40 Acres and a Mule Productions

fifty movies that address the history of racism in America

Movies give united states perspective and allow u.s. to watch sure events play out in front end of our eyes. They can be educational and entertaining, making proper representation a significant factor in filmmaking. Blackness representation in Hollywood was almost nonexistent in the early 20th century, and when images of African Americans were shown, they were given negative stereotypes and criticized with racist imagery and oppression.

Years of systematic racism riddle the Black customs today, but information technology was even more than breathy back so. Immature Blackness children around the country would turn on the television receiver to a lack of positive images outside of racial stereotypes. As the years went on, Black representation slowly but surely began to make its way through the airwaves, and it started to educate people on the realities of Black lives as many Black filmmakers, actors, and writers created a new cycle of Black movie house with a variety of genres.

Black films take become a staple in the Blackness customs, leaving long-lasting impacts on the civilization for years to come. Black artistry continues to rise in theaters and on goggle box equally the industry learns to cater to different skin types, film angles, genre diversities, and plot lines within Blackness culture.

Stacker extensively researched the history of Black filmmaking and Blackness lives captured on screen in both fiction features and documentaries, and compiled a listing of 50 various films that address the history of racism in America in ane style or the other using IMDb information as of June 3, 2020. To amplify Black voices and firsthand experience, the overwhelming majority of the films on this list are fabricated by Black filmmakers. The films are organized chronologically.

Check out these stories that shine a light on Blackness voices throughout cinema.

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one / 50

Micheaux Book & Film Visitor

Within Our Gates (1920)

- Managing director: Oscar Micheaux
- IMDb user rating: 6.three
- Metascore: data not available
- Runtime: 79 min

"Within Our Gates" follows a mixed-race adult female who ventures N during the Jim Crow era in hopes of raising money for a Black schoolhouse in the South. Oscar Micheaux, the offset major African American feature-filmmaker, portrays racial violence and strict contrasts between the Blackness people who lived in rural areas to those who migrated to urban cities. The silent picture show is highly critiqued to exist a response to D.West. Griffith's "Nascency of a Nation," and a turning indicate for African American movie house.

2 / 50

Shadows (1958)

- Manager: John Cassavetes
- IMDb user rating: 7.3
- Metascore: 86
- Runtime: 87 min

Leila, a white-passing, Black woman in New York City, falls in love with a white man, simply the human relationship ends when he meets her night-skinned blood brother and realizes she is Blackness. Leila and her two brothers navigate their racial identity with their skin complexion at the forefront of their narratives. This movie brings awareness to the multifaceted issues that surround Black livelihood.

3 / 50

A Raisin in the Lord's day (1961)

- Director: Daniel Petrie
- IMDb user rating: eight.0
- Metascore: 87
- Runtime: 128 min

Attempting to fulfill the American dream in a racially segregated Chicago, a Black family looking to purchase a dwelling house in a white neighborhood becomes a victim of housing discrimination and racial threats. The film addresses the racial injustices Black people face when attempting to follow their dreams, begetting the question, "what happens to a dream deferred?"

iv / 50

Judge Who's Coming to Dinner (1967)

- Director: Stanley Kramer
- IMDb user rating: seven.8
- Metascore: 63
- Runtime: 108 min

This classic movie depicts a couple's interracial dearest as they confront each other's family members' initial disapproval. Katharine Houghton and Sidney Poitier'south characters dive deep into the anti-miscegenation laws of the fourth dimension and explore certain hypocrisies that potentially stem from white-liberalism.

5 / 50

In the Heat of the Night (1967)

- Director: Norman Jewison
- IMDb user rating: 7.9
- Metascore: 75
- Runtime: 110 min

In this five-time Academy Accolade-winning moving picture, a Blackness detective (Sidney Poitier) gets caught in the middle of a murder investigation and eventually proves his innocence. Afterward his release, he's now in charge of the case but faces difficulties when he's partnered with the racist sheriff (Rod Steiger), who accused him of murder. The film was shot during the civil rights movement and examined racial policing and bigotry.

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vi / 50

Symbiopsychotaxiplasm: Accept One (1968)

- Managing director: William Greaves
- IMDb user rating: seven.iii
- Metascore: 71
- Runtime: 75 min

William Greaves experiments "a movie within a film within a picture show." While at times baiting his predominantly white crew over political topics, Greaves allows the actors to follow their narratives on issues of race and sexuality. In fact, the lack of management is how he wanted to bring out the reality of his crew's thoughts on screen.

7 / l

The Story of a Three-Twenty-four hours Laissez passer (1968)

- Director: Melvin Van Peebles
- IMDb user rating: seven.0
- Metascore: data not available
- Runtime: 87 min

An African American soldier named Turner is stationed in France and struggles with his own identity every bit a Black man in the army. After coming together and spending the weekend with a French woman, Turner finds that he is non exempt from racial prejudices, and he's forced to face his lack of freedom and discrimination within the military.

8 / l

Warner Bros. - 7 Arts.

The Learning Tree (1969)

- Director: Gordon Parks
- IMDb user rating: seven.1
- Metascore: data not available
- Runtime: 107 min

Gordon Parks tackles adolescent sexuality, morality, and racism, centering a young Black teenager in 1920s rural Kansas. The tragic trial of events portrayed in the movie speaks volumes to the harsh realities Black Americans face beginning at a young historic period.

ix / l

Cotton Comes to Harlem (1970)

- Director: Ossie Davis
- IMDb user rating: 6.5
- Metascore: data not available
- Runtime: 97 min

This slapstick comedy is widely known as one of the earliest examples of blaxploitation. Popular throughout the 1970s, the genre has been criticized but also praised by the Black community for characters who, at their core, promote messages of Black empowerment. The story follows a man attempting to raise money to return to Africa (mirroring the teachings of Marcus Garvey), all of which was actually an elaborate scam.

x / l

Sounder (1972)

- Director: Martin Ritt
- IMDb user rating: vii.5
- Metascore: 80
- Runtime: 105 min

A Black sharecropping family and their dog experience extreme poverty during the Slap-up Depression. They fight to survive later the father is jailed for stealing nutrient. Starring Cicely Tyson, the story themes prison labor, Black poverty, and access to educational activity within the Black community.

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11 / 50

The Spook Who Sat by the Door (1973)

- Managing director: Ivan Dixon
- IMDb user rating: seven.1
- Metascore: data non available
- Runtime: 102 min

"The Spook Who Sat by the Door" follows the starting time Black homo in a fictional CIA, who is aware of his token status in the agency. After learning a few techniques from the agency, he organizes the "Freedom Fighters" to help protect Blackness Americans and ensure their liberty. The motion-picture show addresses the need for Black people's self-defense force, a notion practiced during the ceremonious rights motility.

12 / 50

Ganja & Hess (1973)

- Director: Bill Gunn
- IMDb user rating: half dozen.3
- Metascore: data not available
- Runtime: 110 min

One of the first few horror films to have Black representation, Nib Gunn plays his own lead in "Ganja & Hess" and portrays multifariousness and range for Black actors in cinema. The picture show presents two Blackness lovers who've been killed and have emerged as immortal vampires. Initially pitched as a blaxploitation picture, the movie is more than experimental and artistic.

xiii / 50

Killer of Sheep (1978)

- Director: Charles Burnett
- IMDb user rating: 7.3
- Metascore: 96
- Runtime: 80 min

This black-and-white picture follows a Black man who works in a slaughter-house to feed his family. While the adults face challenges of their own, the children are near accustomed to their dangerous surroundings. The picture mirrors the harsh realities of the ghetto, trauma, and fiscal struggle due to racial inequity from childhood to adulthood.

14 / fifty

Losing Ground (1982)

- Director: Kathleen Collins
- IMDb user rating: six.4
- Metascore: data not available
- Runtime: 86 min

Sara, a young Black adult female, is having trouble with her union after her husband sparks interest in a Puerto Rican adult female, causing Sara to question her own identity and cocky-worth being both Black and a woman. "Losing Basis" was ane of the first feature-length films created by a Black woman.

15 / l

40 Acres and a Mule Productions

She's Gotta Accept It (1986)

- Director: Spike Lee
- IMDb user rating: 6.7
- Metascore: 79
- Runtime: 84 min

The themes of "She'southward Gotta Have It" include gender, Black feminism, and sexual liberation. Nola Darling lives a sexually liberated lifestyle with 3 men before she is forced to cull one lover. Spike Lee examines the representation of Black women's health and freedom of stereotypes.

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16 / fifty

Tongues Untied (1989)

- Managing director: Marlon Riggs
- IMDb user rating: half dozen.7
- Metascore: data non available
- Runtime: 55 min

This documentary focuses on the expression of gay Black men and their civilization. Marlon Riggs explores the intersectionality of being both Black and gay in a racist and homophobic society. Riggs shines a light on many issues the customs faces, including examples of hypersexualized Blackness men in relation to their white counterparts.

17 / 50

40 Acres and a Mule Productions

Do the Correct Thing (1989)

- Director: Spike Lee
- IMDb user rating: seven.9
- Metascore: 92
- Runtime: 120 min

A series of racially motivated events is outlined after an Italian-owned restaurant has a wall-of-fame with only Italian actors in a predominantly Blackness neighborhood. Believing there should be Black actors on the wall, heightened emotions on race relations lead to a race riot. This staple in the Black community is a representation of racial inequity and injustices themed beyond the country today.

18 / 50

Daughters of the Grit (1991)

- Director: Julie Dash
- IMDb user rating: 6.5
- Metascore: 81
- Runtime: 112 min

This motion-picture show portrays the effects of Blackness enslavement past the borders of America and into West Africa and creolized cultures. A family of women in the Gullah community struggles to conduct on their vibrant Yoruba culture away from their homeland. Julie Dash'southward film heavily inspired Beyonce's "Lemonade" video as it explores Black womanhood and the search for freedom after slavery.

19 / 50

Boyz due north the Hood (1991)

- Director: John Singleton
- IMDb user rating: 7.7
- Metascore: 76
- Runtime: 112 min

Based on his own life, John Singleton portrays three young Blackness men in a neighborhood riddled with poverty, gang violence, and other harsh issues that hit the community. Each homo navigates their path through Central Los Angeles when tragedy strikes, symbolizing a trauma bike of "what's going on in the hood."

xx / 50

Just Another Daughter on the I.R.T. (1992)

- Director: Leslie Harris
- IMDb user rating: six.4
- Metascore: data not available
- Runtime: 92 min

Chantel Mitchell is a Blackness, 17-yr-old loftier schooler from Brooklyn, New York, who dreams of going to college and hopes to go a doctor. Her plans fall brusque when she becomes pregnant. Mitchell copes with her fears of becoming a statistic, riddled with stereotypes that follow young Black girls.

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21 / 50

40 Acres and a Mule Productions

Malcolm X (1992)

- Director: Spike Lee
- IMDb user rating: 7.vii
- Metascore: 72
- Runtime: 202 min

Malcolm X was a Black activist who taught confronting racism and white violence while promoting Black empowerment and separation. Denzel Washington gives a powerful performance of the real-life events in the activist'south life and his impact on the Black community; many sentiments still followed and repeated to this twenty-four hours.

22 / 50

Hoop Dreams (1994)

- Managing director: Steve James
- IMDb user rating: 8.3
- Metascore: 98
- Runtime: 170 min

This documentary follows 2 Blackness teenage boys from a predominantly Black neighborhood in Chicago. They nourish a predominately white school in hopes of pursuing their dreams of condign professional person basketball game players. The film constantly touches on race, social class, and the teaching system with topics in code-switching, economical hardships, and racism.

23 / 50

Devil in a Blue Dress (1995)

- Director: Carl Franklin
- IMDb user rating: half-dozen.7
- Metascore: 78
- Runtime: 102 min

Denzel Washington makes another advent on the listing as a World War 2 veteran. He finds himself entangled in a example involving a missing white woman. Racism is at the eye of the story'due south plot equally Washington's character is consistently demeaned and belittled, and the film portrays an overall lack of care for Blackness lives by lodge.

24 / l

The Watermelon Woman (1996)

- Director: Cheryl Dunye
- IMDb user rating: 6.vii
- Metascore: 74
- Runtime: 90 min

In the first feature film directed by a Blackness lesbian woman, Cheryl, who plays herself in the picture, is a struggling filmmaker who hopes to make a film about a Black lesbian graphic symbol who is ofttimes belittled to "mammy" roles in early 20th century movies. The motion-picture show explores lesbianism, Blackness, and womanhood as each tin intersect and coexist to their fullest identity.

25 / l

Down in the Delta (1998)

- Managing director: Maya Angelou
- IMDb user rating: 6.7
- Metascore: 73
- Runtime: 112 min

Alfre Woodard stars in "Down in the Delta" every bit a character named Loretta, who is sent to Mississippi from Chicago to get clean from drugs and reconnect with her family's traditions. As a result of slavery, Black Americans have difficulties following family trees and often hit expressionless ends. Maya Angelou gives u.s.a. a story of family, heritage, and traditions reborn.

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26 / 50

Bamboozled (2000)

- Director: Spike Lee
- IMDb user rating: 6.5
- Metascore: fifty
- Runtime: 135 min

This satirical slice mirrors early 20th-century film equally a idiot box executive (Damon Wayans) decides to bring minstrel shows back to boob tube. The picture show hits many racist stereotypes throughout including blackface, "jive" dances, and other racist tropes. The abstruse film leans into former portrayals of Black characters equally an examination of the past, nowadays, and future of Blackness film.

27 / 50

How to Consume Your Watermelon in White Company (and Enjoy Information technology) (2005)

- Manager: Joe Angio
- IMDb user rating: seven.2
- Metascore: 70
- Runtime: 85 min

This documentary discusses Melvin Van Peebles' story and his breakthrough into Hollywood. Peebles' filmmaking style of the 1970s is highlighted throughout the moving picture as a call for revolution within the Black community and more Black representation in movie.

28 / l

The Untold Story of Emmett Louis Till (2005)

- Director: Keith Beauchamp
- IMDb user rating: vii.6
- Metascore: eighty
- Runtime: 70 min

Emmett Till was a Black, 14-year-old kid from Chicago who, on a visit to his great-uncle's domicile in Mississippi, was brutally murdered by two white men. This documentary tells the story of Till, his murderer's acquittal in courtroom past an all-white, all-male jury, and the racial insurgence that followed in the 1950s. The moving picture emphasizes the injustices of the racist South and white violence against the Black community.

29 / 50

The Bang-up Debaters (2007)

- Director: Denzel Washington
- IMDb user rating: seven.5
- Metascore: 65
- Runtime: 126 min

Denzel Washington directs and stars in this truthful story of a Black professor'southward quest to begin a debate team at Wiley College, during the Nifty Depression. The now-legacy was unheard of at the time as Jim Crow laws were as prominent as always, and the fear of violence against the Blackness community rang high. The film is a attestation to the squad and its coach for overcoming a racially unjust society.

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Trouble the Water (2008)

- Directors: Carl Deal, Tia Lessin
- IMDb user rating: 7.iii
- Metascore: 83
- Runtime: 93 min

"Problem the Water" journeys a young Blackness couples' tragedy during Hurricane Katrina. The motion-picture show shows predominantly Black neighborhoods flooded, families destroyed, and people killed during the natural disaster. The flick is a visual displaying the lack of government support due to racism and classism during the historical event.

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31 / 50

The Black Power Mixtape 1967-1975 (2011)

- Director: Göran Olsson
- IMDb user rating: vii.five
- Metascore: 73
- Runtime: 100 min

"The Blackness Ability Mixtape" documents the Black Power move and its turning points within Blackness history. The institute footage touches on many topics presented during the movement, including Dr. King's assassination, the War on Drugs, Black nationalism, and more than.

32 / fifty

12 Years a Slave (2013)

- Managing director: Steve McQueen
- IMDb user rating: 8.ane
- Metascore: 96
- Runtime: 134 min

This slave memoir adaptation tells the story of a gratuitous Blackness man named Soloman, who was kidnapped and sold into slavery. For 12 years, Solomon faced the brutalities of slavery, as he jumps from one plantation to the next in hopes to detect his way back home. The moving-picture show, which can be hard to watch, portrays some harsh realities Black people faced during centuries of enslavement.

33 / fifty

Fruitvale Station (2013)

- Director: Ryan Coogler
- IMDb user rating: seven.v
- Metascore: 85
- Runtime: 85 min

Oscar Grant was a Black, 22-year-old man who was shot and killed by a white constabulary officer in Oakland'southward Fruitvale district station. Michael B. Jordan portrays the beau, who faced with deprivations as a Black homo in America, journeyed through life as a Bay Area resident earlier his tragic murder. With footage caught on pic, Grant's story brought a telephone call for change towards law brutality and racial profiling that happens every day towards Blackness people.

34 / 50

Dearest White People (2014)

- Director: Justin Simien
- IMDb user rating: 6.i
- Metascore: 79
- Runtime: 108 min

This Netflix special follows a group of Blackness students at a predominantly white university. The students navigate cultural biases at the Ivy League college, and the story mirrors real-life social injustices that mark Black students in similar positions.

35 / fifty

Selma (2014)

36 / 50

Rat Film (2016)

- Managing director: Theo Anthony
- IMDb user rating: half dozen.half dozen
- Metascore: 83
- Runtime: 82 min

This documentary examines the rat infestation problem surrounding Baltimore and keys in on topics of discrimination, redlining, and other elements that encourage racial divide. Baltimore filmmaker, Theo Anthony alludes through the written report of the infestation that the city's layout is congenital on the back of these racial inequities.

37 / 50

I Am Not Your Negro (2016)

- Director: Raoul Peck
- IMDb user rating: seven.8
- Metascore: 95
- Runtime: 93 min

In the mid-1970s, James Baldwin produced an unfinished manuscript that became the footing of the motion-picture show "I Am Not Your Negro." The moving-picture show relies heavily on what was left of Baldwin's written discussion to tell the story of America's racist history and its correlation to today's racial, political climate.

38 / l

O.J.: Made in America (2016)

- Director: Ezra Edelman
- IMDb user rating: 8.9
- Metascore: information not available
- Runtime: 467 min

O.J. Simpson was arguably one of the near infamous names of the 1990s. Pieced together to make a five-part miniseries, "O.J.: Made in America" is the story that recounts Simpson's trial and acquittal for the murders of Nicole Brown Simpson and Ronald Lyle Goldman. A symbol of racial division, Simpson'southward story left a long-lasting affect on American civilization.

39 / 50

Loving (2016)

- Director: Jeff Nichols
- IMDb user rating: 7.0
- Metascore: 79
- Runtime: 123 min

In 2016, the real-life interracial romance between Richard and Mildred Loving, a white human and a Black woman, was put on the big screen for all to see. In 1958, this romance was illegal and was challenged in the U.Due south. Supreme Court decision, Loving five. Virginia, which ultimately led to interracial laws being prohibited beyond the country.

twoscore / 50

13th (2016)

- Manager: Ava DuVernay
- IMDb user rating: 8.2
- Metascore: 83
- Runtime: 100 min

Ava DuVernay tells another story in Black history, this time of the 13th Amendment (the abolishment of slavery) and how it marked the beginning of a new type of slavery—the mass incarceration of Black Americans. The film focuses on the racially disproportionate numbers in American prisons and features interviews from prominent figures like Michelle Alexander, Angela Davis, and more.

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41 / 50

Become Out (2017)

- Managing director: Jordan Peele
- IMDb user rating: seven.7
- Metascore: 85
- Runtime: 104 min

"Get out" follows a Black man (Chris) and his white girlfriend (Rose) as they travel to meet Rose's family for the first fourth dimension. This picture has been critically praised for hitting numerous themes of modern America, including white liberalism, cultural cribbing, racism, racial discrimination in policing, and more.

42 / l

Did You Wonder Who Fired the Gun? (2017)

- Director: Travis Wilkerson
- IMDb user rating: vi.7
- Metascore: 78
- Runtime: ninety min

"Did Y'all Wonder Who Fired the Gun?" dives into the South during the 1940s as a human being investigates the murder of a Blackness man by his racist, white great-grandfather. Incorporating scenes from "To Kill a Mockingbird," the film mirrors the lodge that allowed racial injustices and vicious murders to occur.

43 / l

Strong Island (2017)

- Director: Yance Ford
- IMDb user rating: 6.4
- Metascore: 86
- Runtime: 107 min

Yance Ford documents the investigation into the murder of his brother, 24-year-sometime William Ford Jr., in 1992. It is revealed that Ford was killed by a white human being who was acquitted by an all-white jury. The pic takes usa through the heartbreak of a family unit who could not escape the racial injustices that plague Black families and their lives.

44 / 50

The Force (2017)

- Manager: Peter Nicks
- IMDb user rating: six.7
- Metascore: 80
- Runtime: 92 min

"The Force" highlights the need for constabulary reform by the Oakland police force department amid the events and protests in Ferguson, Missouri. The moving-picture show addresses scandals caused by the police section and encourages police accountability.

45 / l

Mudbound (2017)

- Director: Dee Rees
- IMDb user rating: 7.iv
- Metascore: 85
- Runtime: 134 min

In the midst of Jim Crow, a Blackness family struggles to build "the American dream" while working on a subcontract. This film'southward timeline is prepare in the mail service-World State of war 2 era, and the strict rules enforced on race relations of the time are at the forefront of the film, with classism, sexism, and issues surrounding PTSD lingering shut behind.

46 / 50

Hale County This Morning time, This Evening (2018)

- Manager: RaMell Ross
- IMDb user rating: 6.3
- Metascore: 85
- Runtime: 76 min

Critics accept described this avant-garde way film equally "pure cinematic verse." Ii Black men learn to live within the social constructs of society and explore Black people'south deep-rooted history and culture. The picture show captures elements of life that stalk from racial injustices placed on Black people.

47 / fifty

Annapurna Releasing, LLC.

If Beale Street Could Talk (2018)

- Director: Barry Jenkins
- IMDb user rating: 7.one
- Metascore: 87
- Runtime: 119 min

Tish and Fonny's happily ever after is shattered when Fonny, a Blackness man, is falsely accused of a criminal offense he did not commit against a white woman. The motion picture explores topics like housing discrimination, racial violence, and mass incarceration. The film questions justice for Blackness people who are pinned confronting a society of systematic oppression.

48 / 50

Annapurna Releasing, LLC.

Deplorable to Bother You (2018)

- Manager: Boots Riley
- IMDb user rating: 6.9
- Metascore: 80
- Runtime: 112 min

Lakeith Stanfield and Tessa Thompson make a dynamic duo in a film that studies Black in white, corporate spaces. Stanfield, whose character finally reaches a level of success in his career, must choose between his friends and coworkers or his achievements. The picture takes a look at the double-edged sword that exists in the Black eye grade.

49 / fifty

The Hate U Requite (2018)

- Managing director: George Tillman Jr.
- IMDb user rating: 7.4
- Metascore: 81
- Runtime: 133 min

"The Hate U Give" puts the audition in the shoes of a Black teenage girl named Starr Carter, who lives a double life attention a predominantly white individual school. She is placed in the middle of protests and race riots after her friend, a Black boy, is killed by police force. The story implements the potent racial tensions of today.

50 / 50

Just Mercy (2019)

- Director: Destin Daniel Cretton
- IMDb user rating: seven.5
- Metascore: 68
- Runtime: 137 min

Based on a true story in 1989, "Just Mercy" follows Bryan Stevenson, a constabulary school graduate, who vows to defend Blackness inmates falsely sitting on death row. Stevenson, who experiences racial bigotry in the workplace himself, works incessantly to fight for the justice and freedom of Walter McMillian, a Blackness human falsely accused of murdering a white woman.

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