Black History Movies In Historical Order
by OwneyH | created - 5 months ago | updated - 5 months ago | PublicI'm trying to cover everything including sports and music. I plan to add more. Please comment if you have any suggestions.
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1. 12 Years a Slave (2013)
R | 134 min | Biography, Drama, History
In the antebellum United States, Solomon Northup, a free Black man from upstate New York, is abducted and sold into slavery.
Director: Steve McQueen | Stars: Chiwetel Ejiofor, Michael Kenneth Williams, Michael Fassbender, Brad Pitt
Votes: 741,645 | Gross: $56.67M
1841-1853
2. Harriet (I) (2019)
PG-13 | 125 min | Action, Biography, Drama
The extraordinary tale of Harriet Tubman's escape from slavery and transformation into one of America's greatest heroes, whose courage, ingenuity, and tenacity freed hundreds of slaves and changed the course of history.
Director: Kasi Lemmons | Stars: Cynthia Erivo, Janelle Monáe, Leslie Odom Jr., Joe Alwyn
Votes: 30,744
1849 and on
3. Glory (1989)
R | 122 min | Biography, Drama, History
Robert 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.
Director: Edward Zwick | Stars: Matthew Broderick, Denzel Washington, Cary Elwes, Morgan Freeman
Votes: 144,547 | Gross: $26.83M
1862-1863
4. Lincoln (2012)
PG-13 | 150 min | Biography, Drama, History
As 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.
Director: Steven Spielberg | Stars: Daniel Day-Lewis, Sally Field, David Strathairn, Joseph Gordon-Levitt
Votes: 272,755 | Gross: $182.21M
1865
5. Malcolm X (1992)
PG-13 | 202 min | Biography, Drama, History
Biographical epic of the controversial and influential Black Nationalist leader, from his early life and career as a small-time gangster, to his ministry as a member of the Nation of Islam and his eventual assassination.
Director: Spike Lee | Stars: Denzel Washington, Angela Bassett, Delroy Lindo, Spike Lee
Votes: 102,096 | Gross: $48.17M
1925-1965
6. Get on Up (2014)
PG-13 | 139 min | Biography, Drama, Music
A chronicle of James Brown's rise from extreme poverty to become one of the most influential musicians in history.
Director: Tate Taylor | Stars: Chadwick Boseman, Nelsan Ellis, Dan Aykroyd, Viola Davis
Votes: 26,149 | Gross: $30.51M
1939-1993
7. Marshall (2017)
PG-13 | 118 min | Biography, Crime, Drama
The story of Thurgood Marshall, the crusading lawyer who would become the first African-American Supreme Court Justice, as he battles through one of his career-defining cases.
Director: Reginald Hudlin | Stars: Chadwick Boseman, Josh Gad, Kate Hudson, Sterling K. Brown
Votes: 26,832 | Gross: $10.05M
1941 and on
8. Red Tails (2012)
PG-13 | 125 min | Action, Drama, History
A 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.
Director: Anthony Hemingway | Stars: Cuba Gooding Jr., Gerald McRaney, David Oyelowo, Andre Royo
Votes: 37,258 | Gross: $49.88M
1944
9. 42 (2013)
PG-13 | 128 min | Biography, Drama, Sport
In 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.
Director: Brian Helgeland | Stars: Chadwick Boseman, T.R. Knight, Harrison Ford, Nicole Beharie
Votes: 102,779 | Gross: $95.00M
1945-1947
10. Ray (I) (2004)
PG-13 | 152 min | Biography, Drama, Music
The 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.
Director: Taylor Hackford | Stars: Jamie Foxx, Regina King, Kerry Washington, Clifton Powell
Votes: 157,446 | Gross: $75.33M
Mainly 1946-1979
11. Till (I) (2022)
PG-13 | 130 min | Biography, Crime, Drama
In 1955, after Emmett Till is murdered in a brutal lynching, his mother vows to expose the racism behind the attack while working to have those involved brought to justice.
Director: Chinonye Chukwu | Stars: Danielle Deadwyler, Jalyn Hall, Frankie Faison, Haley Bennett
Votes: 15,243
1955
12. Ali (2001)
R | 157 min | Biography, Drama, Sport
A biography of sports legend Muhammad Ali, focusing on his triumphs and controversies between 1964 and 1974.
Director: Michael Mann | Stars: Will Smith, Jamie Foxx, Jon Voight, Mario Van Peebles
Votes: 105,589 | Gross: $58.20M
1964-1974
13. Selma (2014)
PG-13 | 128 min | Biography, Drama, History
A 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.
Director: Ava DuVernay | Stars: David Oyelowo, Carmen Ejogo, Oprah Winfrey, Tom Wilkinson
Votes: 95,523 | Gross: $52.08M
1964-1965
14. The Hurricane (1999)
R | 146 min | Biography, Drama, Sport
The story of Rubin 'Hurricane' Carter, a boxer wrongly imprisoned for murder, and the people who aided in his fight to prove his innocence.
Director: Norman Jewison | Stars: Denzel Washington, Vicellous Shannon, Deborah Kara Unger, Liev Schreiber
Votes: 102,520 | Gross: $50.67M
1966-1985
15. Detroit (2017)
R | 143 min | Crime, Drama, History
Fact-based drama set during the 1967 Detroit riots in which a group of rogue police officers respond to a complaint with retribution rather than justice on their minds.
Director: Kathryn Bigelow | Stars: John Boyega, Anthony Mackie, Algee Smith, Jacob Latimore
Votes: 55,978 | Gross: $16.79M
1967
16. Judas and the Black Messiah (2021)
R | 126 min | Biography, Drama, History
Offered a plea deal by the FBI, William O'Neal infiltrates the Illinois chapter of the Black Panther Party to gather intelligence on Chairman Fred Hampton.
Director: Shaka King | Stars: LaKeith Stanfield, Daniel Kaluuya, Jesse Plemons, Dominique Fishback
Votes: 91,542
1968-1969
17. BlacKkKlansman (2018)
R | 135 min | Biography, Comedy, Crime
Ron Stallworth, an African American police officer from Colorado Springs, Colorado, successfully infiltrates the local Ku Klux Klan branch aided by a Jewish surrogate who eventually becomes its leader. Based on actual events.
Director: Spike Lee | Stars: John David Washington, Adam Driver, Laura Harrier, Topher Grace
Votes: 291,335 | Gross: $49.28M
1972
(The real events actually took place 1978-1979)
18. Remember the Titans (2000)
PG | 113 min | Biography, Drama, Sport
In 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.
Director: Boaz Yakin | Stars: Denzel Washington, Will Patton, Wood Harris, Ryan Hurst
Votes: 232,059 | Gross: $115.65M
1971-1981
19. Straight Outta Compton (2015)
R | 147 min | Biography, Drama, History
The rap group NWA emerges from the mean streets of Compton in Los Angeles, California, in the mid-1980s and revolutionizes Hip Hop culture with their music and tales about life in the hood.
Director: F. Gary Gray | Stars: O'Shea Jackson Jr., Corey Hawkins, Jason Mitchell, Neil Brown Jr.
Votes: 218,601 | Gross: $161.20M
1986-1995
20. Da 5 Bloods (2020)
R | 154 min | Adventure, Drama, War
Four African-American vets battle the forces of man and nature when they return to Vietnam seeking the remains of their fallen squad leader and the gold fortune he helped them hide.
Director: Spike Lee | Stars: Delroy Lindo, Jonathan Majors, Clarke Peters, Norm Lewis
Votes: 55,169
Takes place in present time with flashbacks of 1971.
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