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My 25 personal favorite movies about racism of all time Honorable Mentions: Fences (2016) Son Of Saul (2015) The Butler (2013) Lincoln (2012) Hotel Rwanda (2004) The Pianist (2002) Glory (1989) West Side Story (1961)
- Just Mercy (2019) In this powerful legal drama (and true story), Michael B. Jordan plays Bryan Stevenson, a real lawyer who worked tirelessly to get death row inmate, Walter McMillian (played by Jamie Foxx) off for a murder he didn’t commit.
- The Hate U Give (2018) Based on the novel of the same name by Angie Thomas and directed by George Tillman Jr., The Hate U Give (Or THUG, which is a term some people like to attribute to African Americans after they’ve been murdered as a justification for said murder) is about a girl named Starr Carter (played by Amandla Stenberg) who witnesses the death of her friend at the hands of a cop.
- Selma (2014) In this unique approach to a biopic from director Ava DuVernay, Selma chronicles a groundswell effort by Dr. King (played by David Oyelowo) and many others as they fight to make it easier for blacks to vote in Selma, Alabama.
- If Beale Street Could Talk (2018) Based on the James Baldwin novel of the same name and directed by Barry Jenkins, If Beale Street Could Talk is the story of two lovers named Clementine “Tish” Rivers (played by Kiki Layne) and Alonzo “Fonny” Hunt (played by Stephan James).
- The Harlem Renaissance
- 'The Age of The Negro Servant'
- The Negro Soldier
- Post-Ww II and The 'Passing' Genre
- The Civil Rights Era
- Blaxploitation and The L.A. Rebellion
- The Blockbuster Era
- #OscarsSoWhite
In the 1920s, the influential revival of Black arts and culture later known as the Harlem Renaissance was in full swing. Civil rights groups like the National Urban League and the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) were gaining prominence. Meanwhile, Black cinema was being advanced by directors like Oscar Micheaux. T...
In the 1930s, once the novel Gone With the Wind was optioned to be made into a film, the NAACP started pressuring MGM not to make it, because they were fearful that it would just be a repeat of The Birth of a Nation, said Jill Watts, a professor of history at California State University. Nevertheless, MGM and studio executive David O. Selznick bega...
When the Second World War began, Hollywood produced feature films appealing to Black people to get behind the war. "The one that I find really the most fascinating is the The Negro Soldier, under the the broad umbrella of the the Army films that Frank Capra oversaw," said Weisenfeld. "And it was meant to raise morale among Black soldiers." In We've...
Post-war Hollywood provided a new set of disappointments for Black people, according to Watts. They scrambled for fewer and fewer roles, almost disappearing from the screen. Hollywood also started to make more films for and about white women, like Mildred Piercestarring Joan Crawford. Some critics wondered whether Hollywood was deliberately focusin...
During the '60s, as the fight for Black civil rights was raging in America, Hollywood mostly stayed away. "Hollywood typically has not been in the business of showing the harsh reality of our lives to us," said Bailey, the TIFF artistic director. Buildings were being burned, political leaders such as Martin Luther King Jr. were being assassinated, ...
When it arrived on the cinematic scene in 1970, the Blaxploitation genre began showing powerful images of Black people who were unapologetically angry, often violent, sometimes even pursuing a goal to "kill whitey." Hundreds of movies were made during the five years that defined the Blaxploitation era, featuring gorgeous soundtracks, evocative clot...
By the 1980s, a unique era of Black cinema had come to an end. The NAACP had kept up its pressure on Hollywood to abandon Blaxploitation, while the L.A. Rebellion movement languished without the backing of a powerful infrastructure. Although some L.A. Rebellion and Blaxploitation filmmakers continued working, a moment in cultural history had passed...
When the 2015 Academy Award nominations were announced, it triggered a public identity crisis for Hollywood. That year, only two people of colour were nominated in major categories. In response, activist April Reign created the social media hashtag #OscarsSoWhite to call out the lack of diversity in the awards, as well as the lack of diversity in H...
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- Amanda Parris
Jun 11, 2020 · Spike Lee reflects on continued police brutality since the 1989 release of Do the Right Thing. Spike Lee releases powerful new short film amid George Floyd protests. "I wanted to deal with that ...
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Jan 31, 2021 · The film – which dealt with themes like passing and racial justice – was nominated for three Academy Awards. “You feel some of the weight of the bars of race prejudice in this country when you see, probably for the first time, the true symbol of the American Negro struggling against these bars as Fredi Washington portrays the role of ...
Jun 8, 2020 · 15. Shadows (John Cassavetes, 1959) The directorial debut of indie film hero Cassavetes, its story centers around three African American siblings living in the New York City beatnik scene. The film’s portrayal of interracial relationships is a likely inspiration to others on this list that deal with the same.
Feb 1, 2018 · Race movies disappeared shortly after World War II, and soon the mainstream industry turned toward social issues. Yet even as the civil rights movement gathered force, black characters and their ...
