The Best Black TV & Films You Must Watch Before You Die!
by blanding-74579 | created - 14 Jan 2023 | updated - 1 month ago | PublicList of all-time favorite Black TV Shows and Movies you Must watch before you DIE!!
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1. Roots (1977)
TV-14 | 74 min | Biography, Drama, History
A dramatization of author Alex Haley's family line from ancestor Kunta Kinte's enslavement to his descendants' liberation.
Stars: LeVar Burton, Robert Reed, John Amos, Louis Gossett Jr.
Votes: 18,886
2. A Man Called Adam (1966)
Not Rated | 104 min | Drama, Music
A famous jazz trumpeter finds himself unable to cope with the problems of everyday life.
Director: Leo Penn | Stars: Sammy Davis Jr., Louis Armstrong, Ossie Davis, Cicely Tyson
Votes: 687
4. The Homesteader (1919)
Drama
The Homesteader involves six principal characters, the leading one being Jean Baptiste (Charles Lucas), a homesteader far off in the Dakotas, the lone African American living in the area. ... See full summary »
Directors: Oscar Micheaux, Jerry Mills | Stars: Charles D. Lucas, Evelyn Preer, Iris Hall, Inez Smith
Votes: 47
5. The Symbol of the Unconquered (1920)
TV-PG | 54 min | Drama, Romance
Racists learn that the land a negro owns lies over a vast oil field, and threaten his life when he refuses to sell.
Director: Oscar Micheaux | Stars: Iris Hall, Walker Thompson, Lawrence Chenault, Mattie Wilkes
Votes: 572
6. Within Our Gates (1920)
Not Rated | 79 min | Drama, Romance
Abandoned by her fiancé, an educated black woman with a shocking past dedicates herself to helping a near bankrupt school for impoverished black youths.
Director: Oscar Micheaux | Stars: Evelyn Preer, Flo Clements, James D. Ruffin, Jack Chenault
Votes: 3,631
7. Cabin in the Sky (1943)
Passed | 98 min | Comedy, Drama, Fantasy
A compulsive gambler dies during a shooting, but he'll receive a second chance to reform himself and to make up with his worried wife.
Directors: Vincente Minnelli, Busby Berkeley | Stars: Ethel Waters, Eddie 'Rochester' Anderson, Lena Horne, Louis Armstrong
Votes: 3,414
8. Stormy Weather (1943)
Passed | 78 min | Comedy, Drama, Music
The relationship between an aspiring dancer and a popular songstress provides a retrospective of the great African-American entertainers of the early 1900s.
Director: Andrew L. Stone | Stars: Lena Horne, Bill Robinson, Cab Calloway and His Cotton Club Orchestra, Katherine Dunham and Her Troupe
Votes: 2,889
9. Porgy and Bess (1959)
Not Rated | 138 min | Drama, Musical, Romance
A woman whose past is scorned by nearly everyone around her meets a man who'd love her regardlessly- if only everyone else would allow them to.
Directors: Otto Preminger, Rouben Mamoulian | Stars: Sidney Poitier, Dorothy Dandridge, Sammy Davis Jr., Pearl Bailey
Votes: 1,915
10. Edge of the City (1957)
Approved | 85 min | Drama
The growing friendship of two NYC longshoremen is threatened by a notably repellent punk.
Director: Martin Ritt | Stars: John Cassavetes, Sidney Poitier, Jack Warden, Kathleen Maguire
Votes: 3,588
11. Carmen Jones (1954)
Approved | 105 min | Drama, Musical, Romance
Contemporary version of the Bizet opera, with new lyrics and an African-American cast.
Director: Otto Preminger | Stars: Harry Belafonte, Dorothy Dandridge, Pearl Bailey, Olga James
Votes: 5,925
12. The Learning Tree (1969)
PG | 107 min | Drama
A bittersweet, idyllic story about a year in the life of 14-year-old Newt Winger, born into a poor Black family in Kansas, who learns about love, fear, racial injustice, and immorality.
Director: Gordon Parks | Stars: Kyle Johnson, Alex Clarke, Estelle Evans, Dana Elcar
Votes: 1,621
13. A Raisin in the Sun (1961)
Approved | 128 min | Drama
A substantial insurance payment could mean either financial salvation or personal ruin for a poor black family.
Director: Daniel Petrie | Stars: Sidney Poitier, Claudia McNeil, Ruby Dee, Diana Sands
Votes: 9,573
14. Uptight (1968)
M | 104 min | Drama, Thriller
In this landmark collaboration between activist and actress Ruby Dee and director Jules Dassin, Black revolutionaries are betrayed by one of their own. Based on the 1935 classic "The Informer."
Director: Jules Dassin | Stars: Raymond St. Jacques, Ruby Dee, Frank Silvera, Roscoe Lee Browne
Votes: 966
15. They Call Me Mister Tibbs! (1970)
GP | 108 min | Crime, Drama, Mystery
In San Francisco, a high-priced call girl is murdered and the case is assigned to Police Lieutenant Virgil Tibbs.
Director: Gordon Douglas | Stars: Sidney Poitier, Martin Landau, Barbara McNair, Anthony Zerbe
Votes: 4,372 | Gross: $5.12M
16. Sweet Sweetback's Baadasssss Song (1971)
R | 97 min | Action, Crime, Drama
After saving a Black Panther from some racist cops, a black male prostitute goes on the run from "the man" with the help of the ghetto community and some disillusioned Hells Angels.
Director: Melvin Van Peebles | Stars: Melvin Van Peebles, Hubert Scales, John Dullaghan, Simon Chuckster
Votes: 5,868 | Gross: $15.18M
17. Super Fly (1972)
R | 91 min | Action, Crime, Drama
The daily routine of cocaine dealer Priest who wants to score one more super deal and retire.
Director: Gordon Parks Jr. | Stars: Ron O'Neal, Carl Lee, Sheila Frazier, Julius Harris
Votes: 8,606
18. Shaft (1971)
R | 100 min | Action, Crime, Thriller
A crime lord hires black private eye, John Shaft, to find and retrieve his kidnapped daughter.
Director: Gordon Parks | Stars: Richard Roundtree, Moses Gunn, Charles Cioffi, Christopher St. John
Votes: 21,038 | Gross: $16.69M
19. Foxy Brown (1974)
R | 92 min | Action, Crime, Thriller
A voluptuous vigilante takes a job as a high-class prostitute to get revenge on the mobsters who murdered her boyfriend.
Director: Jack Hill | Stars: Pam Grier, Antonio Fargas, Peter Brown, Terry Carter
Votes: 12,049 | Gross: $2.46M
20. Coffy (1973)
R | 90 min | Action, Crime, Thriller
A sexy Black nurse takes vigilante justice against inner-city drug dealers after her sister becomes their latest victim.
Director: Jack Hill | Stars: Pam Grier, Booker Bradshaw, Robert DoQui, William Elliott
Votes: 12,941
21. Claudine (1974)
PG | 92 min | Comedy, Drama, Romance
In the 1970s Harlem, garbage collector Roop feels intimidated by the idea of dating Claudine who is a single mother of six on welfare.
Director: John Berry | Stars: Diahann Carroll, James Earl Jones, Lawrence Hilton-Jacobs, Tamu Blackwell
Votes: 2,514 | Gross: $3.51M
22. Uptown Saturday Night (1974)
PG | 104 min | Action, Comedy, Crime
At Madame Zenobia's illegal nightclub, when Steve Jackson and Wardell Franklin get robbed of their wallets containing a winning lottery ticket, they set out to recover it.
Director: Sidney Poitier | Stars: Sidney Poitier, Bill Cosby, Harry Belafonte, Flip Wilson
Votes: 2,816 | Gross: $4.57M
23. Let's Do It Again (1975)
PG | 110 min | Action, Comedy, Crime
Two Atlanta men raise funds for their charity by rigging boxing matches in New Orleans, but their tricks attract the mob's attention.
Director: Sidney Poitier | Stars: Sidney Poitier, Bill Cosby, Calvin Lockhart, John Amos
Votes: 3,301
24. A Piece of the Action (1977)
PG | 135 min | Crime, Comedy
A retired Chicago cop blackmails two rich thieves into "volunteering" to help juvenile delinquents change paths.
Director: Sidney Poitier | Stars: Sidney Poitier, Bill Cosby, James Earl Jones, Denise Nicholas
Votes: 1,460
25. Buck and the Preacher (1972)
GP | 102 min | Adventure, Drama, Western
A wagon master and a con-man preacher help freed slaves dogged by cheap-labor agents out West.
Directors: Sidney Poitier, Joseph Sargent | Stars: Sidney Poitier, Harry Belafonte, Ruby Dee, Cameron Mitchell
Votes: 2,689 | Gross: $3.03M
26. A Warm December (1973)
PG | 99 min | Drama, Romance
An African-American doctor falls in love with the niece of an African ambassador during his vacation in London, but it turns out that she is suffering from a rare terminal illness.
Director: Sidney Poitier | Stars: Sidney Poitier, Ester Anderson, Yvette Curtis, George Baker
Votes: 808 | Gross: $0.37M
27. Across 110th Street (1972)
R | 102 min | Action, Crime, Drama
Two New York City cops go after amateur crooks who are trying to rip off the Mafia and start a gang war.
Director: Barry Shear | Stars: Anthony Quinn, Yaphet Kotto, Anthony Franciosa, Frank Adu
Votes: 7,152 | Gross: $3.60M
28. Which Way Is Up? (1977)
R | 94 min | Comedy
Orange picker Leroy Jones inadvertently becomes a union leader and is forced out of town, leaving behind his wife Annie Mae and his sexually-obsessed father Rufus.
Director: Michael Schultz | Stars: Richard Pryor, Lonette McKee, Margaret Avery, Morgan Woodward
Votes: 1,991 | Gross: $17.00M
29. Cooley High (1975)
PG | 107 min | Comedy, Drama, Romance
In 1964 on Chicago's Near-North Side, the lives of four carefree high school seniors and best friends, including an aspiring playwright and an all-city basketball champion, takes a tragic turn.
Director: Michael Schultz | Stars: Glynn Turman, Lawrence Hilton-Jacobs, Garrett Morris, Cynthia Davis
Votes: 5,550
30. Cleopatra Jones (1973)
PG | 89 min | Action, Crime, Thriller
During the 1970s, U.S. Special Agent Cleopatra Jones proves to be an invaluable asset to the local police forces in the war on drugs.
Director: Jack Starrett | Stars: Tamara Dobson, Bernie Casey, Brenda Sykes, Antonio Fargas
Votes: 3,534 | Gross: $2.98M
31. Cotton Comes to Harlem (1970)
R | 97 min | Action, Comedy, Crime
Two Harlem cops investigate a robbery, believing that a reverend has staged it in order to steal the money he's collected for a local fundraiser.
Director: Ossie Davis | Stars: Godfrey Cambridge, Raymond St. Jacques, Calvin Lockhart, Judy Pace
Votes: 2,690 | Gross: $4.39M
32. Cornbread, Earl and Me (1975)
PG | 95 min | Drama, Sport
A 12-year-old is traumatised by the murder of his friend, a star basketball player.
Director: Joseph Manduke | Stars: Moses Gunn, Rosalind Cash, Bernie Casey, Madge Sinclair
Votes: 1,060 | Gross: $0.78M
33. Dolemite (1975)
R | 90 min | Action, Comedy, Crime
After he is released from jail, a pimp takes on the criminals and corrupt police officers who framed him in the first place.
Director: D'Urville Martin | Stars: Rudy Ray Moore, D'Urville Martin, Jerry Jones, Lady Reed
Votes: 6,855 | Gross: $0.24M
34. Three the Hard Way (1974)
R | 89 min | Action, Thriller
Blaxploitation film about three martial-arts specialists who prevent white supremacists from tainting the U.S. water supply with a toxin that's only harmful to black people.
Director: Gordon Parks Jr. | Stars: Jim Brown, Fred Williamson, Jim Kelly, Sheila Frazier
Votes: 1,756 | Gross: $1.28M
35. Black Caesar (1973)
R | 87 min | Action, Crime, Drama
Raised in Harlem, Tommy Gibbs becomes a successful mob boss but he clashes with the rival Mafia and his old enemy, dirty cop McKinney.
Director: Larry Cohen | Stars: Fred Williamson, Gloria Hendry, Art Lund, D'Urville Martin
Votes: 3,894
36. Penitentiary (1979)
R | 99 min | Crime, Drama, Sport
A hitchhiker named Martel Gordone gets in a fight with two bikers over a prostitute, and one of the bikers is killed. Gordone is arrested and sent to prison, where he joins the prison's ... See full summary »
Director: Jamaa Fanaka | Stars: Leon Isaac Kennedy, Wilbur 'Hi-Fi' White, Thomas M. Pollard, Hazel Spears
Votes: 1,236
37. J.D.'s Revenge (1976)
R | 96 min | Action, Horror, Thriller
Murdered on Bourbon Street in 1942 New Orleans, a gangster returns from the dead 34 years later possessing the body of a young, black law student in his quest for revenge.
Director: Arthur Marks | Stars: Glynn Turman, Louis Gossett Jr., Joan Pringle, Carl W. Crudup
Votes: 1,448
38. The Bingo Long Traveling All-Stars & Motor Kings (1976)
PG | 110 min | Comedy, Sport
In the late 1930s during racial segregation, a star of the Negro League Baseball, Bingo Long, leaves his team and convinces other stars of the league to join him as free agent players touring the towns of the Midwest.
Director: John Badham | Stars: Billy Dee Williams, James Earl Jones, Richard Pryor, Rico Dawson
Votes: 2,164
39. Lady Sings the Blues (1972)
R | 144 min | Biography, Drama, Music
The story of the troubled life and career of the legendary Jazz singer, Billie Holiday.
Director: Sidney J. Furie | Stars: Diana Ross, Billy Dee Williams, Richard Pryor, James T. Callahan
Votes: 4,848 | Gross: $6.03M
40. Julia (1968–1971)
TV-G | 30 min | Comedy
Julia Baker is a young African-American woman working as a nurse. She is also a widow (her husband died in Vietnam) trying to raise a young son alone.
Stars: Diahann Carroll, Lloyd Nolan, Marc Copage, Michael Link
Votes: 688
41. Good Times (1974–1979)
TV-PG | 30 min | Comedy
A poor family make the best of things in the Chicago housing projects.
Stars: Ja'net DuBois, Ralph Carter, BernNadette Stanis, Jimmie 'JJ' Walker
Votes: 8,123
42. What's Happening!! (1976–1979)
TV-PG | 24 min | Comedy
A trio of black youths learn about life, love, friendship, credit cards, gambling, and a variety of other things while growing up in an inner city.
Stars: Ernest Thomas, Haywood Nelson, Danielle Spencer, Fred Berry
Votes: 4,204
43. Sanford and Son (1972–1978)
TV-PG | 30 min | Comedy
The misadventures of a cantankerous junk dealer and his frustrated son.
Stars: Redd Foxx, Demond Wilson, LaWanda Page, Don Bexley
Votes: 10,815
44. The Jeffersons (1975–1985)
TV-PG | 30 min | Comedy
A nouveau riche, African-American family who move into a luxury apartment building develop close, if occasionally fractious, relationships with other tenants.
Stars: Isabel Sanford, Sherman Hemsley, Roxie Roker, Franklin Cover
Votes: 10,615
45. Amen (1986–1991)
TV-PG | 30 min | Comedy
Rev. Rueben Gregory, finds dealing with the headstrong, opinionated, and unethical Deacon Ernest Frye--who works as a lawyer when not tending to church business--won't make his job easy.
Stars: Sherman Hemsley, Clifton Davis, Anna Maria Horsford, Roz Ryan
Votes: 2,336
46. Martin (1992–1997)
TV-PG | 30 min | Comedy, Drama, Romance
Sassy sitcom centering on radio and television personality Martin Payne. Series focuses on his romantic relationship with girlfriend Gina, her best friend Pam and escapades with best friends Tommy and Cole.
Stars: Martin Lawrence, Tisha Campbell, Thomas Mikal Ford, Carl Anthony Payne II
Votes: 10,845
47. Living Single (1993–1998)
TV-PG | 30 min | Comedy
Follows the lives of several single male and female roommates and friends in 1990s Brooklyn, New York.
Stars: Queen Latifah, Kim Coles, Erika Alexander, John Henton
Votes: 6,677
48. A Different World (1987–1993)
TV-PG | 60 min | Comedy
A group of students at a historically Black university struggle to make it through college.
Stars: Lisa Bonet, Kadeem Hardison, Jasmine Guy, Darryl M. Bell
Votes: 7,946
49. Roc (1991–1994)
TV-PG | 30 min | Comedy, Drama
Charles Dutton plays a married garbage man who proves by his actions and his altruistic ways that though he collects refuse for a job, his life and relationships total more than mere garbage.
Stars: Charles S. Dutton, Ella Joyce, Rocky Carroll, Carl Gordon
Votes: 1,916
50. 227 (1985–1990)
TV-PG | 30 min | Comedy
This series took place in an apartment building numbered 227. The cast would frequently be sitting outside on a large set of stone stairs, involved in some discussion that would unfold into the weekly plotline.
Stars: Helen Martin, Marla Gibbs, Hal Williams, Alaina Reed-Hall
Votes: 3,990
51. In Living Color (1990–1994)
TV-14 | 30 min | Comedy, Music
The Wayans siblings present an African-American focused sketch comedy show.
Stars: Keenen Ivory Wayans, Jim Carrey, Kelly Coffield Park, Terrence Brown
Votes: 12,765
52. Cosby (1996–2000)
TV-PG | 30 min | Comedy
Hilton Lucas was forced by his employer to retire. His wife has trouble with him always being at home and so does he.
Stars: Bill Cosby, Phylicia Rashad, Doug E. Doug, T'Keyah Crystal Keymáh
Votes: 2,750
53. Jean-Michel Basquiat: The Radiant Child (2010)
Not Rated | 88 min | Documentary
Director Tamra Davis pays homage to her friend in this definitive documentary but also delves into Basquiat as an iconoclast. His dense, bebop-influenced neoexpressionist work emerged while... See full summary »
Director: Tamra Davis | Stars: Jean Michel Basquiat, Julian Schnabel, Larry Gagosian, Bruno Bischofberger
Votes: 2,485 | Gross: $0.26M
54. The Spook Who Sat by the Door (1973)
PG | 102 min | Action, Drama, Crime
A black man plays 'uncle Tom' in order to gain access to CIA training, then uses that knowledge to plot a new American revolt.
Director: Ivan Dixon | Stars: Lawrence Cook, Janet League, Paula Kelly, J.A. Preston
Votes: 1,567 | Gross: $1.00M
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