black history

Will Smith hosts this look at the evolving, often lethal, fight for equal rights in America through the lens of the US Constitution's 14th Amendment.

To teach his sheltered grandson about the real world, Madea's foul-mouthed brother Joe takes the college-bound teen on a raucous cross-country road trip.

Celebrity readers share children's books by Black authors to spark kid-friendly conversations about empathy, equality, self-love and antiracism.

In keeping with the original project, this series seeks to reframe the country's history by placing the consequences of slavery and the contributions of black Americans at the very center of our national narrative.

Jimmy Akingbola hosts a panel show which takes a tour of black history across the globe.

A look at the Black revolution in 1970s cinema, from genre films to social realism, from the making of new superstars to the craft of rising auteurs.

The incredibly powerful and timely true story of the all-black Twenty-Fourth United States Infantry Regiment, and the Houston Riot of 1917. The Houston Riot was a mutiny by 156 African American soldiers in response to the brutal violence and abuse at the hands of Houston police officers.

The true life story of Wendell Scott, the first black stock car racing driver to win an upper-tier NASCAR race.

Documentary film on events that happened on August 28th in African-American history, shown at the Smithsonian African-American History Museum.

Maurice Hines -- actor, director, singer, and choreographer -- navigates the complications of show business while grieving the loss of his more famous, often estranged younger brother, tap dance legend Gregory Hines.

Explores the transformative impact of Black migration on American culture and society. From the waves of Black Americans to the North—and back South—over the last century to the growing number of immigrants from Africa and the Caribbean today, movement is a defining feature of the Black experience.

Documents the race riot of 1921 and the destruction of the African-American community of Greenwood in Tulsa, Oklahoma. With testimony by eyewitnesses and background accounts by historians.

A young black lesbian filmmaker probes into the life of The Watermelon Woman, a 1930s black actress who played 'mammy' archetypes.

Field Generals: History of the Black Quarterback documents the stories of the trailblazing and pioneering quarterbacks who transformed the game—from the AFL-NFL merger through the turn of the century. By placing their journeys in full historical and social context, the series reveals how politics, culture, and race shaped both their struggles and their triumphs.

Alice Ball, a 23 year-old African American Chemist living in 1915 Hawaii fights against racial and gender barriers to find an effective treatment for leprosy before Kalani, a 10-year-old patient is exiled into the leper colony of Molokai.

More than 60,000 of Ernest Cole’s 35mm film negatives were inexplicably discovered in a bank vault in Stockholm, Sweden. Most considered these forever lost, especially the thousands of pictures he shot in the U.S. Told through Cole’s own writings, the stories of those closest to him, and the lens of his uncompromising work, the film is a reintroduction of a pivotal Black artist to a new generation and will unravel the mystery of his missing negatives.

Art Kane, now deceased, coordinated a group photograph of all the top jazz musicians in NYC in the year 1958, for a piece in Esquire magazine. Just about every jazz musician at the time showed up for the photo shoot which took place in front of a brownstone near the 125th street station. The documentary compiles interviews of many of the musicians in the photograph to talk about the day of the photograph, and it shows film footage taken that day by Milt Hinton and his wife.

The story of Jack Johnson, the first African American Heavyweight boxing champion.

Nile Rodgers and more on how disco's death gave birth to the most iconic sound in dance.

Inspired in the book "Supreme Models: Iconic Black Women Who Revolutionized Fashion", intends to pay tribute to the Black women who transformed the fashion and beauty industries.

When the Civil War ended in 1865, more than four million slaves were set free. Over 70 years later, the memories of some 2,000 slave-era survivors were transcribed and preserved by the Library of Congress. These first-person anecdotes, ranging from the brutal to the bittersweet, have been brought to vivid life in this unique HBO documentary special, featuring the on-camera voices of over a dozen top African-American actors.

Using innovative animation and expert insights, this documentary based on Ibram X. Kendi's bestseller explores the history of racist ideas in America.

Caroline Randall Williams, an award-winning writer, cookbook author and restaurateur, travels the United States uncovering the fascinating, essential and often untold black stories behind American food.

The story of George Moses Horton, an enslaved poet in 19th-century North Carolina who used his writing to resist bondage and seek freedom.

The history of warfare as it relates to global Black society, broken down into 7 chapters that examines the ways the system of racism wages warfare from a historical, psychological, sexual, biological, health, educational, and military perspective.

Explore the tumultuous life of Marcus Mosiah Garvey Jr., a Jamaican political activist and advocate for Black Nationalism. From founding UNIA-ACL and finding prosperity through economic ventures to navigating financial hardships, assassination attempts, and politically motivated criminal charges, Garvey's impactful odyssey throughout Jamaica and America left an enduring imprint on history.

By the end of his illustrious career, Deputy U.S. Marshal Bass Reeves may well have been the preeminent lawman of the Old West. He brought upwards of 3,000 outlaws to justice and served in law enforcement for 32 years during Reconstruction after the Civil War. His story is one of an escape to freedom and the dangers of the West for a former slave who rose to become a legend of the law. Join us as we go in search of Bass Reeves.

In this point-of-view documentary series, award-winning writer, executive producer and host Amanda Parris leaves the wars raging on social media to create space for urgent and provocative conversations that centre Blackness and Black folks.

Afro Canada is a documentary series that traces 400 years of Afro-descendant presence in Canada. This docuseries, rich in historical and social significance, will leave a lasting impact. By re-appropriating various narrative techniques, Afro Canada pays tribute to the collective memory of Afro-Canadians, whose history is marked by slavery, forced displacement of their bodies and families, and, above all, their resilience — an essential resilience for ensuring that future generations can live freely.

Through first person accounts and searing archival footage, this documentary tells the story of the local movement and young Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) organizers who fought not just for voting rights, but for Black Power in Lowndes County, Alabama.

Harlem, 1926. A “sweetman” Zeddy, living off a woman, brings a country girl he’s trying to impress to a gay-owned cabaret. There he meets a friend, Jake, whose girlfriend, Congo Rose, is the singer there. Drama swirls around the characters as Zeddy confronts the cabaret owner, about his sexuality. Congo Rose, seeking to reignite her man’s fading interest, puts on a performance, with her Pansy Dancer, of a Bessie Smith song that seduces the whole room, especially Zeddy.