21. A Raisin In The Sun
If you’ve never seen the hugely popular play by Lorraine Hansberry, cue up this classic screen adaptation. A newly widowed woman receives a hefty insurance payment, but her family is divided over how to spend it. It’s a moving exploration of how money doesn’t always bring salvation.
22. Hidden Figures
There’s a valid reason this Oscar-nominated movie is so beloved—and it’s not just because it spotlights the untold story of Black women who were major, but unacknowledged players in the U.S. space race. It’s also very heartwarming, with beautiful performances from Taraji P. Henson, Janelle Monáe, and Octavia Spencer. Their brilliance (and workplace talent) are a joy to watch. Admittedly, the movie has received some (valid) criticism about dipping into white savior territory, but it’s still absolutely still worthy as a cultural and educational tool.
23. Glory
This Oscar-winning film does the impressive work of spotlighting another story previously lost to history. The 54th Regiment of the Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry, one of the first all-black regiments in the Union army, is regularly undermined and disparaged despite its heroism in the Civil War. Over 20 years later, the film is mostly known for its ending—no spoilers here, though. It’s not a perfect story, and it can skew white savior-y at times, but the whole film is watchable for its thoughtful performances. In fact, Denzel Washington nabbed his first Oscar from Glory.
24. Straight Outta Compton
If you’re familiar with the rap group N.W.A., its members Eazy-E, Ice Cube, and Dr. Dre, or any of their songs, this movie’s for you. And if you’re somehow not familiar with their work, then this movie’s definitely for you. Set in California in the 1980s-90s, the movie does a terrific job of explaining how the music and musicians tapped into the zeitgeist and the Black experience of the time. It’s an individual and unique story about the rise and fall of the group, but it’s got a universal message in its telling of systemic racism and injustice.
25. When They See Us
Based on a true story, this story takes place in 1989 when a jogger was assaulted and raped in New York’s Central Park. Five teens from Harlem are falsely accused of the crime, and although they declared their innocence, the quintet spends a quarter of a century fighting the convictions against them—starting from when the teens were first questioned about the incident in the spring of 1989, all the way to their ultimate exoneration in 2002 and settlement with New York City in 2014.
26. Dear White People
While the movie is categorized as a comedy-drama, the film focuses on some very serious issues, primarily the escalating racial tensions at a predominantly white Ivy League college from the perspective of several black students.
27. Freedom Riders
Based on Raymond Arsenault’s book Freedom Riders: 1961 and the Struggle for Racial Justice, this two-hour documentary tells the story of the summer of 1961 when more than 400 Black and white Americans risked their lives traveling together in the segregated South to protest segregation. Committed to the cause of justice and determined to attract attention to the pursuit of civil rights, they boarded buses and trains, calling themselves “Freedom Riders.” Deliberately violating Jim Crow laws, the Freedom Riders were met with bitter racism and mob violence along the way. Still, they continued to ride and find new ways to sustain and expand the movement.
28. Dark Girls
Dark Girls is an emotional exposé on what it means to be dark skinned in America. Filmmakers D. Channsin Berry and Bill Duke capture moving interviews with women who open up about their experiences being dark, Black women in America. They share painful stories about things their mothers, sisters and friends have said, in addition to what they’ve taken away from mass media. Overwhelmingly these interviews reveal the same thing: To them, Black is not beautiful.
In an effort to learn more about the concept of Black beauty, the filmmakers reach both in and outside the Black community to seed conversations that reveal deep-rooted biases about race. Combining these emotional interviews with historical context and well-known psychological studies, the film sheds light on the perceived biases of “dark versus light,” and its ultimate aim to help people see that Black is beautiful.
While I can go on and on, this list is a pretty good start.
NOW GO WATCH THEM!
