Last Updated on January 20, 2024

There is a sizable selection of Black history documentaries available on streaming sites like Amazon and Netflix. As a student of Black Studies and journalism, the documentary genre lives at the intersection of my two greatest loves, Black History and storytelling. In short, Black history documentaries are my love language.

I’ve expressed my love of learning about Black History by visiting museums at home and while we’re traveling.  But museums aren’t the only medium filled with lessons on Black History.  Documentaries chronicle untold narratives to add depth and context to events, eras, and sometimes entire generations.

Here’s a list of some current offerings of Black documentaries (in alpha order) Here’s a list to kick-start your Black History binge-watching sesh:

[This post on Black History Documentaries on Netflix and Amazon You Need to Watch was originally published in January 2020 and updated February 2022]

BLACK HISTORY DOCUMENTARIES ON AMAZON PRIME

Black Ballerina (image courtesy of amazon.com)

1. A Century of Black Cinema
2. After Selma
3. Althea*
4. Anita: Speaking Truth to Power
5. Answering the Call
6. August Wilson: The Ground on Which I Stand*
7. Back to Natural*
8. Black Ballerina
9. Black, White & US
10. Betty: They Say I’m Different
11. Chisholm ’72: Unbought & Unbossed
12. Death Of A Black Panther: Fred Hampton
13. Escape from Candyland*
14. February One: The Story of the Greensboro Four
15. Fresh Dressed
16. Half the Picture
17. Harriet Tubman – They Called Her Moses
18. I Am Barack: This Is My Story
19. I Am Not Your Negro
20. John Lewis: Good Trouble
21. Ken Burns: Jackie Robinson*
22. Ken Burns: The Central Park Five
23. Little White Lie
24. Marcus Garvey – A Giant Of Black Politics
25. Mr. Civil Rights: Thurgood Marshall and the NAACP*
26. Mr. Dynamite: The Rise of James Brown
27. My Life with Rosie*
28. My Name is Paulie Murray
29. Mumia: Long Distance Revlolutionary*
30. Obama to Selma
31. Sam Cooke: Legend
32. Sammy Davis Jr.: I’ve Gotta Be Me*
33. Salute: The Story Behind the Image
34. Sis, You Okay?*
35. Spies of Mississippi*
36. Tell Them We Are Rising: Historically Black Colleges and Universities*
37. The Black Miami*
38. The Black Power Mixtape 1967-1975*
39. The Elaine Massacre: The Red Summer of 1919*
40. The Howlin’Wolf Story-The Secret History of Rock & Roll
41. The Legend: The Bessie Coleman Story
42. The Trials of Muhammad Ali*
43. TV in Black: The First 50 years
44. Two Black Men a Week

* Movies not included with your Amazon Prime Membership and will require a rental fee.

Legend: Bessie Coleman (image courtesy of amazon.com)

BLACK HISTORY DOCUMENTARIES ON NETFLIX

Uppity: The Willy T. Ribbs Story (image courtesy of netflix.com)

1. 13^th
2. Becoming
3. Let It Fall
4. miles davis: birth of the cool
5. Murder to Mercy: The Cyntoia Brown Story
6. Quincy
7. Strong Island
8. The Black Godfather
9. The Death and Life of Marsha P. Johnson
10. The Two Killings of Sam Cooke
11. They Gotta Have Us
12. Time: The Kalief Browder Story
13. Uppity: The Willie T. Ribbs Story
14. What Happened, Miss Simone?
15. Who Killed Malcolm X?
16. Who Shot the Sheriff?

What Happened, Miss Simone? (image courtesy of netflix.com)

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