Introduction
The following are feature films with African American subjects. Use the call numbers to locate the films. Most will be in the Movies & TV or Media Collections on the second floor of the Library, and may be checked out for four weeks.
For non-video resources, visit the African American Studies guide.
Feature Films
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12 Years a Slave
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Call Number: Movies & TV ; MOVIES & TV 12 YEARS A SLAVEBased on the true story of Solomon Northup. It is 1841, and Northup, an accomplished, free citizen of New York, is kidnapped and sold into slavery. Stripped of his identity and deprived of all dignity, Northup is ultimately purchased by ruthless plantation owner Edwin Epps and must find the strength within to survive.
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Barbershop
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Call Number: Movies & TV ; MOVIES & TV BARBERSHOPCalvin never wanted to take over the family business, a barbershop on the south side of Chicago. One morning he decides to sell the shop to Lester. Calvin spends the day cutting heads at the shop, and starts to understand the importance of the legacy left to him. Calvin learns to appreciate his barber friends, and discovers that the place where they work is more than just a place to get a haircut. Calvin gradually changes his mind about selling the shop, but it may be too late.
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BlackKKKlansman
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Call Number: Movies & TV ; MOVIES & TV BLACKKKLANS.In the early 1970s, Ron Stallworth becomes the first African-American detective in the Colorado Springs Police Department. Determined to make a difference, he bravely sets out on a dangerous mission: infiltrate and expose the Ku Klux Klan. He recruits a seasoned colleague, Flip Zimmerman, into the undercover investigation. Together, they team up to take down the extremist organization aiming to garner mainstream appeal -
Black Panther
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Call Number: Movies & TV ; MOVIES & TV BLACK PANTHERKing T'Challa returns home to the isolated, technologically advanced African nation of Wakanda to serve as new leader. However, T'Challa soon finds that he is challenged for the throne from divisions within his own country. When two enemies conspire to destroy Wakanda, the hero known as Black Panther must join forces with C.I.A. agent Everett K. Ross and members of the Wakandan Special Forces, to prevent Wakanda from being drawn into a world war. -
The Color Purple
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Call Number: Movies & TV ; MOVIES & TV COLOR PURPLEAn uneducated woman living in the rural American south who was raped by her father, deprived of the children she bore him and forced to marry a brutal man she calls "Mister" is transformed by the friendship of two remarkable women, acquiring self-worth and the strength to forgive.
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Crooklyn
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Call Number: StreamingPortrait of a close-knit black family living in 1970s Brooklyn as they deal with money woes, eccentric neighbors and the sons' troublemaking. -
Do the Right Thing
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Call Number: Movies & TV ; MOVIES & TV DO THE RIGHTDuring the hottest day of the year in the Bedford-Stuyvesant area of Brooklyn, racial tensions are quickly inflamed and violence ensues. -
Dreamgirls
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Call Number: Movies & TV ; MOVIES & TV DREAMGIRLSThree young women, Deena Jones, Effie White and Lorrell Robinson desire to become pop stars. They get their wish when they are picked to be backup singers for the legendary James "Thunder" Early. When they are set free for leads, Curtis Taylor and Effie's brother C.C. decide that Deena should be the lead singer, which upsets Effie. The girls discover exactly what it takes to be in the music business and what they must give up to realize their dreams. -
Fences
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Call Number: Movies & TV ; MOVIES & TV FENCESIn 1950s Pittsburgh, a Black garbage collector named Troy Maxson--bitter that baseball's color barrier was only broken after his own heyday in the Negro Leagues--is prone to taking out his frustrations on his loved ones. -
Get Out
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Call Number: Movies & TV ; MOVIES & TV GET OUTA young black man meets his white girlfriend's parents at their estate, only to find out that the situation is much more sinister than it appears. -
Glory
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Call Number: Movies & TV ; MOVIES & TV GLORYBased on the true story of the first black regiment to fight for the North in the Civil War. Robert Gould Shaw and Cabot Forbes are two idealistic young Bostonians that lead the regiment; Sgt. Maj. John Rawlins is the inspiration who unites the troops ; Pvt. Trip is a runaway slave who joins the regiment. -
Green Book
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Call Number: Movies & TV ; MOVIES & TV GREEN BOOKWhen Tony Lip, a bouncer from an Italian-American neighborhood in the Bronx, is hired to drive Dr. Don Shirley, a world-class Black pianist, on a concert tour from Manhattan to the Deep South, they must rely on The Green Book to guide them to the few establishments that were then safe for African-Americans. Confronted with racism, danger, as well as unexpected humanity and humor, they are forced to set aside differences to survive and thrive on the journey of a lifetime. Inspired by a true friendship. -
Harriet
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Call Number: Movies & TV ; MOVIES & TV HARRIETBased on the thrilling and inspirational life of an iconic American freedom fighter, the movie tells the extraordinary tale of Harriet Tubman's escape from slavery and transformation into one of America's greatest heroes. Her courage, ingenuity, and tenacity freed hundreds of slaves and changed the course of history. -
Hidden Figures
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Call Number: Movies & TV ; MOVIES & TV HIDDEN FIGURESAs the United States raced against Russia to put a man in space, NASA found untapped talent in a group of African-American female mathematicians that served as the brains behind one of the greatest operations in U.S. history. Dorothy Vaughan, Mary Jackson, and Katherine Johnson crossed all gender, race, and professional lines while their brilliance and desire to dream big, beyond anything ever accomplished before by the human race, firmly cemented them in U.S. history as true American heroes. -
If Beale Street Could Talk
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Call Number: Movies & TV ; MOVIES & TV IF BEALE STREETA timeless love story set in early 1970s Harlem involving newly engaged nineteen-year-old Tish and her fianceĢ Fonny who have a beautiful future ahead. But their plans are derailed when Fonny is arrested for a crime he did not commit. Now the pair and their families must fight for justice in the name of love and the promise of the American dream. -
Malcolm X
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Call Number: Movies & TV ; MOVIES & TV MALCOLM XScreen version of the life of Malcolm X, who through his religious conversion to Islam, found the strength to rise up from a criminal past to become an influential civil rights leader. -
Moonlight
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Call Number: Movies & TV ; MOVIES & TV MOONLIGHTA timeless story of human connection and self-discovery, Moonlight chronicles the life of a young black man from childhood to adulthood as he struggles to find his place in the world while growing up in a rough neighborhood of Miami. -
Precious (Based on the Novel Push by Sapphire)
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Call Number: Movies & TV ; MOVIES & TV PRECIOUSIn 1987, obese, illiterate, black 16-year-old Claireece 'Precious' Jones lives in Harlem with her dysfunctional family. She has been raped and impregnated twice by her father, Carl. She suffers constant physical, mental and sexual abuse from her unemployed mother, Mary. After getting pregnant for the second time, Precious is suspended from her school. Her principal arranges to have her attend an alternative school where her new teacher, Ms. Rain, helps Precious learn to read and she responds to this glimmer of hope. -
Raisin in the Sun
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Call Number: Movies & TV ; MOVIES & TV RAISIN IN THEFilm of the award-winning play about a struggling black family living on Chicago's South Side and the impact of an unexpected insurance bequest. Each family member sees the bequest as the means of realizing dreams and of escape from grinding frustrations. -
Ray
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Call Number: Movies & TV ; MOVIES & TV RAYRay Charles went blind at the age of seven. Inspired by his mother who insisted he make his own way, he found his calling at the keyboard. 'Ray' follows as he overcomes drug addiction while becoming one of the country's most beloved performers. -
Rosewood
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Call Number: Movies & TV ; MOVIES & TV ROSEWOODThe true story of the 1923 razing of a black town in Florida, many of its people murdered over a lie. But some escaped and survived because of the courage and compassion of a few extraordinary people. -
Selma
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Call Number: Movies & TV ; MOVIES & TV SELMADr. Martin Luther King, Jr.'s historical struggle to secure voting rights for all people. A dangerous and terrifying campaign that culminated with an epic march from Selma to Montgomery, Alabama in 1964. -
Soul
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Call Number: Movies & TV ; MOVIES & TV SOULJoe Gardner is a middle-school band teacher who gets the chance of a lifetime to play at the best jazz club in town. A misstep takes him from New York City to The Great Before, a fantastical place where new souls get their personalities before going to Earth. Determined to return to his life, Joe teams up with a precocious soul, 22, who has never understood the appeal of the human life. As Joe tries to show 22 what's great about life, he may discover the answers to the most important questions. -
Spiderman: Into the Spider Verse
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Call Number: Movies & TV ; MOVIES & TV SPIDERMAN / INTO THEMiles Morales is the new Spider-Man but must also walk the balance between his personal high school & family life and his life as a superhero. While being Spider-Man, he becomes familiar with the Spider-Verse, where there are endless variations on Spider-Man. One of the Spider-Man variations living inside the Spider-Verse is Spider-Man, Peter B. Parker, who guides Miles in his journey as the new Spider-Man and introduces him to the multitude of other Spider-Men, including Spider-Man Noir and Spider-Ham. All of the various Spider-Men will have to band together when villains threaten the safety of the Spider-Verse and of the world itself.
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Us
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Call Number: Movies & TV ; MOVIES & TV USHaunted by trauma from her past and compounded by a string of eerie coincidences, Adelaide grows increasingly certain that something bad is going to befall her family. After spending a tense beach day with their friends, Adelaide and her family return to their vacation home. When darkness falls, the Wilsons discover the silhouette of four figures holding hands as they stand in the driveway: doppelgangers of themselves.
Documentaries
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African Americans: Many Rivers to Cross
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Call Number: MEDIA E185 .A38 2014Explore with Professor Henry Louis Gates, Jr., the evolution of the African-American people, as well as the multiplicity of cultural institutions, political strategies, and religious and social perspectives they developed-forging their own history, culture and society against unimaginable odds. -
Slavery By Another Name
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Call Number: MEDIA E185.2 .S53 2012Challenges the assumption that slavery in the U.S. ended with the Emancipation Proclamation. The film tells how even as chattel slavery came to an end in the South after the Civil War, new systems of involuntary servitude took its place. -
American Experience: Freedom Riders
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Call Number: MEDIA E185.61 .F74 2009This inspirational documentary is about a band of courageous civil-rights activists calling themselves the Freedom Riders. Gaining impressive access to influential figures on both sides of the issue, it chronicles a chapter of American history that stands as an astonishing testament to the accomplishment of youth and what can result from the incredible combination of personal conviction and the courage to organize against all odds. -
Freedom Summer
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Call Number: MEDIA E185.93.M6 F7443 2014In the hot and deadly summer of 1964, the nation could not turn away from Mississippi. Over 10 memorable weeks known as Freedom Summer, more than 700 student volunteers joined with organizers and local African Americans in a historic effort to shatter the foundations of white supremacy in one of the nation's most segregated states ... even in the face of intimidation, physical violence, and death -
The Black Power Mixtape 1967-1975: A Documentary in 9 Chapters
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Call Number: MEDIA E185.615 .B5468 2011THE BLACK POWER MIXTAPE 1967-1975 mobilizes a treasure trove of 16mm material shot by Swedish journalists who came to the US drawn by stories of urban unrest and revolution. Gaining access to many of the leaders of the Black Power Movement, Stokely Carmichael, Bobby Seale, Angela Davis and Eldridge Cleaver among them, the filmmakers captured them in intimate moments and remarkably unguarded interviews.
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Unchained Memories: Readings from the Slave Narratives
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Call Number: MEDIA E444 .U63 2003When the Civil War ended in 1865, more than 4 million slaves were set free. By the late 1930's, 100,000 former slaves were still alive. In the midst of the Great Depression, journalists and writers traveled the country to record the memories of the last generation of African-Americans born into bondage. -
Dancing in the Light
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Call Number: MEDIA GV1624.7.A34 A44 2007The American Dance Festival presents Dancing in the Light presents a one-hour modern dance television program showcasing 6 historic dance compositions by African American choreographers. -
Guilty Until Proven Guilty
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Call Number: MEDIA HV9955.L8 G85 2019The documentary explores Louisiana's criminal justice system through the story of Tim Conerly, a young African-American man who was arrested in the wake of an armed robbery in New Orleans and waited 28 months for a trial for a crime he says he did not commit. After more than two years in the Orleans Parish Jail, Conerly must choose between accepting a plea bargain of seven years or risking a sentence of 49 1/2 to 198 years if he is convicted at trial. -
Pushout: The Criminalization of Black Girls in Schools
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Call Number: MEDIA LC2731 .P87 2019Pushout: the criminalization of black girls in schools is a feature length documentary, based on a book of the same name by Dr. Monique W. Morris, that takes a deep dive into the lives of Black girls and the practices, cultural beliefs and policies that disrupt one of the most important factors in girls' lives- education. -
Maya Angelou: And Still I Rise
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Call Number: MEDIA PS3551.N464 Z765 2017Examines the life and legacy of African American poet, memoirist, and civil rights worker Maya Angelou, from her upbringing in the Depression-era South to her work with Malcolm X in Ghana to the recitation of her inaugural poem for President Bill Clinton. Includes Angelou's own words woven together with archival photographs and videos as well as interviews with Angelou's friends and family. -
Through a Lens Darkly: Black Photographers and the Emergence of a People
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Call Number: MEDIA TR23 .T47 2014Inspired by Deborah Willis's book, Reflections in Black, Through a Lens Darkly, casts a broad net that begins with filmmaker Thomas Allen Harris's family album. It considers the difference between black photographers who use the camera to define themselves, their people, and their culture and some white photographers who, historically, have demeaned African-Americans through racist imagery.
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Good Hair
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Call Number: MEDIA TT972 .G66 2010Comedian Chris Rock tackles the very personal issue of hair, and how attaining good hair can impact African American's activities, relationships, wallets, and a self-esteem. Engages in frank, funny conversations with haircare professionals, beautyshop and barbershop patrons, as well as featuring interviews with Dr. Maya Angelou, Nia Long, Ice-T, Raven Symone, and more. -
I Am Not Your Negro
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Call Number: StreamingAn Oscar-nominated documentary narrated by Samuel L. Jackson, I AM NOT YOUR NEGRO explores the continued peril America faces from institutionalized racism.