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Essex Girls

After an incident at her high school shunts her into the orbit of the only other Black girl in her year, “Essex Girl” Bisola is plunged into a journey of discovering a whole new side of herself.
Navigating adolescence in Benfleet, Essex hasn't been straightforward for British-Nigerian Bisola. She's done her best to fit in, but even her two best friends Charlie & Saffron, who love her to bits, seem to be understanding her less and less recently. However, after an incident at her high school shunts her into the orbit of the only other Black girl in her year - the gorgeous, irrepressible Ashlee, who is everything Bisola wishes she could be - Bisola is plunged into a journey of discovering a whole new side of herself.
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1000% Me: Growing Up Mixed

1000% Me: Growing Up Mixed is a documentary film about multiracial children and their families share the joys and struggles of growing up mixed in the Bay Area.
With humor and sensitivity, filmmaker and comedian W. Kamau Bell tackles the joys and challenges of growing up mixed-race through conversations with kids and families in the San Francisco Bay Area, including his own. Recognizing that his children, born to a Black father and White mother, and growing up in a country still deeply divided by race, would have very different experiences in America than he and his wife did, embarks on a journey of discovery in his family’s Bay Area community. In a series of playful and impactful conversations, Bell explores how these young people navigate issues of identity in a world that can ask them to pick a side and thoughtful exchanges with families reveal the many joys and complexities of what it means to raise multiracial children.
In his trademark fashion, Bell maintains a serious focus while keeping the discussions lively and accessible, proving along the way that children are more than capable of understanding and furthering complex conversations about race, culture, and identity.

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A Choice of Weapons: Inspired by Gordon Parks

A Choice of Weapons: Inspired by Gordon Parks is a 2021 documentary film that follows the life of the photographer and filmmaker Gordon Parks. Its title derives from Parks’ 1967 autobiography.
The life and work of Gordon Parks remains strikingly relevant and salient in today’s challenging times. A Choice of Weapons explores the power of images in storytelling and advancing racial, economic and social equality through the lens of three contemporary photographers who consider Parks’s vision in the context of their own work. Devin Allen whose photograph “Baltimore Uprising” of the Freddie Gray protests was featured on the cover of Time Magazine; LaToya Ruby Frazier who for five years followed the Flint, Michigan water crisis and most recently photographed Breonna Taylor’s family for Vanity Fair; and Jamel Shabazz who uses his camera as a tool to document his community and those around him to ensure that they feel seen.
A Choice of Weapons also features a compelling overview of the Black American experience as told through Parks’s own work and traces America’s Civil Rights movement as portrayed through his lens. From his prolific, photographic series of everyday Black Americans, his decades of magazine work, to composing music, writing memoirs and novels, to directing “Shaft” in 1971, Parks was a multifaceted trailblazer: he was the first Black staff photographer at Life magazine and the first Black American to direct a major studio film. He wielded his camera as his weapon, disrupting conventional ideas of what it meant to be an American and fighting for social justice. First and foremost, he uniquely understood the privilege of being allowed into his subjects’ lives, spending time observing and getting to know them before capturing their humanity on film.
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Portrait of Ailey

Conceived and directed by Ailey II Artistic Director Emerita Sylvia Waters in collaboration with Dominique Singer and the Ailey Archives, this exceptional film series charts the course of Mr. Ailey’s life, from his early childhood influences to his professional collaborations with composers, designers, and generations of dancers. Combining rare archival performance footage of Mr. Ailey with interviews and historical images, Portrait of Ailey is a beautiful work of art as well as an invaluable resource for anyone interested in learning more about our founder and his artistic accomplishments.
Chapter 1: Texas Roots
Alvin Ailey’s childhood—growing up in the rural South and witnessing baptismal ceremonies at his local church—offers the seeds for what will become his greatest choreographic influences.
Chapter 2: California
Alvin Ailey moves to California, where he is exposed to a vibrant culture of music, film, theatrical revues, and ballet, as he considers life as an artist.
Chapter 3: The Choreographer
Alvin Ailey begins his choreographic career while dancing with the Lester Horton Dance Company in Los Angeles, where he encourages dancers to move beyond their limitations and connect to their internal rhythms and energies.
Chapter 4: Worldwide Expansion
In New York, Alvin Ailey forms his Company and creates his signature work Revelations, based on his memories of the rural South.
Chapter 5: The Total Dancer
Alvin Ailey hones his training philosophy, encouraging dancers to embrace classical, modern, and jazz techniques to become fully rounded artists.
Chapter 6: The Repertory
As his Company expands, Alvin Ailey enriches his repertory with works inspired by artists and music, while preserving modern dance works of the past and inviting young choreographers to contribute to his “library of dance.”
Chapter 7: Legacy
Alvin Ailey reflects on a lifetime of achievements, and the hurdles he faced and overcame as a Black choreographer.
Chapter 8: Epilogue
Ailey II Artistic Director Emerita Sylvia Waters reflects on her motivation to create Portrait of Ailey, and what his legacy might mean for future generations.
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Ailey

Alvin Ailey was a trailblazing pioneer who found salvation through dance. AILEY traces the full contours of this brilliant and enigmatic man whose search for the truth in movement resulted in enduring choreography that centers on the Black American experience with grace, strength, and unparalleled beauty. Told through Ailey’s own words and featuring evocative archival footage and interviews with those who intimately knew him, director Jamila Wignot weaves together a resonant biography of an elusive visionary.
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Origin

Origin is a biographical drama film based on the life of Isabel Wilkerson as she writes the book Caste: The Origins of Our Discontents. Over the course of the film, Wilkerson travels throughout Germany, India, and the United States to research the caste systems in each country's history.
While grappling with tremendous personal tragedy, Isabel sets herself on a path of global investigation and discovery. Despite the colossal scope of her project, she finds beauty and bravery while crafting one of the defining American books of our time.
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Slavery by Another Name

Slavery by Another Name explores how in the years following the Emancipation Proclamation, systematic approaches were taken to re-enslave newly freed Blacks in the United States. This system included new brutal methods of forced labor in which men were arrested and forced to work without pay, bought and sold, and coerced to do the bidding of masters.
Based on Douglas A. Blackmon's Pulitzer Prize-winning book, the film tells how even as chattel slavery came to an end in the South in 1865, thousands of African Americans were pulled back into forced labor with shocking force and brutality. It was a system in which men, often guilty of no crime at all, were arrested, compelled to work without pay, repeatedly bought and sold, and coerced to do the bidding of masters. Tolerated by both the North and South, forced labor lasted well into the 20th century.
Slavery by Another Name explores post-emancipation slavery in the United States. But slavery and its legacy are not unique to the U.S. During the years of the transatlantic slave trade, approximately 1500-1866, over 12 million slaves were shipped from Africa to the Americas. Of these, 4 million were sold to Brazil, 2.5 million to Spanish colonies including Mexico and Hispaniola (Haiti and Dominican Republic) and other parts of Latin and South America, and around 400,000 to the United States.

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DuSable to Obama: Chicago's Black Metropolis

DuSable to Obama: Chicago's Black Metropolis tells the history of Chicago's African-American community as never before — through the voices of its leading citizens, scholars, artists, politicians, and business leaders.
Celebrate the heroic and unsung everyday men and women who have helped to mold Chicago's rich history through triumph and challenge. Explore historical moments from the first permanent settlement at Chicago in 1779 to the election of Barack Obama as President of the United States in 2008. Watch web exclusive interviews with luminaries of the African-American community, test your own knowledge of historic happenings, and travel back in time through illuminating archival images as you honor the rich legacy of Chicago’s Black Metropolis.
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The Young Lords of Lincoln Park

Before Lincoln Park was known for its multimillion-dollar homes, the neighborhood was the beating heart of Chicago’s Puerto Rican community, and the base of operations for a band of Puerto Rican revolutionaries known as the Young Lords. Audio-narrated descriptions of key visual elements are available.
There was a time, from the late 1940s through the 1960s, when the now-upscale Lincoln Park neighborhood served as the beating heart of Chicago’s huge Puerto Rican community, and the base of operations for a band of Puerto Rican revolutionaries known as the Young Lords. Led by a young man named José “Cha Cha” Jiménez, the activist group – which evolved from a social club to a street gang to a political force – banded together with the Black Panthers as the Rainbow Coalition to wage war against what they called Mayor Richard J. Daley’s “urban removal of the poor” and the area’s eventual gentrification.

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House Music: A Cultural Revolution

Explore the origins of house music, which began in Chicago’s underground party scene as a safe space for gay people and people of color. Audio-narrated descriptions of key visual elements are available.
Chicago has long been known for its diverse music genres and, infamously, as the city where disco met its demise. But from its ashes rose another groundbreaking musical form: house music. House music emerged in the early 1980s in Chicago’s underground Black and gay clubs, where it was played by house music producers and DJs such as Frankie Knuckles, who welcomed the marginalized into these safe spaces. To mark the 40th anniversary of its creation, HOUSE MUSIC – A CULTURAL REVOLUTION: AMERICAN STORIES celebrates the innovative and catchy electronic dance music that continues to inspire prominent artists today, including Charli XCX, Peggy Gou, Beyonce, and Fisher.
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Chicago Stories: The Birth of Gospel

This episode of Chicago Stories traces the birth and growth of gospel music in Chicago in the 1930s. The story follows "The Father of Gospel", Thomas A. Dorsey, who wrote one of gospel’s early hits while coping with his grief over the death of his wife and child. It explores the roots of gospel from southern spirituals during slavery, through gospel’s early years.
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Ida B. Wells: A Chicago Stories Special

There are few Chicago historical figures whose life and work speak to the current moment more than Ida B. Wells, the 19th century investigative journalist, civil rights leader, and passionate suffragist.
Freed from slavery just six months after she was born, Ida B. Wells once described her childhood with her parents and siblings in Holly Springs, Mississippi as “happy.” But a tragedy would alter the course of Wells’ youth. As a young woman and teacher, she refused to give up her seat on a train car that she was told was reserved white women. That incident launched the young Wells into her first public fight for justice.
One of the lesser-told stories about Ida B. Wells’ life is her work with the Negro Fellowship League, one of the first Black settlement houses in Chicago. With its location on The Stroll on State Street, the Negro Fellowship League’s goal was to support a population that many people ignored.
Through writing, Ida B. Wells found her “real” self. As she put pen to paper, her words became an important tool to analyze, debate, and persuade readers on the issues of the day, particularly when it came to race and gender. But after the lynching of her close friend in Memphis, Wells found a new kind of power in her pen.
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Judge Mathis

Judge Mathis is an American arbitration-based reality court show presided over by Judge Greg Mathis, a former judge of Michigan's 36th District Court and Black-interests motivational speaker/activist.
In each hour-long episode, Judge Mathis lays down the law, presiding over real, hard-hitting cases, and his decisions are legal and binding. The hallmark of Judge Mathis is the Judge himself, as he combines a refreshing mix of social commentary, humor, and humanity. His use of the bench to provide resolution and counseling to litigants before him during each episode has catapulted Judge Mathis to the forefront of a national dialogue about real issues facing contemporary society. His long-term personal involvement exemplifies his dedication to uplifting those who step into his courtroom and those who tune in to the show. Always a judge but never judgmental, Judge Mathis seeks to find a positive solution for the most-dire situations.
As a young man, Mathis was involved with gangs, dropped out of school, spent time in jail, and then turned his life around as a promise to his dying mother. He earned a law degree, became the youngest judge in Michigan’s history, and served as a Superior Court Judge for Michigan’s 36th district. Known for running his courtroom with an earnest style and streetwise sensibility, Mathis often uses himself as an example to those who appear before him. His trademark sense of humor, personal commitment to social and equal justice, and degree of humanity and forthrightness distinguish him from the rest of the genre. In May 2022, Judge Mathis received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, an honor bestowed on entertainment industry luminaries, for his contribution to television.

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Glory

Following the Battle of Antietam, Col. Robert Gould Shaw is offered command of the United States' first all-African-American regiment, the 54th Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry. With junior officer Cabot Forbes, Shaw puts together a strong and proud unit, including the escaped slave Trip and the wise gravedigger John Rawlins. At first limited to menial manual tasks, the regiment fights to be placed in the heat of battle.
Glory is a epic historical war drama film about the 54th Massachusetts Infantry Regiment, one of the Union Army's earliest African American regiments in the American Civil War. The film depicts the soldiers of the 54th from the formation of their regiment to their heroic actions at the Second Battle of Fort Wagner.
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MLK: The Assassination Tapes

MLK: The Assassination Tapes gives the viewer a chance to relive an unspeakable tragedy of a man who fundamentally changed America detailed with unforgettable images, videos, and recordings.
Relive an unspeakable tragedy detailed with unforgettable images, videos, and recordings only recently rediscovered.
https://youtu.be/BqIidpUmFr8?si=dhPp5ocsrWELZWib
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The Lost Tapes: Malcolm X

The life and death of civil rights activist Malcolm X, who gave voice to the anger and frustration of African Americans during the 1950s and '60s; includes footage of rallies, audio tapes and recordings made on the day of Malcolm X's assassination.
Presented entirely through speeches, newscasts, and rarely seen archival footage, The Lost Tapes: Malcolm X tells the story of the man who, by any means necessary, willingly put his life at risk to bring change and equality to black America.
https://youtu.be/k7MP_h3eQ1o?si=U_auWY4knUawtPfD
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Jasper, Texas

In the summer of 1998, the small town of Jasper, Texas, is rocked by the brutal murder of an African-American man by three white supremacists. The national media picks up the grisly case and soon the town is swarming with reporters, racists and Black Panthers. R.C. Horn, Jasper's first African-American mayor, and Billy Rowles, the white sheriff, try to control the situation, but realize racial tensions are spiraling out of control.
The teleplay by Jonathan Estrin is based on a true story and focuses on the aftermath of a crime in which three white men from the small town of Jasper, Texas, killed African American James Byrd Jr. by dragging him behind their pickup truck.
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American Violet

After an overzealous district attorney's drug bust lands her in jail, single mother Dee Roberts must face an agonizing choice: Plead guilty and go home a convicted felon, or fight the charges and risk a lengthy prison sentence. Despite her mother's advice and risking everything, innocent Dee chooses to fight the Texas criminal justice system, joined by an ACLU attorney and a former narcotics cop.
The film is based on the civil rights lawsuit Regina Kelly v. John Paschall, filed on behalf of 15 African-American residents of Hearne, Texas who were indicted in November 2000 on drug charges after being rounded up in a series of drug sweeps the ACLU referred to as "paramilitary". The lawsuit accused Paschall and the South Central Texas Narcotics Task Force of conducting racially motivated drug sweeps for more than 15 years in Hearne. In 2005, the ACLU and Robertson County settled and the plaintiffs agreed to dismiss the individuals named in the suit, including Paschall. The fictional Harmon County represents Robertson County, Texas, where John Paschall was defeated for reelection in 2012. In 2016, Paschall surrendered his law license and pleaded guilty to a felony charge of misusing money that belonged to an estate for which he served as executor. He was required to spend 30 nights in jail, placed on 10 years' probation and issued a $1,000 fine.
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I Am Not Your Negro

In 1979, James Baldwin wrote a letter to his literary agent describing his next project, "Remember This House." The book was to be a revolutionary, personal account of the lives and assassinations of three of his close friends: Medgar Evers, Malcolm X and Martin Luther King, Jr. At the time of Baldwin's death in 1987, he left behind only 30 completed pages of this manuscript. Filmmaker Raoul Peck envisions the book James Baldwin never finished.
The film explores the history of racism in the United States through Baldwin's recollections of civil rights leaders Medgar Evers, Malcolm X and Martin Luther King Jr.
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Ernest Cole: Lost and Found

Ernest Cole, a South African photographer was the first to expose the horrors of apartheid to a world audience. His book House of Bondage, published in 1967 when he was only 27 years old, led him into exile in NYC and Europe for the rest of his life, never to find his bearings. Raoul Peck recounts his wanderings, his turmoil as an artist and his anger, on a daily basis, at the silence or complicity of the Western world in the face of the horrors of the Apartheid regime. He also recounts how, in 2017, 60,000 negatives of his work were discovered in the safe of a Swedish bank. The film follows Ernest Cole, a photographer who exposed the horrors of Apartheid.
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The Ernest Green Story

In 1957, three years after the court-ordered integration of America's schools, Ernest Green enrolls with eight other African-American students in all-white Little Rock Central High School. The National Guard initially prevents them from entering, but soon the students begin class. Physics teacher Mr. Loomis is determined to prevent Ernest from passing, but with diligent study and the support of his family, Ernest perseveres.
The Ernest Green Story is a 1993 biographical film which follows the true story of Ernest Green and eight other African-American high-school students (dubbed the "Little Rock Nine") as they embark on their historic journey to integrate Little Rock Central High School in Little Rock, Arkansas, in 1957.
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Lumumba

Lumumba is a gripping political thriller which tells the story of the legendary African leader Patrice Emery Lumumba. Called "the politico of the bush" by journalists of his day, the brilliant and charismatic Lumumba rose rapidly to the office of Prime Minister when Belgium conceded the Congo's independence in June, 1960. He would last two months in office. This is a true story.
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Lumumba: Death of a Prophet

Lumumba, la mort du prophète (Lumumba, the death of the prophet) is a documentary film. It covers the death of Patrice Lumumba, the first prime minister of Zaire, now the Democratic Republic of the Congo.
The film is a creative documentary where biography and history, stories and archives create a frame around the figure of Lumumba, his political assassination, media and memory. It is a unique opportunity to examine, 30 years later, the life and legend of Lumumba. The documentary is narrated by the director, Raoul Peck, as he reconstructs a story that interweaves his own personal experiences and the circumstances surrounding the murder of Lumumba. Peck is in Belgium, and uses shots of Brussels to establish his location and contrast with the archival footage he combines to tell Lumumba's story. The film is about absence; absence of a historical figure, absence of clarity about the events surrounding his death, and absence of a true historical construct. Even a true location is absent; he cannot get to Zaire, the topic of his film, but the majority of the archival footage and photos used are from Central Africa. Even if he were able to film in Zaire, he would be faced with an absence, so no matter his location he is still "filming from afar."

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A Soldier's Story

A Soldier's Story is a 1984 American mystery drama film adapted by Charles Fuller from his Pulitzer Prize-winning A Soldier's Play. It is a murder mystery set in a segregated regiment of the U.S Army commanded by White officers and training in the Jim Crow South. In a time and place where a Black commissioned officer is bitterly resented by nearly everyone, an African-American JAG captain investigates the murder of an African-American drill sergeant in Louisiana following American entry into World War II. As the investigation proceeds, the events leading up to the sergeant's

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