Best African American movie
A list of movies that are based on slavery, racism, fight for equality and overcoming diversity in America
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- DirectorJohn SingletonStarsJon VoightVing RhamesDon CheadleA dramatization of a 1923 horrific racist lynch mob attack on an African-American community.
- DirectorJoseph SargentStarsCliff McMullenYasiin BeyLuray CooperA dramatization of the relationship between heart surgery pioneers Alfred Blalock and Vivien Thomas.
- DirectorSunu GoneraStarsTerrence HowardBernie MacKimberly EliseThe determined Jim Ellis starts a swim team for troubled teens at the Philadelphia Department of Recreation.
- DirectorPhil JoanouStarsDwayne JohnsonXzibitL. Scott CaldwellTeenagers at a juvenile detention center, under the leadership of their counselor, gain self-esteem by playing football together.
- DirectorTim StoryStarsForest WhitakerIsaiah WashingtonShad MossAl, a basketball coach at a New Orleans high school, finally has a winning team when Hurricane Katrina happens. He tries to build a winning team anew after the hurricane.
- DirectorDarnell MartinStarsAdrien BrodyJeffrey WrightBeyoncéChronicles the rise of Chess Records and its recording artists.
- DirectorJohn Lee HancockStarsQuinton AaronSandra BullockTim McGrawThe story of Michael Oher, a homeless and traumatized boy who became an All-American football player and first-round NFL draft pick with the help of a caring woman and her family.
- DirectorTaylor HackfordStarsJamie FoxxRegina KingKerry WashingtonThe story of the life and career of the legendary rhythm and blues musician Ray Charles, from his humble beginnings in the South, where he went blind at age seven, to his meteoric rise to stardom during the 1950s and 1960s.
- DirectorRobert MarkowitzStarsLaurence FishburneAllen PayneMalcolm-Jamal WarnerThe true story of how a group of African-American pilots overcame racist opposition to become one of the finest United States fighter groups in World War II.
- DirectorAnthony HemingwayStarsCuba Gooding Jr.Gerald McRaneyDavid OyelowoA crew of African American pilots in the Tuskegee training program, having faced segregation while kept mostly on the ground during World War II, are called into duty under the guidance of Col. A.J. Bullard.
- StarsCicely TysonJason BernardClifford DavidA film about the life and career of the African American abolitionist and slave escape leader, Harriet Tubman.
- StarsAnn-MargretPatricia ClarksonTim DalyThe son of a plantation owner has a daughter named Queen, with a slave. As Queen grows, she is faced with the struggle of trying to fit in with the troubled world around her.
- StarsLeVar BurtonRobert ReedJohn AmosA dramatization of author Alex Haley's family line from ancestor Kunta Kinte's enslavement to his descendants' liberation.
- DirectorTony KayeStarsEdward NortonEdward FurlongBeverly D'AngeloLiving a life marked by violence, neo-Nazi Derek finally goes to prison after killing two black youths. Upon his release, Derek vows to change; he hopes to prevent his brother, Danny, who idolizes Derek, from following in his footsteps.
- DirectorJohn KortyStarsCicely TysonEric BrownRichard DysartStory of a black woman in the South who was born into slavery in the 1850s and lives to become a part of the civil rights movement in the 1960s.
- DirectorDee ReesStarsQueen LatifahKamryn JohnsonRikki McKinneyThe story of legendary blues performer Bessie Smith, who rose to fame during the 1920s and '30s.
- DirectorAmma AsanteStarsGugu Mbatha-RawMatthew GoodeEmily WatsonThe biracial daughter, Dido Elizabeth Belle (Gugu Mbatha-Raw), of Royal Navy Captain Sir John Lindsay (Matthew Goode) is raised by aristocratic Great-uncle Lord William Murray, 1st Earl of Mansfield (Tom Wilkinson) in 18th century England.
- DirectorCharles HaidStarsLamont BentleyTom BowerTimothy BusfieldThe all-black US Cavalry Troop H pursues Apache warrior Victorio while dealing with racial bigotry and myths about their designated enemies.
- DirectorJustin SimienStarsTyler James WilliamsTessa ThompsonKyle GallnerThe lives of four black students at an Ivy League college.
- DirectorQuentin TarantinoStarsJamie FoxxChristoph WaltzLeonardo DiCaprioWith the help of a German bounty-hunter, a freed slave sets out to rescue his wife from a brutal plantation owner in Mississippi.
- DirectorThomas CarterStarsCuba Gooding Jr.Kimberly EliseAunjanue Ellis-TaylorBiography of Ben Carson who grew up to be Dr. Ben Carson, a world famous neurosurgeon at Johns Hopkins.
- DirectorSteven SpielbergStarsDaniel Day-LewisSally FieldDavid StrathairnAs the Civil War rages on, U.S President Abraham Lincoln struggles with continuing carnage on the battlefield as he fights with many inside his own cabinet on his decision to emancipate the slaves.
- DirectorMario Van PeeblesStarsKadeem HardisonBokeem WoodbineJoe Don BakerA dramatized account of the story of The Black Panther Party of Self-Defense.
- 1997–20231h 36mTV-PG7.1 (1.2K)TV EpisodeDirectorEuzhan PalcyStarsPenelope Ann MillerKevin PollakMichael BeachWhen six-year-old Ruby is chosen to be the first African-American to integrate her local elementary school, she is subjected to the true ugliness of racism for the first time.
- DirectorLee DanielsStarsForest WhitakerOprah WinfreyJohn CusackAs Cecil Gaines serves eight presidents during his tenure as a butler at the White House, the civil rights movement, Vietnam, and other major events affect this man's life, family, and American society.
- DirectorDenzel WashingtonStarsDenzel WashingtonForest WhitakerKimberly EliseA drama based on the true story of Melvin B. Tolson, a professor at Wiley College Texas. In 1935, he inspired students to form the school's first debate team, which went on to challenge Harvard in the national championship.
- DirectorTate TaylorStarsViola DavisEmma StoneOctavia SpencerAn aspiring author during the civil rights movement of the 1960s decides to write a book detailing the African American maids' point of view on the white families for which they work, and the hardships they go through on a daily basis.
- DirectorNorman JewisonStarsDenzel WashingtonVicellous ShannonDeborah Kara UngerThe story of Rubin 'Hurricane' Carter, a boxer wrongly imprisoned for murder, and the people who aided in his fight to prove his innocence.
- DirectorRichard PearceStarsSissy SpacekWhoopi GoldbergDwight SchultzTwo women, black and white, in 1955 Montgomery Alabama, must decide what they are going to do in response to the famous bus boycott led by Martin Luther King.
- DirectorPeter LevinStarsCicely TysonMorgan FreemanRodrick F. WimberlyIn this touching story, a dedicated African-American teacher in an inner-city school in the midwestern United States facing tough odds helps inner-city children to succeed. Meanwhile, she faces an adversarial colleague and a principal who disapproves of her teaching methods. To top it off, a youth regularly messes up the classroom after school to tick the teacher off.
- DirectorJulie DashStarsAngela BassettPeter Francis JamesTonea StewartA seamstress recalls events leading to her act of peaceful defiance that prompted the 1955 bus boycott in Montgomery, Alabama.
- DirectorStan LathanStarsAvery BrooksKate BurtonBruce DernThe life of an aging black slave, Tom, and the people with whom he interacts.
- DirectorBoaz YakinStarsDenzel WashingtonWill PattonWood HarrisIn 1971 Virginia high school football was everything to the people of Alexandria. But when the school board was forced to integrate an all-black school with an all-white one, the very foundation of football's tradition was put to the test.
- DirectorJames GartnerStarsJosh LucasDerek LukeAustin NicholsIn 1966, Texas Western coach Don Haskins led the first all-black starting line-up for a college basketball team to the NCAA national championship.
- DirectorBrian HelgelandStarsChadwick BosemanT.R. KnightHarrison FordIn 1947, Jackie Robinson becomes the first African-American to play in Major League Baseball in the modern era when he was signed by the Brooklyn Dodgers and faces considerable racism in the process.
- DirectorEdward ZwickStarsMatthew BroderickDenzel WashingtonCary ElwesRobert Gould Shaw leads the U.S. Civil War's first all-black volunteer company, fighting prejudices from both his own Union Army, and the Confederates.
- DirectorAva DuVernayStarsDavid OyelowoCarmen EjogoOprah WinfreyA chronicle of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.'s campaign to secure equal voting rights via an epic march from Selma to Montgomery, Alabama, in 1965.
- DirectorJoel SchumacherStarsMatthew McConaugheySandra BullockSamuel L. JacksonIn Canton, Mississippi, a fearless young lawyer and his assistant defend a black man accused of murdering two white men who raped his ten-year-old daughter, inciting violent retribution and revenge from the Ku Klux Klan.
- StarsPaul WinfieldCicely TysonTony BennettThe story of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., stretching from his days as a Southern Baptist minister up to his assassination in Memphis in 1968.
- DirectorDon McBreartyStarsFalconer AbrahamDwight BacquieJanet BaileyA number of slaves risk their lives to escape their masters with their only help coming from the famous secret slave escape network.
- DirectorSpike LeeStarsMaxine McNairWalter CronkiteChris McNairA documentary of the notorious racial terrorist bombing of an African American church during the Civil Rights Movement.
- DirectorRob ReinerStarsAlec BaldwinJames WoodsWhoopi GoldbergA Mississippi district attorney and the widow of Medgar Evers struggle to finally bring a white racist to justice for the 1963 murder of the civil rights leader.
- DirectorRobert TownsendStarsAndre BraugherCharles S. DuttonMario Van PeeblesUnion activist Asa Philip Randolph's efforts to organize the black porters of the Pullman Rail Company in 1920s America.
- DirectorPhil Alden RobinsonStarsDanny GloverVicellous ShannonVondie Curtis-HallA tale about a young man's bout in the 1960s, in Mississippi, before Blacks were allowed to vote, and did sit ins at White establishments. The harrowing ordeals people wanting the same opportunities had to go through.
- DirectorKevin Rodney SullivanStarsDelroy LindoMykelti WilliamsonEdward HerrmannBlack baseball greats, Satchel Paige and Josh Gibson, vie to be the first afro-American major leaguer, only to see the outspoken rookie, Jackie Robinson, be chosen.
- DirectorGary FlederStarsRob BrownDennis QuaidClancy BrownA drama based on the life of college football hero Ernie Davis, the first African-American to win the Heisman Trophy.
- DirectorClark JohnsonStarsJeffrey WrightTerrence HowardCCH PounderBlack Americans boycott the public buses during the 1950s civil rights movement.
- DirectorJames IvoryStarsNick NolteGreta ScacchiGwyneth PaltrowWidower Thomas Jefferson (3rd US president 1801-09) lives in Paris 1785-90 with his daughter. He has a pretty slave girl accompany his other daughter to France. He has an alleged affair with her resulting in children.
- DirectorAlan ParkerStarsGene HackmanWillem DafoeFrances McDormandTwo F.B.I. Agents with wildly different styles arrive in Mississippi to investigate the disappearance of some civil rights activists.