Black History Documentaries

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:

BLACK HISTORY DOCUMENTARIES ON AMAZON

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. Chisholm ’72: Unbought & Unbossed
11. Death Of A Black Panther: Fred Hampton
12. Escape from Candyland
13. February One: The Story of the Greensboro Four
14. Fresh Dressed
15. Half the Picture
16. Harriet Tubman – They Called Her Moses
17. I Am Barack: THIS IS MY STORY
18. I AM NOT YOUR NEGRO
19. John Lewis: Good Trouble*
20. Ken Burns: Jackie Robinson*
21. Ken Burns: The Central Park Five
22. King: Man of Peace in a Time of War
23. Little White Lie
24. Marcus Garvey – A Giant Of Black Politics
25. Mr. Civil Rights: Thurgood Marshall and the NAACP
26. My Life with Rosie
27. Obama to Selma
28. Sammy Davis Jr.: I’ve Gotta Be Me*
29. Salute: The Story Behind the Image
30. Sis, You Okay?
31. Spies of Mississippi*
32. Tell Them We Are Rising: Historically Black Colleges and Universities*
33. That’s Livin’! The Zora Neale Hurston Story
34. The Black Miami
35. The Black Power Mixtape 1967-1975*
36. The Legend: The Bessie Coleman Story
37. The Trials of Muhammad Ali
38. TV in Black the First 50 years
39. Two Black Men a Week
40. When They Were Young

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

BLACK HISTORY DOCUMENTARIES ON NETFLIX

1. 13^th
2. Becoming
3. LA 92
4. Let It Fall
5. miles davis: birth of the cool
6. Murder to Mercy: The Cyntoia Brown Story
7. Quincy
8. Strong Island
9. The Black Godfather
10. The Death and Life of Marsha P. Johnson
11. The Two Killings of Sam Cooke
12. They Gotta Have Us
13. Time: The Kalief Browder Story
14. Uppity: The Willie T. Ribbs Story
15. What Happened, Miss Simone?
16. Who Killed Malcolm X?
17. Who Shot the Sheriff?

Updated January 20, 2021

WHICH MOVIES ARE YOU PLANNING TO ADD TO YOUR BINGE-WATCHING LIST?  PLEASE COMMENT BELOW.

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