmithThomas A. DorseySallie MartinDocumentary about the American gospel music scene, focusing on two of the movement's pioneering forces, Thomas A. Dorsey and Willie May Ford Smith.
- DirectorBarak GoodmanDaniel AnkerStarsFrances McDormandStanley TucciAndre BraugherThe history of the "Scottsboro Boys," a group of African American men who were victims of a racist miscarriage of justice that became a national controversy.
- DirectorRob ReinerStarsWoody HarrelsonMichael Stahl-DavidRichard JenkinsLyndon B. Johnson aligns himself with John F. Kennedy, rises to the Presidency, and deals with the civil rights struggles of the 1960s.
- DirectorBill GuttentagDan SturmanStarsThe RootsJohn LegendWyclef JeanA fresh and exhilarating take on one of the most important social movements in American history, Soundtrack for a Revolution explores the civil rights struggle through the powerful and stirring songs that inspired a generation.
- DirectorStanley NelsonStarsBlair AndersonOmar BarbourJulian BondThis documentary tells the rise and fall of the Black Panther Party, one of the 20th century's most alluring and controversial organizations that captivated the world's attention for nearly 50 years.
- DirectorTate TaylorStarsViola DavisEmma StoneOctavia SpencerAn aspiring author during the civil rights movement of the 1960s decides to write a book detailing the African American maids' point of view on the white families for which they work, and the hardships they go through on a daily basis.
- DirectorLee DanielsStarsForest WhitakerOprah WinfreyJohn CusackAs Cecil Gaines serves eight presidents during his tenure as a butler at the White House, the civil rights movement, Vietnam, and other major events affect this man's life, family, and American society.
- DirectorAva DuVernayStarsDavid OyelowoCarmen EjogoOprah WinfreyA chronicle of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.'s campaign to secure equal voting rights via an epic march from Selma to Montgomery, Alabama, in 1965.
- StarsCharles AllenMariah CareyJohn CusackA behind-the-scenes documentary about the making of The Butler (2013).
- DirectorKevin MacdonaldStarsJames McAvoyForest WhitakerGillian AndersonBased on the events of the brutal Ugandan dictator Idi Amin's regime as seen by his personal physician during the 1970s.
- DirectorTaylor HackfordStarsJamie FoxxRegina KingKerry WashingtonThe story of the life and career of the legendary rhythm and blues musician Ray Charles, from his humble beginnings in the South, where he went blind at age seven, to his meteoric rise to stardom during the 1950s and 1960s.
- DirectorJay RoachStarsBryan CranstonAnthony MackieMelissa LeoLyndon B. Johnson becomes the President of the United States in the chaotic aftermath of John F. Kennedy's assassination, and spends his first year in office fighting to pass the Civil Rights Act.
- DirectorGöran Hugo OlssonStarsAngela DavisStokely CarmichaelBobby SealeFootage shot by a group of Swedish journalists documenting the Black Power Movement in the United States is edited together by a contemporary Swedish filmmaker.
- DirectorMarc LevinStarsMichael Levine'Freeway' Ricky RossEric SterlingFREEWAY: CRACK IN THE SYSTEM tells the story of broken dreams, drug dealers, dirty cops, and government complicity-more compelling than fiction, it's the real story behind America's longest war. This documentary by award-winning filmmaker Marc Levin (SLAM, Mr. Untouchable, Brick City) exposes how the infiltration of crack cocaine destroyed inner-city neighborhoods across the country. At the center of it all is the rise, fall and redemption of Freeway Rick Ross, a street hustler who became the King of Crack, and journalist Gary Webb, who broke the story of the CIA's complicity in the drug war. Featuring exclusive interviews with Freeway Rick Ross, not to be confused with the rapper who took his name Pulitzer Prize winning journalist Gary Webb, his source Coral Baca, and wife Susan Webb former Los Angeles Deputy Sheriff Roberto Juarez drug trafficker Julio Zavala and many more. The real Rick Ross is not a rapper. He's an urban legend in South Central LA, a black godfather figure whom most people have never seen, but know by name and reputation. He's 'Freeway' Rick Ross, the man who stood at the center of the crack epidemic, and whose name has been inextricably linked to the CIA-Contra-Cocaine connection. His story defies all odds and stereotypes and proves that truth is indeed stranger than fiction.
- DirectorShola LynchStarsAngela DavisEisa DavisBrandon J. DirdenA documentary that chronicles the life of young college professor Angela Davis, and how her social activism implicates her in a botched kidnapping attempt that ends with a shootout, four dead, and her name on the FBI's 10 most wanted list.
- DirectorStanley NelsonStarsRaymond ArsenaultGenevieve HoughtonGordon CareyThe story of the Civil Rights Movement interstate busing protest campaign.
- DirectorRaoul PeckStarsSamuel L. JacksonJames BaldwinMartin Luther KingWriter James Baldwin tells the story of race in modern America with his unfinished novel, Remember This House.
- DirectorRita CoburnBob HerculesStarsCicely TysonGuy JohnsonDiahann CarrollThe first feature documentary about the remarkable writer, poet, actress, activist Maya Angelou.
- DirectorStanley NelsonStarsKarin Kunstler GoldmanJulian BondPeggy Jean ConnorA look back at the summer of 1964, when more than 700 student activists took segregated Mississippi by storm, registering voters, creating freedom schools and establishing the Mississippi Freedom Democratic Party.
- DirectorAva DuVernayStarsMelina AbdullahMichelle AlexanderCory BookerAn in-depth look at the prison system in the United States and how it reveals the nation's history of racial inequality.
- DirectorDaniel LindsayT.J. MartinStarsHenry AlfaroDanny BakewellJohn D. BarnettTwenty-five years after the verdict in the Rodney King trial sparked several days of protests, violence and looting in Los Angeles, filmmakers examine that tumultuous period through rarely seen archival footage.
- DirectorLiz GarbusStarsNina SimoneLisa Simone KellyRoger NupieA documentary about the life and legend Nina Simone, an American singer, pianist, and civil rights activist labeled the "High Priestess of Soul."
- DirectorKief DavidsonStarsBob MarleyArnold BertramCindy BreakspeareThe violent political suppression of the roots reggae movement in Jamaica told through an investigation into Jamaican politics and the CIA's involvement in the mysterious shooting of Bob Marley.
- DirectorSpike LeeStarsRoger Guenveur SmithRahum BrownBrenda LeeThe story of how the radical Huey P. Newton developed the Black Panther Party based on his 10-point program for social reform.
- DirectorDavid FranceStarsKurt WolfeSue YackaCatherine Shugrue Dos SantosVictoria Cruz investigates the mysterious 1992 death of black gay rights activist and Stonewall veteran, Marsha P. Johnson. Using archival interviews with Johnson, and new interviews with Johnson's family, friends and fellow activists.
- DirectorKelly DuaneStarsSam CookeQuincy JonesSmokey RobinsonAn investigation into the circumstances and controversy surrounding Sam Cooke's murder.
- DirectorAgnès VardaStarsBill BrentHuey P. NewtonStokely CarmichaelA short film of interviews and protests at a rally to free Huey P. Newton.
- DirectorHerbert J. BibermanStarsJuan ChacónRosaura RevueltasWill GeerMexican workers at a zinc mine call a general strike. It is only through the solidarity of the workers, and importantly the indomitable resolve of their wives, mothers, and daughters, that they eventually triumph.
- DirectorSpike LeeStarsDanny AielloOssie DavisRuby DeeOn the hottest day of the year on a street in the Bedford-Stuyvesant section of Brooklyn, everyone's hate and bigotry smolders and builds until it explodes into violence.
- DirectorSam PollardStarsLaurence FishburneTurron Kofi AlleyneMichael BaconA documentary that recounts the many ways in which American slavery persisted as a practice many decades after its supposed abolition.
- DirectorF. Gary GrayStarsO'Shea Jackson Jr.Corey HawkinsJason MitchellThe rap group NWA emerges from the mean streets of Compton in Los Angeles, California, in the mid-1980s and revolutionizes Hip Hop culture with their music and tales about life in the hood.
- DirectorCheryl DunyeStarsCheryl DunyeGuinevere TurnerValarie WalkerA young black lesbian filmmaker probes into the life of The Watermelon Woman, a 1930s black actress who played 'mammy' archetypes.
- DirectorDaniel PetrieStarsSidney PoitierClaudia McNeilRuby DeeA substantial insurance payment could mean either financial salvation or personal ruin for a poor black family.