White man's heaven, Black man's hell ...
1. ROOTS - The 1977 TV Series
- Based on Alex Haley's family history. It traced the history of Haley's ancestry
from the 1750 abduction of Kunta Kinte, sold to slavery and taken to America.
He made several attempts to escape, captured and maimed. From the cotton
plantation where he was enslaved, the advent of the American revolution, the
Civil War, slave uprising and emancipation, 2 world wars, and finally as Alex
Haley, the author.
2. AMISTAD - A 1997 historical drama film directed by Steven Spielberg, based on the
true story event in 1839 aboard the slave ship La Amistad , during which the
Mende tribesmen abducted to be sold as slaves managed to gain control of the
coast of Cuba. It resulted into an international legal battle, which was finally
settled in the Supreme Court of the United States.
- Stars Morgan Freeman, Anthony Hopkins and Djimom Hunsou
3. GLORY - A 1989 American war film directed by Edward Zwick about the 54th
Massachussets Infantry Regiment, the Union's Second African-American
regiment in the American Civil War. Starred Matthew Broderick as Colonel
Robert Shaw, a white officer, facing opposition from his fellow officers and
ire from enemy soldiers for leading a battalion of Black soldiers. Also star
Morgan Freeman, Denzel Washington and Andre Braugher.
4. THE GREAT DEBATERS - A 2007 directed by Denzel Washington who also starred
in the film. It is a story of an under-dog debater's team from the Jim Crow's
South, - Wiley College in Marshall, Texas - and successfully winning the
national championship. Also stars Forrest Whitaker.
5. 42 - THE JACKIE ROBINSON STORY - A 2013 American biographical movie
about Major League executive Branch Rickey (Harrison Ford) drafting
African-American Jackie Robinson (Chadwick Boseman) as a player. Amid
the racism and social integration, Robinson rose to be a top notch professional
baseball player.
6. A DRY WHITE SEASON - A 1989 American drama-historical film directed by
Euzhan Palcy, and starring Donal Sutherland, Marlon Brando, Susan Sarandon
and Zakes Mokae. The movie portrays the evil and abuses committed against
the Black population of the white South Africans - Apartheid.
7. CRASH - A 2004 American drama film produced, written and directed by Paul Haggis.
An Academy Award winner for Best Picture, it tells about the racial and social
tensions in Los Angeles. Stars Don Cheadle, Matt Dillon, Sandra Bullock,
Thandie Newton and Jennifer Esposito.
8. BLACKKLANSMAN - A 2018 American Black comedy-crime movie directed by
Spike Lee. Ron Stallworth (John David Washington) is the first African-American
detective to serve in the Colorado Springs Police Department. Determined to make
a name for himself, Stallworth sets out on a dangerous mission - to infiltrate the
Ku KLux Klan, an American white supremacist hate group whose primary
targets are African-Americans.
9. GREEN BOOK - A 2018 American biographical comedy-drama directed by Peter
Farelly. It tells the story of Dr. Don Shirley, a world class African-American
pianist, (Mahershi Ali), who is about to embark on a tour in the Deep South in
1962. He took in a tough-talking Italian-American from the Bronx, Tony Lip,
played by Virgo Mortissen, as his driver. Despite their differences, the two men
forged a kind of friendship as they confronted the danger of racism in the times
of segregattion.
10. HIDDEN FIGURES - A 2016 American biographical drama directed by Theodore
Melfi. Based on the inspiring true story of three brilliant African-American
women mathematicians who played a pivotal role in John Glenn's launch into
orbit. The 3 women have to deal with racial and gender discrimination at work.
Kevin Costner as NASA director Al Harrison also played a pivotal role.
11. HOTEL RWANDA - A 2004 historical-drama film directed by Terry George.
Don Cheadle plays the role of Paul Rosesabagina, hotel manager of Hotel
Rwanda who saved hundreds of lives of refugees caught in a civil war.
Nick Nolte took in the role of United Nation's Peace Corps who aided Paul
despite the indifference of the UN to act on the crisis.
12. I AM NOT YOUR NEGRO - A 2016 documentary film directed by Raoul Peck,
based on James Baldwin's unfinished manuscript, " Remember This House. "
It is a personal account of Baldwin about racism and segregation, and his
friendship with Medgar Evers, Malcolm X and Martin Luther King.
13. LONG WALK HOME - A 1990 American historical-drama directed by Richard
Pearce. The movie stars Whoopi Goldberg as Odessa Carter, an African-American,
who works as a nanny in the affluent Miriam Thompson (Sissy Spacek), but refuses
to take the bus. It was the time of the Montgomery Bus Boycott, a protest against
the inequality between Blacks and Whites.
14. LOVING - A 2016 American biographical-drama movie which tells the story about
African-American Midred and white American Richard loving whose case of
inter-racial marriage cause an uproar in 1958 State of Virginia. Arrested and
imprisoned, they sought justice until the case reached the US Supreme Court.
15. MISBEHAVIOR - A 2020 British comedy-drama film directed by Philippa Lowthorpe
based on the story of Rebecca Frayn. The film follows the events of the 1970 Miss
World competition, which saw the crowning of the first black competitor. The
movie highlights the racial slurs and differences between culture as well as the
politics during beauty pageant competition.
16. THE COLOR PURPLE - A 1985 American coming-of-age period drama film
directed by Steven Spielberg. Based on the 1982 Pulitzer Prize winning novel by
Alice Walker, it tells the life of Cellie (Whoopi Goldberg), a young Black girl
growing in the early 1900's. At the age of 14 she was impregnated by her father
and the movie follows her hardships in the next 30 years.
17. 12 YEARS AS SLAVE - A 2013 American biographical period-drama film and an
adaptation of the 1853 Memoir of 12 Years as Slave by Solomon Northup. Chiwettel
Ejiofor portrays the role of New York State born-free African-American man who
was kidnapped in Washington and sold as slave. It tells the horrors of slavery.
18. A TIME TO KILL - A 1996 American courtroom crime drama based on the John
Grisham novel of the same title. It tells the trial of African-American Carl Lee
Hailey (Samuel Jackson), who killed two white men accused of the rape-murder
of his ten-year old daughter.
19. TO KILL A MOCKINGBIRD - A 1962 Hollywood-American classic-drama based
on 1960 Pulitzer Prize winning novel by Harper Lee. Hollywood icon, Gregory Peck,
plays the part of Depression-era lawyer, Atticus Finch, who set out to defend an
African-American accused of raping a white woman.
20. RESTING PLACE - A 1986 TV-movie special directed by John Corty, starring
John Lithgow, Morgan Freeman and CCH Pounder. It tells the story about racial
tension in a small Georgia town in the 1970's when a Black Lieutenant who died
a hero in Vietnam was refused burial in the town cemetery.
21. SAME KIND AS DIFFERENT AS ME - A 2017 American Christian drama film
directed by Michael Cartney. Its tells of a story about an unlikely friendship that
went beyond social status and racial differences.
22. AMERICAN HISTORY X - A 1998 American crime-drama directed by Tony Kaye
and starred Richard Norton and Edward Furlong. It tells the story of Derek, a neo-
Nazi and American supremacist, who after spending 3-years in prison tried to
change the thought of his younger brother, Danny, who was heading the same path.
23. GUESS WHO'S COMING TO DINNER - A 1967 American comedy-drama
directed by Stanley Kramer. A Hollywood classic featuring real life movie couple
Spencer Tracy and Katherine Hepburn, as parents to a young white woman who's
about to be engaged to an African-American, a doctor and a widower, played by
Sydney Poitier. It tells about the problems and issues about inter-racial marriage
which in the 1960's was still prohibited in some states of America.
24. INVICTUS - A 2009 biographical sports-drama directed by Clint Eastwood. It tells
the story of Nelson Mandela, played by Morgan Freeman, and how he led the
healing of the country after many decades of Apartheid - racial discrimination and
social injustice. A great movie.
25. MALCOLM X - A 1992 American epic biographical-drama film and tribute to the
controversial Black activist and leader of the struggle for black liberation. He hit
bottom during the 1950's, then became a black Muslim and leader in the Nation of
Islam. His assassination in 1965 left a legacy of self-determination and racial pride.
26. SELMA - A 2014 American historical drama film directed by Ava DuVernay. It is
based on the 1965 Selma to Montgomery voting rights marches initiated and
directed by James Bevel and led by Martin Luther King, Jr., Hosea Williams, and
John Lewis.
27. MEN OF HONOR - A 2000 American drama film directed by George Tillman Jr.
The movie starred Cuba Gooding Jr. as Carl Brashear, the first Black US Navy
recruit who resolve to overcome racism and become the first black diver even
after losing a leg. Robert De Niro gives support as Master Chief Billy Sunday.
28. BRIAN'S SONG - A 1971 ABC Movie of the Week that recounts the details of the
life of Brian Piccolo (played by James Caan), a Chicago Bears football player
stricken by terminal cancer after turning Pro in 1965, told through his friendship
will Black American team-mate Gale Sayers (played by Billy Dee Williams).
29. THE LONG SHADOW - A 2017 Documentary by filmmaker Frances Causey,
investigating the roots of racism and the shameful legacy of slavery.
30. THE JOURNEY OF AFRICAN-AMERICAN ATHLETES - A 1996 HBO
documentary presentation exploring the rise of African-American athletes to
positions of greatness in American and international sports and the racial
discrimination and abuses they have to overcome.
31. WHEN THEY SEE US - A 2019 American crime tragedy web television mini-series
created, co-written, and directed by Ava DuVernay for Netflix. It tells about five
young African-Americans who were charged with rape and physical battering of a
white female jogger in New York Central Park in 1989. The quintet, labeled as the
Central Park 5, maintained their innocence and spent years fighting the conviction
hoping to be exonerated. A true to life account on how racism played a part in the
investigation and prosecution of the 5 accused.
32. SEPARATE BUT EQUAL - An American two-part television mini-series depicting
the landmark Supreme Court desegregation case Brown vs. Board on Education
based on the phrase " separate but equal ".
** Quotes :
--------------
" At its core, racism is about fear. There are people in our city, and in our world,
and in our country, who don't see us as fully formed human beings. "
- NYC Mayor Dinkins
" On the Amadou Diallo - an African immigrant street vendor - This is not a
police murder, it is a police slaughter. Shot 41 times right infront of his doorstep. "
" When the police want something from us, they will do anything. They will mess us
up, they will lock us up, they will kill us. "
" It is no longer justice we are talking about. Its politics. Its survival and there are
no fair rules in survival. "
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