Best Black Movies – Everything You Need To Know

Initially, movies with blacks or made by blacks were backed so that the studios could boast of representation and diversity in their movies. Today, a high-budget movie headlined by a black actor or director does not come across as a surprise. But it was a struggle to make a big-budget black movie back in the day.

To pay a tribute to the success of black movies over the years, let’s have a look at the best black movies.

1. O.J.: Made in America (2016)

The rise and fall of O.J. Simpson, whose high-profile murder trial exposed the depths of racial tensions in America, revealing a shattered and divided country.

Director: Ezra Edelman

Language: English

Genre: Documentary, Biography and Crime

Main Cast:

• Kareem Abdul-Jabbar (archive footage)
• Mike Albanese
• Muhammad Ali (archive footage)

IMDb Rating: 8.9

Running Time: 467 minutes

Movie Trailer: O.J.: Made in America (2016) – Movie Trailer

Streaming Platform: Amazon

2. Django Unchained (2012)

In 1858, a bounty hunter named King Schultz seeks out and purchases a slave named Django in order to locate the men he is seeking for. Django wants to track down his wife, Broomhilda, who was sold separately from him by his former owner for attempting to flee. If he chooses to stay with him and be his partner, Schultz offers to assist him. They eventually learn that she was sold to a Mississippi plantation. Knowing they can’t just walk in and declare they want her, they devise a strategy to get the owner to welcome them into his home and allow them to discover a way to get her.

Director: Quentin Tarantino

Language: English

Genre: Drama and Western

Main Cast:

• Jamie Foxx
• Christoph Waltz
• Leonardo DiCaprio
• Kerry Washington

IMDb Rating: 8.4

Running Time: 165 minutes

Box Office: $426,074,373

Movie Trailer: Django Unchained (2012) – Movie Trailer (HD)

Streaming Platform: Amazon

3. Spider-Man: Into the Spider Verse (2018)

Phil Lord and Christopher Miller, the creative brains behind The Lego Movie and 21 Jump Street, bring their distinct talents to a new vision of a reimagined Spider-Man Universe, complete with a pioneering visual aesthetic that is unlike anything seen before. “Spider-Man (TM): Into the Spider-Verse” introduces Miles Morales, a Brooklyn kid, and the Spider-boundless Verse’s possibilities, where more than one person can wear the mask.

Director: Bob Persichetti, Peter Ramsey and Rodney Rothman

Language: English

Genre: Animation, Action and Adventure

Main Cast:

• Shameik Moore
• Jake Johnson
• Hailee Steinfeld
• Mahershala Ali

IMDb Rating: 8.4

Running Time: 117 minutes

Box Office: $375,540,831

Movie Trailer: Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse Trailer (2018 ) – Movie Trailer

Streaming Platform: Amazon

4. The Temptations (1998)

From the perspective of the last surviving original member, Otis Williams, a biographical look at The Temptations, the Motown soul singing quintet that originally rose to fame in the 1960s. From their humble beginnings in the late 1950s through the deaths of the other founding members in the 1990s, the band has had a long and illustrious history.

Director: Charles Malik Whitfield, Woodside and Terron Brooks

Language: Italian

Genre: Biography, Drama and Music

Main Cast: Unknown

IMDb Rating: 8.4

Running Time: 150 minutes

Movie Trailer: The Temptations (1998) – Movie Trailer

Streaming Platform: Amazon

5. 13th (2016)

The film begins with the assertion that the United States houses 25% of the world’s jailed population. Despite the fact that the United States has only 5% of the world’s population. The film “13th” depicts the exponential expansion of America’s jail population; in 1970, there were over 200,000 inmates; today, there are over 2 million. The documentary covers a wide range of topics, including chattel slavery, D. W. Griffith’s film “The Birth of a Nation,” Emmett Till, the civil rights movement, the Civil Rights Act of 1964, Richard M. Nixon, and Ronald Reagan’s declaration of war on drugs, among others.

Director: Ava DuVernay

Language: English

Genre: Documentary, Crime and History

Main Cast:

• Melina Abdullah
• Michelle Alexander
• Cory Booker

IMDb Rating: 8.2

Running Time: 100 minutes

Box Office: $566

Movie Trailer: 13th (2016) – Movie Trailer

Streaming Platform: Netflix

6. 12 Years a Slave (2013)

Based on the true story of one man’s struggle for survival and liberty. Solomon Northup, a free black man from upstate New York, is kidnapped and sold into slavery in the United States before the Civil War. Solomon fights not only to stay alive, but also to maintain his dignity, as he is confronted with violence embodied by a wicked slave owner, as well as unexpected kindnesses. Solomon’s unexpected meeting with a Canadian abolitionist in the twelfth year of his epic journey will forever change his life.

Director: Steve McQueen

Language: English

Genre: Biography, Drama and History

Main Cast:

• Chiwetel Ejiofor
• Michael Fassbender
• Lupita Nyong’o
• Benedict Cumberbatch

IMDb Rating: 8.1

Running Time: 134 minutes

Box Office: $187,733,202

Movie Trailer: 12 Years A Slave (2013) – Movie Trailer

Streaming Platform: Amazon

7. Soul (2020)

Joe is a middle-school band director whose life has not gone quite as planned. His primary love is jazz, and he’s very talented at it. However, when he journeys to another realm to assist someone in discovering their true calling, he quickly learns what it means to have soul.

Director: Pete Docter

Language: English

Genre: Animation, Adventure and Comedy

Main Cast:

• Jamie Foxx
• Tina Fey
• Graham Norton
• Rachel House

IMDb Rating: 8.1

Running Time: 100 minutes

Box Office: $119,273,208

Movie Trailer: Soul (2020) – Movie Trailer

Streaming Platform: Amazon

8. Hotel Rwanda (2004)

Director: Terry George

Language: English, French, and Kinyarwanda

Genre: Biography, Drama, and History

Main Cast:

• Don Cheadle
• Sophie Okonedo
• Joaquin Phoenix
• Nick Nolte

IMDb Rating: 8.1

Running Time: 121 minutes

Box Office: $33,882,243

Movie Trailer: Hotel Rwanda (2004) – Movie Trailer

Streaming Platform:Amazon

9. A Raisin in the Sun (1961)

Walter Lee Younger is a young man who is struggling to find his place in the world. He appears to be a prisoner, sharing a tiny apartment with his wife, son, sister, and mother. Until the family receives an unexpected cash windfall, that is.

Director: Daniel Petrie

Language: English

Genre: Drama

Main Cast:

• Sidney Poitier

• Ruby Dee
• Claudia McNeil

IMDb Rating: 8

Running Time: 128 minutes

Movie Trailer: A Raisin In The Sun Trailer (1961) – Movie Trailer

Streaming Platform: Amazon

10. Blood Diamond (2006)

Archer, a man tormented by his roots, is the protagonist of this narrative. He’s become a prominent figure in the conflict diamond market thanks to his excellent survival instinct. Sierra Leone is rife with political upheaval, with individuals fighting tooth and nail. Archer’s life changes forever when he meets Solomon and the lovely Maddy, as he is offered an opportunity to make peace with the war going on around him.

Director: Edward Zwick

Language: English

Genre: 8

Main Cast:

• Leonardo DiCaprio
• Jennifer Connelly
• Djimon Hounsou
• Michael Sheen

IMDb Rating: 8

Running Time: 143 minutes

Box Office: $171,720,398

Movie Trailer: Blood Diamond (2006) – Movie Trailer

Streaming Platform: Amazon

11. Do the Right Thing (1989)

On a scorching summer Sunday in Brooklyn’s Bedford-Stuyvesant neighborhood, this film depicts life. Sal Fragione opens the pizza business he’s owned for 25 years, as he does every day. In the time he’s lived there, the neighborhood has changed dramatically, and it now predominantly consists of African-Americans and Hispanics. Pino, his son, despises life there and would love nothing more than to move the restaurant to their own neighborhood. Sal, on the other hand, considers the restaurant to be a part of his life and a member of the community. Buggin Out – who wonders why he only has images of renowned Italian-Americans on the wall – begins with a simple complaint from one of his clients.

Director: Spike Lee

Language: English

Genre: Comedy and Drama

Main Cast:

• Danny Aiello
• Ossie Davis
• Ruby Dee

IMDb Rating: 8

Running Time: 120 minutes

Box Office: $37,295,445

Movie Trailer: Do the Right Thing (1989) – Movie Trailer

Streaming Platform:Amazon

12. The Help (2011)

Skeeter is a southern society girl who returns from college determined to become a writer, but her decision to interview the black women who have spent their lives caring for wealthy southern families turns her friends’ life — and a Mississippi town — upside down. Skeeter’s closest friend’s housekeeper, Aibileen, is the first to open up, much to her friends’ dismay in the tight-knit black society. Despite the fact that Skeeter’s long-standing friendships are in jeopardy, she and Aibileen continue their partnership, and more women soon come forward to share their stories — and it turns out that they have a lot to say.

Director: Tate Taylor

Language: English

Genre: Drama

Main Cast:

• Jessica Chastain
• Viola Davis
• Bryce Dallas Howard
• Allison Janney

IMDb Rating: 8.0

Running Time: 146 minutes

Box Office: $216,639,112

Movie Trailer: The Help – Official Trailer 2011

Streaming Platform: Amazon

13. The Pursuit of Happyness (2006)

Christopher Gardner is the subject of this film, which is based on a true storey. Gardner has made a significant investment in a technology known as a “bone density scanner.” He thinks he’s got it made selling these gadgets. They do not, however, sell well because they are just slightly better than x-ray at a much higher price. Gardner’s wife leaves him and he loses his apartment as he struggles to make ends meet. Gardner, who is forced to live on the streets with his kid, continues to sell bone density scanners while also doing an unpaid internship as a stockbroker with little hope of advancement to a paid employment. Before he can be paid, he must outperform the competitors during the course of six months of training.

Director: Gabriele Muccino

Language: English

Genre: Biography and Drama

Main Cast:

• Will Smith
• Thandiwe Newton
• Jaden Smith

IMDb Rating: 8

Running Time: 117 minutes

Box Office: $307,127,625

Movie Trailer: The Pursuit of Happyness (2006) – Movie Trailer

Streaming Platform: Amazon

14. God Grew Tired of Us (2006)

Sudan’s Muslim government decreed the killing of all males in the Christian south in 1987, prompting 27,000 boys to flee to Ethiopia on foot. They were forced to evacuate to Kenya in 1991, with 12,000 surviving to reside in a United Nations camp in Kakuma. The 1,000-mile flight is shown on archival footage, and we get a glimpse of life in the camp. We follow three young guys as they return to the United States. Daniel Abol Pach and Panther Bior travel to Pittsburgh, where John Bul Dau becomes a spokesperson for the Lost Boys and Lost Girls of Sudan by the end of the film. All of them work multiple jobs, send money back to the camp, look for relatives who were killed in the civil war, acclimate to life in the United States, pursue an education, and miss their homeland.

Director: Christopher Dillon Quinn

Language: English

Genre: Documentary

Main Cast:

• John Dau

• Nicole Kidman
• Daniel Abul Pach
• Panther Bior

IMDb Rating: 7.9

Running Time: 86 minutes

Box Office: $301,447

Movie Trailer: God Grew Tired of Us (2006) – Movie Trailer

Streaming Platform: Amazon

15. I Am Not Your Negro (2016)

James Baldwin described his next project, “Remember This House,” in a letter to his literary agent in 1979. The book was supposed to be a revolutionary, intimate narrative of three of his close friends’ lives and assassinations: Medgar Evers, Malcolm X, and Martin Luther King, Jr. Baldwin only left 30 finished pages of this manuscript behind when he died in 1987. Raoul Peck, a filmmaker, imagines the book that James Baldwin never finished.

Director: Raoul Peck

Language: English

Genre: Documentary and History

Main Cast:

• Samuel L. Jackson(voice)
• James Baldwin (archive footage)
• Martin Luther King (archive footage)

IMDb Rating: 7.9

Running Time: 95 minutes

Box Office: $8,345,298

Movie Trailer: I Am Not Your Negro (2016) – Movie Trailer

Streaming Platform: Amazon

16. The Autobiography of Miss Jane Pittman (1974)

Jane Pittman, a 110-year-old ex-slave, granted an interview to a persistent journalist and tells the incredible narrative of her life, which begins during the racial strife of 1960s Louisiana. She is orphaned at a young age and works on a plantation until she meets a white Union soldier called Brown, who changes her life. Jane’s emancipation is simply the start of a long and painful journey that is framed by the horrors of slavery and the justice of the civil rights movement.

Director: John Korty

Language: English

Genre: Drama and History

Main Cast:

• Cicely Tyson

• Barbara Cheney
• Richard Dysart
• Katherine Helmond

IMDb Rating: 7.9

Running Time: 110 minutes

Movie Trailer: The Autobiography of Miss Jane Pittman (1973) – Movie Trailer

Streaming Platform: Amazon

17. American Gangster (2007)

Frank Lucas positions himself as the number one heroin importer in Manhattan’s Harlem region following the death of his boss and mentor, Bumpy Johnson. He accomplishes this by purchasing heroin straight from the source in Southeast Asia and devising a novel method of bringing the opiates into the United States. As a result, his product is better than what’s currently on the market, and his pricing are lower. His status is secure thanks to his ties to the New York Mafia.

Director: Ridley Scott

Language: English

Genre: Biography, Crime and Drama

Main Cast:

• • Russell Crowe
  • Denzel Washington

• Chiwetel Ejiofor
• Cuba Gooding Jr.

IMDb Rating: 7.8

Running Time: 157 minutes

Box Office: $269,755,430

Movie Trailer: American Gangster (2007) – Movie Trailer

Streaming Platform: Amazon

18. Boyz n the Hood (1991)

The portrayal of societal problems in inner-city Los Angeles, California by writer and director John Singleton takes the shape of a story about three friends growing up in the “hood.” Doughboy and Ricky Baker, half-brothers, are polar opposites in personality, taking very different attitudes to their difficult circumstances. Doughboy succumbs to the violence, alcohol, and crime that surrounds him in his environment, but maintains a strong sense of pride and code of honor. Ricky is the “All-American” athlete, looking to win a football scholarship to USC and seeks salvation through sports, whereas Doughboy succumbs to the violence, alcohol, and crime that surrounds him in his environment, but maintains a strong sense of pride and code of honor.

Director: John Singleton

Language: English

Genre: Crime and Drama

Main Cast:

• Cuba Gooding Jr.
• Morris Chestnut
• Ice Cube
• Laurence Fishburne

IMDb Rating: 7.8

Running Time: 112 minutes

Box Office: $57,529,070

Movie Trailer: Boyz n the Hood (1991) Trailer #1 | Movieclips Classic …

Streaming Platform: Hulu

19. Hidden Figures (2016)

NASA discovered untapped ability in a group of African-American female mathematicians who acted as the brains behind one of the largest operations in US history as the US raced against Russia to put a man in space. We follow three of these women, known as “human computers,” as they quickly advanced through the ranks of NASA alongside some of history’s greatest brains, especially tasked with calculating the historic launch of astronaut John Glenn into space and ensuring his safe return.

Director: Theodore Melfi

Language: English

Genre: Biography, Drama and History

Main Cast:

• Taraji P. Henson
• Octavia Spencer
• Janelle Monáe
• Kevin Costner

IMDb Rating: 7.8

Running Time: 127 minutes

Box Office: $236,225,193

Movie Trailer: Hidden Figures (2016) – Movie Trailer

Streaming Platform: Amazon

20. Keep On Keeping On (2014)

Director: Alan Hicks

Language: English

Genre: Documentary

Main Cast:

• Clark Terry
• Justin Kauflin
• Quincy Jones

IMDb Rating: 7.8

Running Time: 84 minutes

Box Office: $163,745

Movie Trailer: Keep On Keepin’ (2014) – Movie Trailer

Streaming Platform: Amazon

21. Standing in the Shadows of Motown (2002)

Berry Gordy Jr. assembled the greatest musicians from Detroit’s burgeoning jazz and blues scene in 1959 to start recording tunes for his new record label. They were the heartbeat on every hit during Motown’s Detroit heyday for fourteen years. This unsung bunch of musicians had played on more number one singles than the Beach Boys, Rolling Stones, Elvis Presley, and the Beatles combined at the end of their amazing run, making them the greatest hit machine in the history of popular music. The Funk Brothers were their moniker.

Director: Paul Justman

Language: English

Genre: Documentary and Music

Main Cast:

• Joe Hunter
• Jack Ashford
• Uriel Jones

IMDb Rating: 7.8

Running Time: 116 mins

Box Office: $2,344,256

Movie Trailer: Standing In The Shadows Of Motown (2002) – Movie Trailer

Streaming Platform: Amazon

22. Straight Outta Compton (2015)

In 1987, five young men channeled their despair and rage about life in America’s most dangerous city into their most effective weapon: music, using brutally honest rhymes and heavy beats. Straight Outta Compton takes us back to the beginning, telling the true story of how these cultural outcasts, armed only with their rhymes, swagger, bravado, and raw talent, faced up to the authorities who tried to hold them down and founded the world’s most deadly group, N.W.A. And their voice sparked a social revolution that is still echoing today as they spoke the truth that no one had before and revealed life in the ghetto.

Director: F. Gary Gray

Language: English

Genre: Biography, Drama and History

Main Cast:

• O’Shea Jackson Jr.
• Corey Hawkins
• Jason Mitchell
• Neil Brown Jr.

IMDb Rating: 7.8

Running Time: 147 minutes

Box Office: $201,634,991

Movie Trailer: Straight Outta Compton (2015) – Movie Trailer

Streaming Platform: Amazon

23. The Color Purple (1985)

Celie, a little black girl growing up in the early 1900s, is the protagonist of this film. Celie is 14 when we first meet her, and she is pregnant by her father. We will accompany her for the next 30 years of her difficult existence.

Director: Steven Spielberg

Language: English

Genre: Drama

Main Cast:

• Danny Glover
• Adolph Caesar
• Oprah Winfrey
• Margaret Avery

IMDb Rating: 7.8

Running Time: 153 minutes

Box Office: $98,467,863

Movie Trailer: The Color Purple (1985) – Movie Trailer

Streaming Platform: Amazon

24. Glory (1989)

Shaw was a volunteer to lead the first company of black troops in the Federal Army during the American Civil War. Shaw had to cope with biases from both the enemy (who had instructions to murder black commanding officers) and his own colleagues.

Director: Edward Zwick

Language: English

Genre: Biography, Drama and History

Main Cast:

• Matthew Broderick
• Denzel Washington
• Cary Elwes
• Morgan Freeman

IMDb Rating: 7.8

Running Time: 122 minutes

Box Office: $26,979,166

Movie Trailer: Glory (1989) – Movie Trailer

Streaming Platform: Hulu

25. Remember the Titans (2000)

For centuries, schools in suburban Virginia have been separated. Under a federal mandate to integrate, one Black and one White high school were shuttered and students were relocated to T.C. Williams High School. The year is viewed through the eyes of the football squad, when the man hired to coach the Black school gets promoted to head coach, despite the fact that the white coach is a proven winner. Based on true events from 1971, the squad becomes the community’s unifying symbol as the boys and adults learn to rely on and trust one another.

Director: Boaz Yakin

Language: English

Genre: Biography, Drama and Sport

Main Cast:

• Denzel Washington
• Will Patton
• Donald Faison
• Nicole Ari Parker

IMDb Rating: 7.8

Running Time: 113 minutes

Box Office: $136,771,683

Movie Trailer: Remember the Titans (2000) – Movie Trailer

Streaming Platform: Amazon

26. Roots – The Next Generations (1979)

From the post-American Civil War era to Alex Haley’s genealogical hunt for his ancestors, this series follows the narrative of Alex Haley’s family line.

Director: John Erman, Charles S. Dubin, Georg Stanford Brown and Lloyd Richards

Language: English/Mandinka

Genre: Biography, Drama and History

Main Cast:

• James Earl Jones

• Dorian Harewood
• Irene Cara
• Stan Shaw

IMDb Rating: 7.8

Running Time: 14 hours

Movie Trailer: ROOTS: The Next Generations (1979) – Movie Trailer

Streaming Platform: Amazon

27. Beasts of No Nation (2015)

The story follows Agu, a young kid forced to join a troop of soldiers in a fictional West African country. While Agu fears his commander and many of the soldiers around him, the war raging across his country has cruelly broken his boyhood, and he is caught between revulsion and intrigue at first. Paints a nuanced, tough image of Agu as a child soldier, depicting the mechanics of battle and not shying away from raw, brutal detail.

Director: Cary Joji Fukunaga

Language: English and Twi

Genre: Drama and War

Main Cast:

• Idris Elba
• Kurt Egyiawan
• Jude Akuwudike
• Emmanuel “King King” Nii

IMDb Rating: 7.7

Running Time: 138 minutes

Box Office: $90,777

Movie Trailer: Beasts of No Nation (2015) – Movie Trailer

Streaming Platform: Netflix

28. Get Out (2017)

Chris and his fiancée Rose spend the weekend with her folks in upstate New York. Chris initially interprets the family’s overly accommodating behavior as worried attempts to deal with their daughter’s interracial romance, but as the weekend progresses, a sequence of progressively horrifying revelations leads him to a truth he could never have anticipated.

Director: Jordan Peele

Language: English

Genre: Horror, Mystery and Thriller

Main Cast:

• Daniel Kaluuya
• Allison Williams
• Bradley Whitford
• Caleb Landry Jones

IMDb Rating: 7.7

Running Time: 104 minutes

Box Office: $255,589,157

Movie Trailer: Get Out (2017) – Movie Trailer

Streaming Platform: Amazon

29. Malcolm X (1992)

Malcolm X, the iconic African American leader, is the subject of this biographical epic. His father, Malcolm Little, was assassinated by the Ku Klux Klan. Malcolm became a gangster and discovered Elijah Muhammad’s Nation of Islam writings while incarcerated. When he is released from prison, he preaches the teachings, but subsequently travels on a pilgrimage to Mecca, where he converts to the original Islamic religion, becoming a Sunni Muslim and changing his name to El-Hajj Malik Al-Shabazz. On February 21, 1965, he is assassinated and becomes a Muslim martyr.

Director: Spike Lee

Language: English

Genre: Biography, Drama and history

Main Cast:

• Denzel Washington
• Angela Bassett
• Albert Hall
• Al Freeman Jr.

IMDb Rating: 7.7

Running Time: 201 minutes

Box Office: $48,169,910

Movie Trailer: Malcolm X (1992) – Movie Trailer

Streaming Platform: Amazon

30. Ray (2004)

Ray Charles is a music legend whose tale is told here. We show his humble beginnings in Florida, his turbulent upbringing, which includes losing his brother and then his sight, his ascent as a pianist in a touring band, him writing his own songs and leading his own band, and finally stardom, all told in his adult life with flashbacks to his adolescence. His drug addiction and its impact on his profession and family life are also discussed.

Director: Taylor Hackford

Language: English

Genre: Biography, Drama and Music

Main Cast:

• Jamie Foxx
• Kerry Washington
• Clifton Powell
• Harry Lennix

IMDb Rating: 7.7

Running Time: 152 minutes

Box Office: $123,971,376

Movie Trailer: Ray (2004) – Movie Trailer

Streaming Platform: Amazon

31. The Central Park Five (2012)

Five black and Latino adolescents from Harlem were arrested and convicted of raping a white woman in Central Park in New York City in 1989. They spent between 6 and 13 years in prison before their convictions were reversed after a serial rapist confessed that he alone was responsible for the crime. The Central Park Five tells the story of that horrific crime, the rush to judgment by the police, a media clamoring for sensational stories and an outraged public, and the five lives upended by this miscarriage of justice, all set against the backdrop of a decaying city beset by violence and racial tension.

Director: Ken Burns, Sarah Burns and David McMahon

Language: English

Genre: Documentary, Crime and History

Main Cast:

• Antron McCray(voice)
• Kevin Richardson
• Kharey Wise

IMDb Rating: 7.7

Running Time: 119 min

Box Office: $325,653

Movie Trailer: The Central Park Five Official Trailer (2012) – Movie Trailer

Streaming Platform: Amazon

32. Training Day (2001)

In Los Angeles, where drug traffickers have taken over the streets, people who have vowed to protect the law are breaking it to clean them up. Denzel Washington portrays L.A.P.D. detective Alonzo Harris, a seasoned narcotics officer whose methods of enforcing the law are dubious, if not outright corrupt. ‘Training Day’ follows Harris as he trains rookie Jake Hoyt over a 24-hour period. Questions arise for both Hoyt and the audience as to whether Harris’ methods for drug-freeing the streets of South-Central Los Angeles is right or bad, posing ethical issues for both.

Director: Antoine Fuqua

Language: English

Genre: Crime, Drama and Thriller

Main Cast:

• Denzel Washington
• Ethan Hawke
• Scott Glenn
• Cliff Curtis

IMDb Rating: 7.7

Running Time: 122 minutes

Box Office: $104,876,233

Movie Trailer: Training Day (2001) – Movie Trailer

Streaming Platform: Amazon

33. The Last King of Scotland (2006)

Nicholas Garrigan, a Scottish doctor who recently graduated from the University of Edinburgh, is flying to Uganda to work at a missionary clinic run by Dr. David Merrit and his wife, Sarah. Soon after, Garrigan has a chance meeting with the new President, General Idi Amin, who shows immediate sympathy for him. Idi Amin invites Nicholas to become his physician and modernize Uganda’s healthcare system after a while, as one thing leads to another: a once-in-a-lifetime offer that the doctor cannot refuse.

Director: Kevin Macdonald

Language: English and Swahili

Genre: Biography, Drama and History

Main Cast:

• Forest Whitaker
• James McAvoy
• Kerry Washington
• Simon McBurney

IMDb Rating: 7.7

Running Time: 123 minutes

Box Office: $48,618,191

Movie Trailer: The Last King of Scotland (2006) – Movie Trailer

Streaming Platform: Amazon

34 .The Women of Brewster Place (1989)

Based on Gloria Naylor’s novel about a group of strong-willed women who live in a decrepit housing complex on Brewster Place in an unnamed eastern metropolis and struggle against poverty, discrimination, and weak, bothersome men over three decades.

Director: Donna Deitch

Language: English

Genre: Drama

Main Cast:

• Oprah Winfrey

• Robin Givens
• Jackée
• Paul Winfield

IMDb Rating: 7.7

Running Time: 200 minutes

Movie Trailer: The Women of Brewster Place (1989) – Movie Trailer

Streaming Platform: Amazon

35. Beats, Rhymes & Life: The Travels of a Tribe Called Quest (2011)

Since their much-publicized breakup in 1998, the Queens NY group known as ‘A Tribe Called Quest’ has kept a generation yearning for more of their trailblazing music, having created a 20-year run as one of the most innovative and influential hip hop acts of all time. Michael Rapaport chronicles the band’s inner workings and behind-the-scenes drama to this day. He considers what’s next for the pioneers of alternative rap, as many believe.

Director: Michael Rapaport

Language: English

Genre: Documentary and Music

Main Cast:

• Q-Tip
• Phife Dawg
• Ali Shaheed Muhammad

IMDb Rating: 7.6

Running Time: 97 minutes

Box Office: $1,200,326

Movie Trailer: Beats, Rhymes & Life: The Travels of A Tribe Called Quest (2011) – Movie Trailer

Streaming Platform: Amazon

36. Creed (2015)

Adonis Johnson is the son of Apollo Creed, the legendary boxing champion who died in a boxing battle in Rocky IV (1985). Adonis was born after his father died and wishes to follow in his father’s footsteps in the sport of boxing. Rocky Balboa, the retired heavyweight boxing champion and Apollo Creed’s former friend, is the mentor he seeks. Rocky eventually accepts to be Adonis’s mentor. They aim to gain a title job with Rocky’s help and confront even deadlier opponents than his father. But it has to be seen whether he is a true fighter.

Director: Ryan Coogler

Language: English

Genre: Drama and Sport

Main Cast:

• Michael B. Jordan
• Sylvester Stallone
• Tessa Thompson

IMDb Rating: 7.6

Running Time: 133 minutes

Box Office: $173,567,581

Movie Trailer: Creed (2015) – Movie Trailer

Streaming Platform: Amazon

37. Fresh (1994)

Fresh (Sean Nelson) is a 12-year-old drug dealer who becomes caught up in a web of poverty, corruption, and racial hostility in Brooklyn. When his drug-addict sister Nichole begins sleeping with local drug lord Esteban, Fresh uses the chess skills he gained from his alcoholic father and speed-chess champion Sam to craft a sophisticated strategy that will set him and his sister free.

Director: Boaz Yakin

Language: English

Genre: Crime, Drama and Thriller

Main Cast:

• Sean Nelson

• Giancarlo Esposito
• Samuel L. Jackson
• N’Bushe Wright

IMDb Rating: 7.6

Running Time: 115 minutes

Box Office: $8,094,616

Movie Trailer: Fresh (1994) – Movie Trailer

Streaming Platform: Amazon

38. Inside Man (2006)

Director: Spike Lee

Language: English

Genre: Crime, Drama and Mystery

Main Cast:

• Denzel Washington
• Clive Owen
• Jodie Foster
• Christopher Plummer

IMDb Rating: 7.6

Running Time: 129 minutes

Box Office: $186,003,591

Movie Trailer: Inside Man (2006) – Movie Trailer

Streaming Platform: Amazon

39. Just Mercy (2019)

“Just Mercy” is a compelling and thought-provoking real story of young lawyer Bryan Stevenson and his historic fight for justice. Bryan could have had his pick of wealthy professions after graduating from Harvard. Instead, he travels to Alabama to represent those who have been wrongfully imprisoned, with the help of local campaigner Eva Ansley. Walter McMillian was sentenced to death in 1987 for the infamous murder of an 18-year-old girl, despite a preponderance of evidence indicating his innocence and the fact that the lone witness against him was a felon with an incentive to lie.

Director: Destin Daniel Cretton

Language: English

Genre: Biography, Crime and Drama

Main Cast:

• Michael B. Jordan
• Jamie Foxx
• Rob Morgan
• Tim Blake Nelson

IMDb Rating: 7.6

Running Time: 137 minutes

Box Office: $50,401,502

Movie Trailer: Just Mercy Trailer (2019) – Movie Trailer

Streaming Platform: Amazon

40. Quincy (2018)

An inside glimpse into the life of Quincy Jones, the legendary musician. For 70 years, Jones has been a singular force in music and popular culture, transcending racial and ethnic barriers; his tale is indelibly woven into the fabric of America.

Director: Alan Hicks and Rashida Jones

Language: English

Genre: Documentary and Biography

Main Cast:

• Quincy Jones
• Rashida Jones
• Kareem Abdul-Jabbar

IMDb Rating: 7.6

Running Time: 124 minutes

Movie Trailer: Quincy (2018) – Movie Trailer

Streaming Platform: Netflix

41. The Black Power Mixtape 1967-1975 (2011)

A modern Swedish filmmaker edits together footage filmed by a group of Swedish journalists documenting the Black Power Movement in the United States.

Director: Göran Olsson

Language: Swedish

Genre: Documentary and History

Main Cast:

• Stokely Carmichael
• Martin Luther King Jr.
• Eldridge Cleaver
• Bobby Seale

IMDb Rating: 7.6

Running Time: 100 minutes

Box Office: $280,256

Movie Trailer: The Black Power Mixtape 1967-1975 (2011) – Movie Trailer

Streaming Platform: Amazon

42. The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind (2019)

William Kamkwamba was born in the African country of Malawi. A catastrophic drought struck the town where he resided when he was fourteen years old. People had nothing to eat. Being an excellent student and very fond of physics, William decides to save his native village from starvation. In the library he finds books on physics. After studying the books, he got an idea to build a wind generator, to provide electricity to his family.

Director: Chiwetel Ejiofor

Language: English and Chichewa

Genre: Biography, Drama and History

Main Cast:

• Maxwell Simba

• Chiwetel Ejiofor
• Lily Banda

IMDb Rating: 7.6

Running Time: 113 minutes

Movie Trailer: The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind (2019) – Movie Trailer

Streaming Platform: Netflix

43. The Five Heartbeats (1991)

The Five Heartbeats is an amateur vocal group formed in the early 1960s by a quintet of hopeful young African American men. After a difficult start, the band improves, turns professional, and rises to become a top-tier music sensation. However, the men learn a lot of harsh lessons along the way about the realities of the music industry, with its casual racism and greed, while the members’ personal flaws threaten the band’s integrity.

Director: Robert Townsend

Language: English

Genre: Drama and Music

Main Cast:

• Robert Townsend
• Michael Wright
• Leon
• Harry J. Lennix

IMDb Rating: 7.6

Running Time: 122 minutes

Box Office: $8,750,400

Movie Trailer: The Five Heartbeats (1991) – Movie Trailer

Streaming Platform: Amazon

44. The Heart of the Game (2005)

A documentary about the Roosevelt Roughriders, a Seattle-based girls’ high-school basketball team, and one player’s quest to reclaim her eligibility to play.

Director: Ward Serrill

Language: English

Genre: Documentary and Sport

Main Cast:

• Bill Resler

• Darnellia Russell
• Joyce Walker
• Ludacris

IMDb Rating: 7.6

Running Time: $11,300

Box Office: $446,446

Movie Trailer: The Heart of the Game (2005) – Movie Trailer

Streaming Platform: Amazon

45. Waves (2019)

Waves traces the epic emotional journey of a suburban African-American family – led by a well-intentioned but domineering father – as they navigate love, forgiveness, and coming together in the aftermath of a loss, set against the vibrant landscape of South Florida and featuring an astonishing ensemble of award-winning actors and breakouts alike. Waves is a heartbreaking drama about the universal ability for compassion and progress, even in the darkest of situations, from acclaimed director Trey Edward Shults.

Director: Trey Edward Shults

Language: English

Genre: Drama, Romance and Sport

Main Cast:

• Kelvin Harrison Jr.
• Lucas Hedges
• Taylor Russell
• Alexa Demie

IMDb Rating: 7.6

Running Time: 135 minutes

Box Office: $2,575,657

Movie Trailer: Waves (2019) – Movie Trailer

Streaming Platform: Amazon

46. What Happened, Miss Simone? (2015)

Nina Simone was noted for her unfettered musical expression on stage, which thrilled audiences and won her life-long fans. Simone battled to reconcile her artistic identity and aspirations with her loyalty to a movement amid the violent, haunting, and senseless day-to-day of the civil rights era in 1960s America. This new video, culled from hours of autobiographical records, reveals the unbridled ego of a brilliant artist as well as the oddities of her period. Simone moved to Liberia and stopped singing at the height of her stardom, abandoning her family, country, job, and fans.

Director: Liz Garbus

Language: English

Genre: Documentary, Biography and Music

Main Cast:

• Nina Simone (archive footage)
• Lisa Simone Kelly
• Roger Nupie

IMDb Rating: 7.6

Running Time: 101 minutes

Movie Trailer: What Happened, Miss Simone (2015) – Movie Trailer

Streaming Platform: Amazon

47. The Hurricane (1999)

This movie is about Rubin “Hurricane” Carter, an African-American boxer who climbed above his turbulent beginnings to become a top contender for the middle-weight belt, is told in this film. His hopes are destroyed, however, when he is charged with triple murder and sentenced to three natural-life terms. Despite becoming a celebrity and his tenacious efforts to prove his innocence through his autobiography, he has been disappointed as a result of his futile efforts. When an African-American child and his Canadian mentors read his book, they become convinced of his innocence and work to get him exonerated.

Director: Norman Jewison

Language: English

Genre: Biography, Drama and Sport

Main Cast:

• Denzel Washington
• John Hannah
• Deborah Kara Unger
• Liev Schreiber

IMDb Rating: 7.6

Running Time: 146 minutes

Box Office: $73,956,241

Movie Trailer: The Hurricane (1999) – Movie Trailer

Streaming Platform: Amazon

48. 42 (2013)

Jackie Robinson is a Negro League baseball player in 1946 who refuses to accept racism. Branch Rickey is the owner of a Major League baseball team who has a bold idea. To that aim, Rickey recruits Robinson to become the first modern African American Major League player, breaking the unspoken color line. As both expect, this presents a significant difficulty for Robinson and his family, as they face continuous racist animosity from both players and fans on and off the pitch. Jackie finds allies and hope in unlikely places as he fights against his propensity to bear such assault without complaining.

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Director: Brian Helgeland

Language: English

Genre: Biography, Drama and Sport

Main Cast:

• Chadwick Boseman
• Harrison Ford
• Nicole Beharie
• Christopher Meloni

IMDb Rating: 7.5

Running Time: 128 minutes

Box Office: $97,470,701

Movie Trailer: 42 (2013) – Movie Trailer

Streaming Platform: Amazon

49. Amazing Grace (2018)

In January 1972, Aretha Franklin sang with her choir at the New Bethel Baptist Church in Watts, Los Angeles.

Director: Alan Elliott and Sydney Pollack

Language: English

Genre: Documentary and Music

Main Cast:

• Aretha Franklin
• James Cleveland
• Alexander Hamilton

IMDb Rating: 7.5

Running Time: 87 minutes

Box Office: $7,796,112

Movie Trailer: Amazing Grace (2018) – Movie Trailer

Streaming Platform: Hulu

50. BlacKkKlansman (2018)

Ron Stallworth was employed as the first black officer in the Colorado Springs, Colorado police department in the early 1970s. Initially, Stallworth is assigned to the records room, where he is subjected to racial slurs from his employees. Stallworth asks for a transfer to go undercover and is assigned to infiltrate a local demonstration where national civil rights leader Kwame Ture (born Stokely Carmichael) is scheduled to speak.

Director: Spike Lee

Language: English

Genre: Biography, Crime and Drama

Main Cast:

• John David Washington
• Adam Driver
• Laura Harrier
• Topher Grace

IMDb Rating: 7.5

Running Time: 135 minutes

Box Office: $93,413,709

Movie Trailer: BlacKkKlansman (2018) – Movie Trailer

Streaming Platform: Amazon

51. Fruitvale Station (2013)

This is based on the true story of Oscar, a 22-year-old Bay Area resident who feels something in the air as he wakes up on December 31, 2008. He takes it as a sign to get a head start on his New Year’s resolutions: being a better son to his mother, whose birthday falls on New Year’s Eve, being a better partner to his girlfriend, with whom he hasn’t been completely honest recently, and being a better father to T, their beautiful 4-year-old daughter. He gets off to a good start, but as the day progresses, he realizes that change isn’t going to be simple.

Director: Ryan Coogler

Language: English

Genre: Biography, Crime and Drama

Main Cast:

• Michael B. Jordan
• Melonie Diaz
• Kevin Durand
• Chad Michael Murray

IMDb Rating: 7.5

Running Time: 85 minutes

Box Office: $17,385,830

Movie Trailer: Fruitvale Station (2013) – Movie Trailer

Streaming Platform: Amazon

52. Ghost Dog: The Way of the Samurai (1999)

When his recent mission does not go as planned, a hitman who lives by the samurai code works for the mafia and finds himself in their crosshairs. Now he must figure out a means to defend himself and his honor while staying true to the code he lives by.

Director: Jim Jarmusch

Language: English

Genre: Action, Crime and Drama

Main Cast:

• Forest Whitaker
• Cliff Gorman
• Henry Silva
• Isaach De Bankolé

IMDb Rating: 7.5

Running Time: 116 minutes

Box Office: $9,380,473

Movie Trailer: Ghost Dog – The Way of the Samurai (1999) – Movie Trailer

Streaming Platform: Amazon

53. Homecoming: A Film by Beyoncé (2019)

The emotional journey from creative concept to global movement is shown in this intimate, in-depth look at Beyoncé’s famous 2018 Coachella performance.

Director: Beyoncé and Ed Burke

Language: English

Genre: Documentary and Music

Main Cast:

• Beyoncé
• Jay-Z
• Kelly Rowland
• Les Twins

IMDb Rating: 7.5

Running Time: 137 minutes

Movie Trailer: Homecoming: A Film By Beyoncé (2019) – Movie Trailer

Streaming Platform: Netflix

54. John Lewis: Good Trouble (2020)

JOHN LEWIS: GOOD TROUBLE highlights Lewis’ 60-plus years of social involvement and legislative action on racial rights, voting rights, gun control, health-care reform, and immigration through interviews and rare archive footage. Porter recounts Lewis’ childhood experiences, his inspiring family, and his fateful meeting with Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. in 1957 using current-day interviews with Lewis, who is now 79 years old. Porter’s mostly cinema verité film contains interviews with political leaders, Congressional colleagues, and other persons that play heavily in Lewis’ life, in addition to her interviews with Lewis and his family.

Director: Dawn Porter

Language: English

Genre: Documentary

Main Cast:

• Elijah Cummings
• Anthony Johnson
• Hillary Clinton

IMDb Rating: 7.5

Running Time: 96 minutes

Movie Trailer: John Lewis: Good Trouble (2020) – Movie Trailer

Streaming Platform: Amazon

55. Judas and the Black Messiah (2021)

Fred Hampton, a young, dynamic activist, is elected Chairman of the Black Panther Party’s Illinois chapter, putting him squarely in the sights of the government, the FBI, and the Chicago Police Department. The authorities, on the other hand, will need a man on the inside to put down the movement.

Director: Shaka King

Language: English

Genre: Biography, Drama and History

Main Cast:

• Daniel Kaluuya
• Lakeith Stanfield
• Jesse Plemons
• Dominique Fishback

IMDb Rating: 7.5

Running Time: 126 minutes

Box Office: $6,795,355

Movie Trailer: JUDAS AND THE BLACK MESSIAH (2021)- Movie Trailer

Streaming Platform: Amazon

56. Menace II Society (1993)

This urban nightmare follows Caine Lawson as he struggles to flee his brutal existence in the Watts projects following his high school graduation.

Director: The Hughes Brothers

Language: English

Genre: Crime, Drama and Thriller

Main Cast:

• Tyrin Turner
• Jada Pinkett
• Larenz Tate
• Bill Duke

IMDb Rating: 7.5

Running Time: 97 minutes

Box Office: $27,912,072

Movie Trailer: Menace II Society (1993) – Movie Trailer

Streaming Platform: Amazon

57. Selma (2014)

The riv eting true narrative follows Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. during a tumultuous three-month period in 1965, when he led a perilous campaign to obtain equal voting rights in the face of violent opposition. The historic march from Selma to Montgomery resulted in President Lyndon B. Johnson signing the Voting Rights Act of 1965, one of the civil rights movement’s most major triumphs. “Selma,” directed by Ava DuVernay, depicts the tale of how Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., a beloved leader and visionary, and his brothers and sisters in the civil rights movement sparked transformation that permanently changed history.

Director: Ava DuVernay

Language: English

Genre: Biography, Drama and History

Main Cast:

• David Oyelowo
• Tom Wilkinson
• Carmen Ejogo
• Giovanni Ribisi

IMDb Rating: 7.5

Running Time: 128 minutes

Box Office: $66,787,908

Movie Trailer: Selma (2014) – Movie Trailer

Streaming Platform: Amazon

58. The Hate U Give (2018)

Starr Carter lives in two worlds: the underprivileged, primarily black neighborhood where she lives and the wealthy, mostly white prep school that she attends. When Starr witnesses her childhood best friend Khalil being fatally shot by a police officer, the uncomfortable balance between both worlds is destroyed. Starr must now find her voice and speak up for what is right in the face of pressures from all sides of the community.

Director: George Tillman Jr.

Language: English

Genre: Crime and Drama

Main Cast:

• Amandla Stenberg
• Regina Hall
• Russell Hornsby
• K.J. Apa

IMDb Rating: 7.5

Running Time: 133 minutes

Box Office: $34,934,009

Movie Trailer: The Hate U Give (2018) – Official Trailer

Streaming Platform: Amazon

59. Toni Morrison: The Pieces I Am (2019)

The great storyteller’s life, works, and the tremendous topics she has tackled throughout her creative career are examined in this beautiful and sensitive discourse.

Director: Timothy Greenfield-Sanders

Language: English

Genre: Documentary

Main Cast:

• Toni Morrison
• Hilton Als
• Oprah Winfrey

IMDb Rating: 7.5

Running Time: 120 minutes

Box Office: $927,495

Movie Trailer: Toni Morrison: The Pieces I Am (2019) – Movie Trailer

Streaming Platform: Amazon

60. The Great Debaters (2007)

Marshall, Texas, is home to Wiley College, where, in 1935-36, inspired by the Harlem Renaissance and his clandestine work as a union organizer, Professor Melvin Tolson coaches the debate team to a nearly-undefeated season that includes the first debate between U.S. students from white and Negro colleges and concludes with a debate between U.S. students from white and Negro colleges.

Director: Denzel Washington

Language: English

Genre: Biography, Drama and Romance

Main Cast:

• Denzel Washington
• Forest Whitaker
• Nate Parker
• Jurnee Smollett

IMDb Rating: 7.5

Running Time: 126 minutes

Box Office: $30,271,556

Movie Trailer: The Great Debaters (2007) – Movie Trailer

Streaming Platform: Amazon

61. The Jacksons: An American Dream (1992)

The Jacksons are a typical working-class family from Gary, Indiana; nevertheless, when their father realizes that his children have exceptional musical abilities, they create a band. They quickly rose to fame after winning talent show after talent show when Motown called. They go on to form the now-famous Jackson 5. However, their triumph comes with it a lot of problems and strife.

Director: Karen Arthur

Language: English

Genre: Biography, Drama and Music

Main Cast:

• Lawrence Hilton-Jacobs

• Angela Bassett
• Holly Robinson Peete
• Margaret Avery

IMDb Rating: 7.5

Running Time: 300 minutes

Movie Trailer: The Jacksons: An American Dream (1992) – Movie Trailer

Streaming Platform: Amazon

62. 20 Feet from Stardom (2013)

Under the world of pop music, backup singers occupy an odd position: they are always in the shadow of the featured performers, even when they are performing in front of them, despite the fact that they offer a critical basis for the music. The history of these mostly African-American performers during the rock period is recounted through interviews with veterans and live video. In addition, special attention is given to remarkable standouts who attempted to make a living in the art despite a low profile and more personal job problems, particularly those who confronted the very different task of singing in front of the camera.

Director: Morgan Neville

Language: English

Genre: Documentary, Biography and History

Main Cast:

• Darlene Love
• Judith Hill
• Merry Clayton
• Lisa Fischer

IMDb Rating: 7.4

Running Time: 90 minutes

Box Office: $5,839,368

Movie Trailer: 20 Feet From Stardom (2013 ) – Movie Trailer

Streaming Platform: Amazon

63. Akeelah And the Bee (2006)

Akeelah Anderson’s life is difficult: her father is deceased, her mother ignores her, and her brother is involved with local gangbangers. She’s bright, but her surroundings threaten to suffocate her ambitions. In response to a threat from her principal, Akeelah enters a spelling bee to escape detention for her frequent absences. She wins, much to her surprise and chagrin. Her principal suggests that she seek coaching from Dr. Larabee, an English professor, for the more prestigious regional bee.

Director: Doug Atchison

Language: English

Genre: Drama and Family

Main Cast:

• Laurence Fishburne
• Angela Bassett
• Keke Palmer
• Curtis Armstrong

IMDb Rating: 7.4

Running Time: 112 minutes

Box Office: $18,948,425

Movie Trailer: Akeelah and the Bee (2006) – Movie Trailer

Streaming Platform: Amazon

64. Black Dynamite (2009)

This is the story of Black Dynamite, an African-American action hero from the 1970s. The Man murdered his brother, inundated the slum with counterfeit malt liquor, and injected heroin into local orphanages. The only hero willing to fight The Man all the way from the blood-soaked city streets to the sacred halls of the Honky House was Black Dynamite.

Director: Scott Sanders

Language: English

Genre: Action and Comedy

Main Cast:

• Michael Jai White
• Tommy Davidson
• Salli Richardson

IMDb Rating: 7.4

Running Time: 84 minutes

Box Office: $296,557

Movie Trailer: Black Dynamite (2009) – Movie Trailer

Streaming Platform: Amazon

65. Blindspotting (2018)

Collin must make it through the last three days of his probation to get a chance at a fresh start. He and his troubled childhood best buddy, Miles, work as movers and are forced to watch their old neighborhood gentrify. Collin misses his necessary curfew due to a life-changing event, and the two men fight to retain their friendship as the new social landscape exposes their differences. Set against the backdrop of Oakland, this film explores the interplay between race and class.

Director: Carlos López Estrada

Language: English

Genre: Comedy, Crime and Drama

Main Cast:

• Daveed Diggs
• Rafael Casal
• Janina Gavankar
• Jasmine Cephas Jones

IMDb Rating: 7.4

Running Time: 95 minutes

Box Office: $5,006,989

Movie Trailer: Blindspotting (2018) – Movie Trailer

Streaming Platform: Amazon

66. Lean on Me (1989)

When an arrogant and unconventional teacher returns as principal to the idyllic high school where he had previously been fired, he discovers it has become a nest of drug abuse, gang violence, and urban despair. He eventually succeeds, but his unconventional techniques result in a clash with city officials, which threatens to ruin all of his achievements. This film is based on a real story.

Director: John G. Avildsen

Language: English

Genre: Drama

Main Cast:

• Morgan Freeman
• Beverly Todd
• Robert Guillaume

IMDb Rating: 7.4

Running Time: 108 minutes

Box Office: $31,906,454

Movie Trailer: Lean On Me (1989) – Movie Trailer

Streaming Platform: Amazon

67. Love Jones (1997)

In Chicago, Darius Lovehall, a young black poet, begins dating Nina Mosley, a gorgeous and brilliant photographer. They hang out with their pal, talking about love and sex, while attempting to figure out if they have a “love thing” or are simply “kicking it.” Nina then puts Darius’ affections to the test and sets off a sequence of romantic problems.

Director: Theodore Witcher

Language: English

Genre: Drama and Romance

Main Cast:

• Larenz Tate
• Nia Long
• Isaiah Washington
• Lisa Nicole Carson

IMDb Rating: 7.4

Running Time: 108 minutes

Box Office: $12,782,749

Movie Trailer: Love Jones (1997) – Movie Trailer

Streaming Platform: Amazon

68. Miles Davis: Birth of the Cool (2019)

Musicians, academics, family members, and friends reflect on Miles Davis’ life to expose the man behind the legend. Rare footage and images, outtakes from recording sessions, and new interviews are all available thanks to full access to Davis’ estate.

Director: Stanley Nelson

Language: English

Genre: Documentary and Biography

Main Cast:

• Carl Lumbly(voice)
• Miles Davis (archive footage)
• Reginald Petty

IMDb Rating: 7.4

Running Time: 114 minutes

Box Office: $2,764,517

Movie Trailer: Miles Davis: Birth of the Cool (2019) – Movie Trailer

Streaming Platform: Amazon

69. Moonlight (2016)

A young African-American man fights with his identity and sexuality as he navigates the challenges of childhood, adolescence, and early adulthood.

Director: Barry Jenkins

Language: English

Genre: Drama

Main Cast:

• Trevante Rhodes
• André Holland
• Janelle Monáe
• Ashton Sanders

IMDb Rating: 7.4

Running Time: 111 minutes

Box Office: $65,336,603

Movie Trailer: Moonlight (2016) – Movie Trailer

Streaming Platform: Amazon

70. Mudbound (2017)

After WWII, two families—one black, the Jacksons, and the other white, the McAllans—are compelled to share the same area of land in the muddy Mississippi Delta, maintaining a tenuous race-based truce. The long-awaited return of two war veterans—Ronsel, the Jacksons’ eldest son, and Jamie, Henry McAllan’s younger brother—will unexpectedly nurture a developing friendship that transcends prejudice and race as they both battle with hardship and extreme poverty.

Director: Dee Rees

Language: English

Genre: Drama and War

Main Cast:

• Carey Mulligan
• Garrett Hedlund
• Jason Clarke
• Jason Mitchell

IMDb Rating: 7.4

Running Time: 134 minutes

Box Office: $85,955

Movie Trailer: Mudbound (2017) – Movie Trailer

Streaming Platform: Netflix

71. The Black Godfather (2019)

Following WWII, two families—one black, the Jacksons, and the other white, the McAllans—are forced to share a parcel of property in the muddy Mississippi Delta, maintaining a tenuous race-based peace. The long-awaited return of two war veterans—Ronsel, the Jacksons’ eldest son, and Jamie, Henry McAllan’s younger brother—will, however, unexpectedly nurture a developing friendship that transcends prejudice and race, as they both battle with hardship and extreme poverty.

Director: Reginald Hudlin

Language: English

Genre: Documentary

Main Cast:

• Hank Aaron

• Dina R. Andrews
• Clarence Avant

IMDb Rating: 7.4

Running Time: 118 minutes

Movie Trailer: The Black Godfather (2019) – Movie Trailer

Streaming Platform: Netflix

72. Antwone Fisher (2002)

A sailor with a history of violent outbursts is referred to a naval psychiatrist. The young man initially refuses to open up, but eventually does and discloses a tragic childhood. He tackles his terrible history with the help of his doctor and embarks on a search for the family he never knew.

Director: Denzel Washington

Language: English

Genre: Biography and Drama

Main Cast:

• Derek Luke
• Denzel Washington
• Joy Bryant

IMDb Rating: 7.3

Running Time: 120 minutes

Box Office: $23,367,586

Movie Trailer: Antwone Fisher (2002) – Movie Trailer

Streaming Platform: Amazon

73. Baadasssss! (2003)

Mario Van Peebles’ half-documentary, half-homage to his father Melvin Van Peebles’ film Sweet Sweetback’s Baadasssss Song (1971).

Director: Mario Van Peebles

Language: English

Genre: Biography and Drama

Main Cast:

• Mario Van Peebles

• David Alan Grier
• Nia Long
• Rainn Wilson

IMDb Rating: 7.3

Running Time: 108 minutes

Box Office: $365,727

Movie Trailer: BAADASSSSS! (2003) – Movie Trailer

Streaming Platform: Amazon

74. Beasts of the Southern Wild (2012)

Hushpuppy, a brave six-year-old girl, lives in the Bathtub with her father, Wink, in a southern Delta village on the outskirts of the world. Wink’s rough love prepares her for the universe’s disintegration; for a moment when he isn’t there to protect her. When Wink catches a mysterious ailment, nature goes haywire. Temperatures soar, ice caps melt, and an army of prehistoric animals known as aurochs is unleashed. Hushpuppy goes in quest of her missing mother as the waters rise, the aurochs approach, and Wink’s health begins to deteriorate.

Director: Benh Zeitlin

Language: English

Genre: Adventure, Drama and Fantasy

Main Cast:

• Quvenzhané Wallis
• Dwight Henry
• Levy Easterly

IMDb Rating: 7.3

Running Time: 93 minutes

Box Office: $21,107,746

Movie Trailer: Beasts of the Southern Wild (2003) – Movie Trailer

Streaming Platform: Amazon

75. Black Panther (2018)

Following the events of Captain America: Civil War, Prince T’Challa returns to Wakanda, a reclusive, technologically sophisticated African nation, to become the next king. T’Challa, on the other hand, is soon challenged for the throne by groups within his own country. When two opponents plot to destroy Wakanda, the hero known as Black Panther must join forces with C.I.A. agent Everett K. Ross and soldiers of the Dora Milaje, Wakandan special forces, to keep Wakanda out of a world war.

Director: Ryan Coogler

Language: English

Genre: Action, Adventure and Sci-Fi

Main Cast:

• Chadwick Boseman
• Michael B. Jordan
• Lupita Nyong’o
• Danai Gurira

IMDb Rating: 7.3

Running Time: 134 minutes

Box Office: $1,347,597,973

Movie Trailer: Black Panther (2018) – Movie Trailer

Streaming Platform: Amazon

76. Detroit (2017)

In 1967, a police raid in Detroit culminates in one of the greatest racial riots in US history. The plot revolves around the Algiers Motel event, which occurred on July 25, 1967, during the racially violent 12th Street Riot in Detroit, Michigan. Three black men were killed, and nine other people were brutally beaten: seven black men and two white women.

Director: Kathryn Bigelow

Language: English

Genre: Crime, Drama and History

Main Cast:

• John Boyega
• Will Poulter
• Algee Smith
• Jacob Latimore

IMDb Rating: 7.3

Running Time: 143 minutes

Box Office: $23,355,100

Movie Trailer: Detroit Trailer (2017) | Movie Trailer

Streaming Platform: Amazon

77. Dolemite is my Name (2019)

Eddie Murphy plays Rudy Ray Moore, a comedy and rap pioneer who defied the odds when his humorous, profane, kung-fu fighting alter ego, Dolemite, became a Blaxploitation smash in the 1970s.

Director: Craig Brewer

Language: English

Genre: Biography, Crime and Drama

Main Cast:

• Eddie Murphy
• Da’Vine Joy Randolph
• Keegan-Michael Key
• Mike Epps

IMDb Rating: 7.3

Running Time: 118 minutes

Movie Trailer: Dolemite Is My Name (2019) – Movie Trailer

Streaming Platform: Netflix

78. Friday (1995)

Craig Jones (Ice Cube) is unemployed on Friday after being fired the day before. This has caused conflict with Smokey’s (Chris Tucker) supplier, Big Worm (Faizon Love), who now demands his money, his merchandise, or Smokey’s life. Then there’s Deebo (Tommy “Tiny” Lister, Jr.), the neighborhood bully, as well as Joi (Paula Jai Parker), Craig’s possessive, neurotic girlfriend, and Debbie (Nia Long), Craig’s crush.

Director: F. Gary Gray

Language: English

Genre: Comedy and Drama

Main Cast:

• Ice Cube
• Chris Tucker
• Nia Long
• Bernie Mac

IMDb Rating: 7.3

Running Time: 91 minutes

Box Office: $28,215,918

Movie Trailer: Friday (1995) – Movie Trailer

Streaming Platform: Amazon

79. George Washington (2000)

George Washington is set in a tiny town in North Carolina and tells the story of a close-knit multi-racial group of working-class adolescents who are caught up in a catastrophic deceit. A peculiar series of events and an innocent cover-up send their insular group on separate journeys for redemption after a twelve-year-old girl breaks up with her boyfriend for a sensitive, highly contemplative thirteen-year-old boy named George.

Director: David Gordon Green

Language: English

Genre: Drama

Main Cast:

• Candace Evanofski

• Curtis Cotton III
• Donald Holden
• Damian Jewan Lee

IMDb Rating: 7.3

Running Time: 89 minutes

Box Office: $283,846

Movie Trailer: George.Washington( 2000) – Movie Trailer

Streaming Platform: Amazon

80. Hustle & Flow (2005)

With the support of several folks in his Memphis neighborhood, aspiring emcee DJay works the angles to get his debut album made. And when he hears that Skinny Black, the hip-hop superstar, is coming to town, he puts up a supreme hustle to get Skinny’s attention.

Director: Craig Brewer

Language: English

Genre: Crime, Drama and Music

Main Cast:

• Terrence Howard
• Anthony Anderson
• Haystak

IMDb Rating: 7.3

Running Time: 116 minutes

Box Office: $23,563,727

Movie Trailer: Hustle & Flow (2005) – Movie Trailer

Streaming Platform: Amazon

81. Marshall (2017)

Thurgood Marshall is an NAACP lawyer who travels the country in 1940 defending individuals of colour who have been wrongfully accused of crimes due to racial prejudice. After returning to his New York office, he is assigned to represent Joseph Spell, a chauffeur accused of rape by his white employer, Eleanor Strubing, in a case that has captivated the media. Sam Friedman, an insurance lawyer in Bridgeport, is hired by his brother to persuade Marshall to join the local bar against his will.

Director: Reginald Hudlin

Language: English

Genre: Biography, Crime and Drama

Main Cast:

• Chadwick Boseman

• Josh Gad
• Kate Hudson
• Dan Stevens

IMDb Rating: 7.3

Running Time: 118 minutes

Box Office: $10,116,816

Movie Trailer: Marshall (2017) – Movie Trailer

Streaming Platform: Amazon

82. Miss Sharon Jones! (2015)

Miss Sharon Jones: Dreams never die, but they are occasionally postponed. Miss Sharon Jones is the skilled and outgoing soul singer of “Sharon Jones and the Dap Kings,” a Grammy-nominated R&B band. Sharon Jones faces pancreatic cancer during the most difficult year of her life. The film delves into the mind and spirit of a powerful lady trying to reclaim the explosive singing career that has escaped her for 50 years as she tries to regain her health and voice.

Director: Barbara Kopple

Language: English

Genre: Documentary and Music

Main Cast:

• Sharon Jones
• Starr Duncan-Lowe
• Binky Griptite

IMDb Rating: 7.3

Running Time: 93 minutes

Box Office: $120,880

Movie Trailer: Miss Sharon Jones! (2015) – Movie Trailer

Streaming Platform: Amazon

83. Precious (2009)

An overweight, beaten, uneducated teen who is pregnant with her second child is encouraged to join in an alternative school in Harlem, New York City, approximately 1987, in the hopes that her life may take a different path.

Director: Lee Daniels

Language: English

Genre: Drama

Main Cast:

• Gabourey Sidibe

• Mo’Nique
• Paula Patton
• Mariah Carey

IMDb Rating: 7.3

Running Time: 110 minutes

Box Office: $63,649,529

Movie Trailer: Precious (2009) – Movie Trailer

Streaming Platform: Amazon

84. The Black Panthers: Vanguard of the Revolution (2015)

The birth and demise of the Black Panther Party, one of the most intriguing and controversial groups of the twentieth century, which caught the world’s attention for nearly 50 years, is chronicled in this film.

Director: Stanley Nelson Jr.

Language: English

Genre: Documentary and History

Main Cast:

• Blair Anderson
• Omar Barbour
• Julian Bond

IMDb Rating: 7.3

Running Time: 115 minutes

Box Office: $584,109

Movie Trailer: The Black Panthers: Vanguard of the Revolution (2015) – Movie Trailer

Streaming Platform: Amazon

85.The Death and Life of Marsha P. Johnson (2017)

Marsha P. Johnson, a black LGBT rights activist and Stonewall veteran, died mysteriously in 1992. Victoria Cruz investigates. Using new interviews with Johnson’s family, friends, and fellow activists, as well as archival conversations with Johnson.

Director: David France

Language: English

Genre: Documentary

Main Cast:

• Kurt Wolfe
• Sue Yacka
• Catherine Shugrue Dos Santos

IMDb Rating: 7.3

Running Time: 105 minutes

Movie Trailer: The Death and Life of Marsha P. Johnson (2017) – Movie Trailer

Streaming Platform: Netflix

86. The Last Black Man in San Francisco (2019)

Jimmie Fails IV, a third-generation San Franciscan, is a black man. Jimmie, who has a low-paying job as a nurse in a seniors’ care facility, moved back to San Francisco three years ago and has been staying in his closest buddy Montgomery Allen’s house, which he shares with his blind grandfather, Jimmie, who sleeps on the floor in Mont’s already small bedroom. Mont, despite the mansion, is in a similar predicament to Jimmie, who works at a supermarket fish counter while sketching and writing a play on the side.

Director: Joe Talbot

Language: English

Genre: Drama

Main Cast:

• Jimmie Fails
• Jonathan Majors
• Tichina Arnold
• Rob Morgan

IMDb Rating: 7.3

Running Time: 120 minutes

Box Office: $4,637,830

Movie Trailer: The Last Black Man in San Francisco (2019) – Movie Trailer

Streaming Platform: Amazon

87. What’s Love Got to Do with It? (1993)

Anna Mae Bullock’s voice was always unique. She quickly captures the attention of pop group leader Ike Turner after arriving in St. Louis to live with her mother, who had abandoned her when she was a child. She becomes the singer for his band, his wife, and the mother of his children, though not all of them are hers. In love with him and determined not to leave like her mother, she finds herself the focus of growing violence from him, who is oblivious to the fact that she is the driving force behind his band’s success.

Director: Brian Gibson

Language: English

Genre: Biography, Drama and Music

Main Cast:

• Angela Bassett
• Laurence Fishburne
• RaéVen Kelly

IMDb Rating: 7.3

Running Time: 118 minutes

Box Office: $39,100,956

Movie Trailer: What’s Love Got to Do with It (1993) – Movie Trailer

Streaming Platform: Amazon

88. Whitney (2018)

Whitney is a 2018 documentary film on Whitney Houston, an American singer and actress. It showcases an in-depth look at the life and music of Whitney Houston.

Director: Kevin Macdonald

Language: English

Genre: Documentary, Biography and Drama

Main Cast:

• Whitney Houston (archive footage)
• Ellen White
• Michael Houston

IMDb Rating: 7.3

Running Time: 122 minutes

Box Office: $4,605,123

Movie Trailer: Whitney (2018) – Movie Trailer

Streaming Platform: Amazon

89. Amistad (1997)

This film depicts the history of an 1839 revolt aboard the slave ship Amistad, which is based on a true story from America’s slave trade. Much of the action is set in a courtroom as slaves’ lawyers fight for their release and return home. The case marks a turning point in American-Spanish relations, revealing political maneuverings that had ramifications for the North-South struggle that eventually led to America’s Civil War.

Director: Steven Spielberg

Language: English, Mende, Spanish and Portuguese

Genre: Biography, Drama and History

Main Cast:

• Morgan Freeman
• Anthony Hopkins
• Djimon Hounsou
• Matthew McConaughey

IMDb Rating: 7.3

Running Time: 154 minutes

Box Office: $44,229,441

Movie Trailer: Amistad (1997) – Movie Trailer

Streaming Platform: Amazon

90. Beverly Hills Cop (1984)

Following the assassination of his childhood buddy, Axel Foley, a suave Detroit detective, travels to sunny Beverly Hills on a one-man mission to find the culprit and bring him to justice. Axel and his unconventional methods soon expose the lucrative drug enterprise of Victor Maitland, a powerful local criminal lord; nevertheless, Foley will soon find himself in serious difficulty, as Lieutenant Andrew Bogomil wants him out of town. Axel will now have to work with Detectives John Taggart and Billy Rosewood to unravel the complex conspiracy and complete what he has begun.

Director: Martin Brest

Language: English

Genre: Action, Comedy and Crime

Main Cast:

• Eddie Murphy
• Judge Reinhold
• John Ashton
• Lisa Eilbacher

IMDb Rating: 7.3

Running Time: 105 minutes

Box Office: $316,360,478

Movie Trailer: Beverly Hills Cop (1984) – Movie Trailer

Streaming Platform: Amazon

91. Claudine (1974)

While on welfare, Claudine strives to provide for her six children in Harlem. Roop, a joyful garbageman she meets while working as a maid on the side, is the love of her life.

Director: John Berry

Language: English

Genre: Comedy, Drama and Romance

Main Cast:

• Diahann Carroll
• James Earl Jones
• Lawrence Hilton-Jacobs

IMDb Rating: 7.3

Running Time: 92 minutes

Box Office: $6,000,000

Movie Trailer: Claudine (1974) – Movie Trailer

Streaming Platform: Amazon

92. Coach Carter (2005)

Ken Carter accepted the position of basketball coach at his old high school in a low-income Richmond neighborhood in 1999. Carter is as disturbed by his players’ awful attitudes as he is by their poor play performance, and he sets out to alter both. He enforces a stringent system, which includes written contracts that require athletes to behave respectfully, adhere to a dress code, and receive good grades. Any initial skepticism is quickly erased when Carter’s team becomes an unbeaten challenger. Carter, on the other hand, takes prompt action when the overconfident team’s behavior begins to veer, with too many students performing poorly in class.

Director: Thomas Carter

Language: English

Genre: Biography, Drama and Sport

Main Cast:

• Samuel L. Jackson
• Rob Brown
• Ashanti

IMDb Rating: 7.3

Running Time: 136 minutes

Box Office: $76,669,554

Movie Trailer: Coach Carter (2005) – Movie Trailer

Streaming Platform: Amazon

93. Enemy of the State (1998)

Will Smith’s character, Robert Clayton Dean, is a successful and brave labor lawyer until he bumps across an old college classmate who is in a hurry. That pal, unbeknownst to him, drops a disc and viewer carrying images of a political assassination approved by the National Security Agency’s senior counselor. Unfortunately, that politician quickly discovers what Dean has and utilizes the N.S.A.’s tremendous resources to track him down, probe him, and stop him before he goes public.

Director: Tony Scott

Language: English

Genre: Action and Thriller

Main Cast:

• Will Smith
• Gene Hackman
• Jon Voight
• Regina King

IMDb Rating: 7.3

Running Time: 132 minutes

Box Office: $250,849,789

Movie Trailer: Enemy Of The State (1998) – Movie Trailer

Streaming Platform: Amazon

94. Dave Chapelle’s Block Party (2005)

Dave Chappelle throws a once-in-a-lifetime free block celebration for a Brooklyn neighborhood. Kanye West, Mos Def, Talib Kweli, Common, Dead Prez, Erykah Badu, Jill Scott, the Roots, Cody ChesnuTT, Big Daddy Kane, and – reuniting for the first time in almost seven years – the Fugees are among the musicians on the bill.

Director: Michel Gondry

Language: English

Genre: Documentary, Comedy and Music

Main Cast:

• Kanye West

• Mos Def
• Talib Kweli
• Common

IMDb Rating: 7.2

Running Time: 103 minutes

Box Office: $12,051,924

Movie Trailer: Dave Chappelle’s Block Party (2005) – Movie Trailer

Streaming Platform: Amazon

95. Dope (2015)

For the post-hip hop generation, a coming-of-age comedy/drama. Malcolm is a geek balancing his senior year of college applications, interviews, and the SAT while surviving life in The Bottoms, a rough area in Inglewood, CA filled with gangsters and drug dealers. His ambition is to study at Harvard. Malcolm and his buddies are thrown into a “only in Los Angeles” gritty adventure full of odd personalities and bad decisions after an accidental invitation to a massive underground party. Malcolm will progress from being a geek to being dope to finally being himself if he can continue.

Director: Rick Famuyiwa

Language: English

Genre: Adventure, Comedy and Crime

Main Cast:

• Shameik Moore
• Tony Revolori
• Kiersey Clemons
• Kimberly Elise

IMDb Rating: 7.2

Running Time: 103 minutes

Box Office: $17,986,781

Movie Trailer: Dope Official Trailer (2015) – Movie Trailer

Streaming Platform: Amazon

96. Fences (2016)

In 1950s Pittsburgh, Troy Maxson works as a sanitation worker. Maxson originally aspired to be a professional baseball player, but when the major leagues began admitting black athletes, he was ruled too old. Troy, enraged by his missed opportunity, adds to the strain in his family by sabotaging his son’s chances to see a college football recruiter.

Director: Denzel Washington

Language: English

Genre: Drama

Main Cast:

• Denzel Washington
• Viola Davis
• Stephen McKinley Henderson

IMDb Rating: 7.2

Running Time: 139 minutes

Box Office: $64,414,761

Movie Trailer: Fences (2016) – Movie Trailer

Streaming Platform: Amazon

97. Lee Daniels’ The Butler (2013)

Cecil Gaines was a sharecropper’s kid who grew up as a domestic worker for the white family who casually destroyed his family’s farm in the 1920s. Cecil eventually strikes out on his own in the 1950s, becoming a hotel valet of such competence and discretion that he is hired as a butler in the White House. Cecil would serve multiple US Presidents there throughout the decades as a passive observer of history as the American Civil Rights Movement gained traction, despite his family’s personal problems. Cecil must determine if he should take action in his own way while his wife, Gloria, battles with her addictions and their stubborn eldest son, Louis, works for a just world.

Director: Lee Daniels

Language: English
Genre: Biography and Drama

Main Cast:

• Forest Whitaker
• Oprah Winfrey
• John Cusack
• Jane Fonda

IMDb Rating: 7.2

Running Time: 132 minutes

Box Office: $177,313,795

Movie Trailer: Lee Daniels’ The Butler (2013) – Movie Trailer

Streaming Platform: Amazon

98. Love and Basketball (2000)

Monica moves in next door to Quincy in Los Angeles in 1981. They’re both 11 years old and, like Quincy’s father, want to play in the NBA. Except when Quincy’s parents dispute and he climbs through Monica’s window to sleep on the floor, their love-hate connection lasts until high school, with Monica’s edge and Quincy’s top-dog attitude dividing them. They become a pair as high school ends, but within a year, with both of them playing baseball at USC, Quincy’s relationship with his father deteriorates, and he breaks up with Monica. They meet again a few years later, their professional careers at a fork in the road. It’s time for a high-stakes final one-on-one game.

Director: Gina Prince-Bythewood

Language: English

Genre: Drama, Romance and Sport

Main Cast:

• Omar Epps
• Sanaa Lathan
• Alfre Woodard

IMDb Rating: 7.2

Running Time: 125 minutes

Box Office: $27,728,118

Movie Trailer: Love & Basketball (2000) – Movie Trailer

Streaming Platform: Amazon

99. My Brother’s Wedding (1983)

A man who has struggled personally is reluctantly to be the best man at his fiancée’s wedding since he has disagreements with his upwardly mobile lawyer brother and well-to-do fiancée.

Director: Charles Burnett

Language: English

Genre: Drama

Main Cast:

• Everett Silas

• Jessie Holmes
• Gaye Shannon-Burnett

IMDb Rating: 7.2

Running Time: 76 minutes

Box Office: $26,177

Movie Trailer: My Brother’s Wedding (1983) – Movie Trailer

Streaming Platform: Amazon

100. Pariah (2011)

In a frantic pursuit for sexual expression, a Brooklyn youngster juggles contradictory identities and risks friendship, heartbreak, and family.

Director: Dee Rees

Language: English

Genre: Drama

Main Cast: 

• Adepero Oduye

• Kim Wayans
• Aasha Davis

IMDb Rating: 7.2

Running Time: 86 minutes

Box Office: $769,552

Movie Trailer: Pariah (2011) – Movie Trailer 

Streaming Platform: Amazon

101. The Forty-Year-Old Version (2020)

Radha is a down-on-her-luck New York playwright hoping for a break before she turns 40. In order to find her own voice, she reinvents herself as rapper RadhaMUSPrime, who vacillates between the worlds of Hip Hop and theatre.

Director: Radha Blank

Language: English

Genre: Comedy and Drama

Main Cast: 

• Radha Blank
• Peter Kim
• Oswin Benjamin

IMDb Rating: 7.2

Running Time: 129 minutes

Movie Trailer: The Forty-Year-Old Version (2020) –  Movie Trailer

Streaming Platform: Netflix

102. A Soldier’s Story (1984)

While returning to his camp in the deep south, a black soldier is killed. Initially, the white residents of the region are suspected. To find out the truth, a fierce black army attorney is brought in. In flashbacks, we learn a little more about the deceased soldier, including the fact that he was unpopular. Will the lawyer be able to track out the assailant?

Director: Norman Jewison

Language: English

Genre: Crime, Drama and Mystery

Main Cast: 

• Howard E. Rollins Jr.
• Adolph Caesar
• Art Evans

IMDb Rating: 7.2

Running Time: 101 minutes

Box Office: $21,821,347

Movie Trailer: A Soldier’s Story (1984) – Movie trailer 

Streaming Platform:  Amazon

103. Cooley High (1975)

In 1964, a group of high school pals living on Chicago’s Near North Side enjoy life to the fullest…parties, hangouts, and meeting new people. Then two of the guys’ lives are turned upside down when they meet a pair of career criminals and are wrongfully jailed for stealing a Cadillac. We follow their lives as they approach the end of their senior year and the dramatic conclusion to their school year.

Director: Michael Schultz

Language: English

Genre: Comedy, Drama and Romance

Main Cast: 

• Glynn Turman
• Lawrence Hilton-Jacobs
• Garrett Morris

IMDb Rating: 7.2

Running Time: 107 minutes

Box Office: $13,000,000

Movie Trailer: Cooley High (1975) –  Movie Trailer

Streaming Platform: Amazon

104. I Am Legend (2007)

In this post-apocalyptic action thriller, Robert Neville plays a scientist who is powerless to stop the spread of a horrible virus that is both incurable and man-made. Neville is now the last human survivor in what’s left of New York City, if not the entire world. For the past three years, Neville has been sending out daily radio transmissions in the hopes of finding any other survivors. He is not, however, alone. The Infected, mutant plague victims, lurk in the shadows, watching Neville’s every move and waiting for him to make a deadly error.

Director: Francis Lawrence

Language: English

Genre: Action, Adventure and Drama

Main Cast: 

• Will Smith
• Alice Braga
• Dash Mihok

IMDb Rating: 7.2

Running Time: 101 minutes

Box Office: $585,410,052

Movie Trailer: I Am Legend (2007) – Movie Trailer

Streaming Platform: Amazon

105. Men of Honor (2000)

The plot centers around two “honorable men” and their relationship, as well as their individual and mutual failures and achievements. In a period when prejudice is rampant, Carl Brashear is determined to be the first African American Navy Diver. Leslie Sunday, his enraged trainer, is hell-bent on seeing him fail. Fate, hardships, and circumstances bring these two men together in a tumultuous and ultimately triumphant story.

Director: George Tillman Jr.

Language: English

Genre: Biography and Drama

Main Cast:

• Robert De Niro
• Cuba Gooding Jr.
• Hal Holbrook

IMDb Rating: 7.2

Running Time: 129 minutes

Box Office: $82,343,495

Movie Trailer: Men Of Honor  (2000) – Movie Trailer

Streaming Platform: Amazon

106. Rosewood (1997)

Mann is played by Ving Rhames, a vagrant stranded in Rosewood, a town rife with racial intolerance. With the help of a poor store owner played by Jon Voight, he helps the surviving African-Americans flee the town.

Director: John Singleton

Language: English

Genre: Action, Drama and History

Main Cast: 

• Jon Voight
• Ving Rhames
• Don Cheadle
• Bruce McGill

IMDb Rating: 7.2

Running Time: 142 minutes

Box Office: $13,130,349

Movie Trailer: Rosewood (1997) – Movie Trailer

Streaming Platform: Amazon

107.The Secret Life of Bees (2008)

This is the story of Lily Owens, a 14-year-old girl who is haunted by the memory of her late mother and is set in South Carolina in 1964. Lily flees with Rosaleen, her caretaker and companion, to a South Carolina hamlet that bears the truth to her mother’s past, to escape her lonely life and tumultuous relationship with her father T-Ray. Lily finds consolation in the enthralling world of beekeeping after being taken in by the bright and independent Boatwright sisters.

Director: Gina Prince-Bythewood

Language: English

Genre: Drama

Main Cast: 

• Queen Latifah
• Dakota Fanning
• Jennifer Hudson
• Alicia Keys

IMDb Rating: 7.2

Running Time: 110 minutes

Box Office: $39,952,437

Movie Trailer: The Secret Life of Bees (2008) – Movie Trailer

Streaming Platform: Amazon

108. The Tuskegee Airmen (1995)

During WWII, the US Army Air Corps begins a special mission to incorporate African American pilots into the Fighter Pilot Program. These guys were dubbed “Tuskegee Airmen” after the airbase where they were trained, and they were forced to suffer relentless harassment, bigotry, and a great deal of behind-the-scenes politics until they were finally able to prove themselves in combat.

Director: Robert Markowitz

Language: English

Genre: Drama, History and War

Main Cast: 

• Laurence Fishburne

• Allen Payne
• Malcolm-Jamal Warner
• Courtney B. Vance

IMDb Rating: 7.2

Running Time: 106 minutes

Movie Trailer: Tuskegee Airmen (1995) – Movie Trailer

Streaming Platform:  Amazon

109. A Kid from Coney Island (2019)

Stephon Marbury, an ex-NBA player, is the subject of a feature documentary chronicling his rise, fall, and rebirth.

Director: Coodie and Chike Ozah

Language: English

Genre: Documentary, Biography and Sport

Main Cast: 

• Stephon Marbury
• Ronald Stewart

IMDb Rating: 7.1

Running Time: 95 minutes

Movie Trailer: A Kid From Coney Island (2019) – Movie Trailer

Streaming Platform: Amazon

110. Beats (2019)

A solitary young musical genius strikes up an odd bond with a down-on-his-luck security guard at his high school. They struggle to free one other from the evils of their past and break into the city’s music industry, united by their common passion of hip hop.

Director: Chris Robinson

Language: English

Genre: Drama

Main Cast: 

• Khalil Everage
• Evan J. Simpson
• Ashley Jackson

IMDb Rating: 7.1

Running Time: 110 minutes

Movie Trailer: Beats (2019) – Movie Trailer

Streaming Platform: Amazon

111. Coming to America (1988)

On his twenty-first birthday, gracious Prince Akeem, the polished heir apparent to Africa’s opulent kingdom of Zamunda, summons the resolve to turn down an arranged marriage proposal. As a result, the young blue blood finds himself in the exotic metropolitan jungle of Queens, New York City, in search of true love. To hide his regal origins, Akeem and his trusty valet, Semmi, must now disguise themselves as modest exchange students, doing their best to interact with their peers. The aristocratic bachelor, more than anything else in the world, wishes to be appreciated for who he is, not for his rank.

Director: John Landis

Language: English

Genre: Comedy and Romance

Main Cast:

• Eddie Murphy
• Arsenio Hall
• James Earl Jones
• John Amos

IMDb Rating: 7.1

Running Time: 117 minutes

Box Office: $288,752,301

Movie Trailer: Coming to America (1988) – Movie Trailer

Streaming Platform: Amazon

112. Creed II (2018)

Years after making a name for himself under Rocky Balboa’s tutelage, Adonis Creed is crowned the World Heavyweight Champion. While Adonis’ life appears to be going well with his triumph and marriage to Bianca, trouble strikes in Philadelphia when Ivan Drago, the Russian boxer who murdered Adonis’ father, Apollo, arrives with his son, Viktor, to face Adonis. Adonis accepts the challenge against Rocky’s advice and pays the price in a brutal match that he only wins on a technicality. Adonis is now injured and discouraged, and he is unable to return to the game, putting his spirit and title in peril.

Director: Steven Caple Jr.

Language: English

Genre: Drama and Sport

Main Cast: 

• Michael B. Jordan
• Sylvester Stallone
• Tessa Thompson
• Wood Harris

IMDb Rating: 7.1

Running Time: 130 minutes

Box Office: $214,215,889

Movie Trailer: Creed II (2018) – Movie Trailer

Streaming Platform: Amazon

113. Dance Dreams: Hot Chocolate Nutcracker (2020)

The Debbie Allen Dance Academy’s award-winning version of The Nutcracker, which combines a range of dance traditions, is shown behind the scenes.

Director: Oliver Bokelberg

Language: English

Genre: Documentary and Family

Main Cast:

• Debbie Allen
• Tichina Arnold
• Vivian Nixon 

IMDb Rating: 7.1

Running Time: 80 minutes

Movie Trailer: Dance Dreams: Hot Chocolate Nutcracker (2020) – Movie Trailer

Streaming Platform: Netflix

114. If Beale Street Could Talk (2018)

Fonny and Tish, two African-American teen sweethearts, are torn apart after Fonny is falsely accused of raping a Puerto Rican woman due to the manipulations of a racist cop. Tish, who is pregnant, seeks justice for Fonny with the help of her Harlem community, which includes her sister, mother Sharon, and future mother-in-law.

Director: Barry Jenkins

Language: English

Genre: Drama and Romance

Main Cast: 

• KiKi Layne
• Stephan James
• Colman Domingo
• Teyonah Parris

IMDb Rating: 7.1

Running Time: 117 minutes

Box Office: $20,596,567

Movie Trailer: If Beale Street Could Talk Trailer (2018) – Movie Trailer

Streaming Platform: Hulu

115. Juice (1992)

Q, Bishop, Raheem, and Steel, four Harlem teenagers, are out skipping school one day when they learn that an old acquaintance was slain in a bar shootout. Bishop then informs his friends that they don’t have any respect or power. They raid a corner grocery store to get some, but things take an unexpected turn. Only the four buddies are aware of what occurred, yet one of them is on his own.

Director: Ernest R. Dickerson

Language: English

Genre: Action, Crime and Drama

Main Cast: 

• Omar Epps
• Jermaine Hopkins
• Khalil Kain
• Tupac Shakur

IMDb Rating: 7.1

Running Time: 95 minutes

Box Office: $20,146,880

Movie Trailer: Juice Trailer (1992) – Movie Trailer

Streaming Platform: Amazon

116. One Night in Miami (2020)

A fictional tale of Muhammad Ali, Malcolm X, Sam Cooke, and Jim Brown getting together to discuss their involvement in the Civil Rights Movement and cultural upheaval of the 1960s.

Director: Regina King

Language: English

Genre: Drama

Main Cast: 

• Kingsley Ben-Adir
• Eli Goree
• Aldis Hodge
• Leslie Odom Jr.

IMDb Rating: 7.1

Running Time: 114 minutes

Movie Trailer: One Night in Miami (2020) – Movie Trailer

Streaming Platform: Amazon

117. Queen & Slim (2019)

When a police officer pulls Slim and Queen over for a minor traffic violation, their first date takes an unexpected turn. Slim steals the officer’s gun and shoots him in self-defense as the situation intensifies. Slim and Queen believe they have no choice but to flee and dodge the law now that they have been labelled cop murders by the media. The unwitting outlaws quickly become a symbol of anguish, dread, grief, and pain for people all throughout the country as a video of the episode goes viral.

Director: Melina Matsoukas

Language: English

Genre: Crime, Drama and Romance

Main Cast:

• Daniel Kaluuya
• Jodie Turner-Smith
• Bokeem Woodbine
• Chloë Sevigny

IMDb Rating: 7.1

Running Time: 132 minutes

Box Office: $47,860,213

Movie Trailer: Queen & Slim Trailer (2019) – Movie Trailer

Streaming Platform: Amazon

118. Rize (2005)

When a police officer pulls Slim and Queen over for a minor traffic violation, their first date takes an unexpected turn. Slim steals the officer’s gun and shoots him in self-defense as the situation intensifies. Slim and Queen believe they have no choice but to flee and dodge the law now that they have been labelled cop murders by the media. The unwitting outlaws quickly become a symbol of anguish, dread, grief, and pain for people all throughout the country as a video of the episode goes viral.

Director: David LaChapelle

Language: English

Genre: Documentary and Music

Main Cast:

• Lil’ C
• Tommy the Clown
• Miss Prissy

IMDb Rating: 7.1

Running Time: 86 minutes

Box Office: $4,646,889

Movie Trailer: Rize (2005) – Movie Trailer

Streaming Platform: Amazon

119. Tangerine (2015)

On Christmas Eve, a hooker searches Tinseltown for the pimp who crushed her heart.

Director: Sean Baker

Language: English, Spanish and Armenian

Genre: Comedy, Crime and Drama

Main Cast: 

• Kitana Kiki Rodriguez
• Mya Taylor
• Karren Karagulian
• Mickey O’Hagan

IMDb Rating: 7.1

Running Time: 88 minutes

Box Office: $828,874

Movie Trailer: Tangerine (2015) – Movie Trailer

Streaming Platform: Amazon

121. The Princess and the Frog (2009)

The Frog Prince is a modern-day version of the classic fable. The lives of haughty, carefree Prince Naveen and diligent waitress Tiana cross paths in The Princess and the Frog. A cunning voodoo magician turns Prince Naveen into a frog, and Tiana follows suit after kissing the amphibious prince. Naveen and Tiana must race to break the enchantment and realize their goals with the help of a trumpet-playing alligator, a Cajun firefly, and an old blind lady who lives in a boat in a tree.

Director: Ron Clements and John Musker

Language: English

Genre: Animation, Adventure and Comedy

Main Cast: 

• Anika Noni Rose
• Bruno Campos
• Keith David
• Michael-Leon Wooley

IMDb Rating: 7.1

Running Time: 97 minutes

Box Office: $267,045,765

Movie Trailer: The Princess and the Frog (2009) – Movie Trailer

Streaming Platform: Amazon

121. Introducing Dorothy Dandridge (1999)

This biography of Dorothy Dandridge follows her career from her early days on the club circuit with her sister to her film roles, including becoming the first black actress to be nominated for a Best Actress Oscar in 1954 for “Carmen Jones,” to her death from prescription drugs, which was debated as to whether it was suicide or accidental. Brent Spiner portrays her devoted manager, who has stayed by her side during her career’s ups and downs. The film also looks at her relationship with director Otto Preminger, which is revealed to have originally aided her career but subsequently caused her to make some poor choices.

Director: Martha Coolidge

Language: English

Genre: Biography, Drama and Music

Main Cast: 

• Halle Berry

• Brent Spiner
• Klaus Maria Brandauer

IMDb Rating: 7.1

Running Time: 120 minutes

Movie Trailer: Introducing Dorothy Dandridge (1999) – Movie Trailer

Streaming Platform: Hulu

122. John Q (2002)

Michael Archibald, the son of John Quincy Archibald, collapses while playing baseball due to heart problems. Michael is rushed to the hospital emergency room, where John is told that his only hope is a transplant. Unfortunately, John’s insurance will not cover the transplant for his son. Because he has no other choice, John Q. holds the emergency department workers and patients hostage until the hospital doctors agree to perform the transplant.

Director: Nick Cassavetes

Language: English

Genre: Crime, Drama and Thriller

Main Cast: 

• Denzel Washington

• Robert Duvall
• James Woods
• Anne Heche

IMDb Rating: 7.1

Running Time: 116 minutes

Box Office: $102,244,770

Movie Trailer: John Q (2002) – Movie Trailer

Streaming Platform: Amazon

123. Lady Sings the Blues (1972)

Billie Holiday, born Elinore Harris, had a terrible adolescence and young adulthood, which included working in brothels as a cleaning lady and a prostitute, as well as being raped. Despite the difficulties, she aspired to be a jazz vocalist. She got her first break as a vocalist when she applied for a dancer position at a Harlem bar, but was instead employed as a singer. She met and fell in love with the suave Louis McKay while she was there.

Director: Sidney J. Furie

Language: English

Genre: Biography, Drama and Music

Main Cast: 

• Diana Ross

• Billy Dee Williams
• Richard Pryo

IMDb Rating: 7.1

Running Time: 144 minutes

Box Office: $19,700,000

Movie Trailer: Lady Sings the Blues (1972) – Movie Trailer

Streaming Platform:  Netflix

124. Paid in Full (2002)

Ace is a naive young man who works at a dry-cleaning company. Mitch, his companion and drug dealer, gets sentenced to prison. He discovers cocaine in a pants pocket in an unrelated occurrence. Ace soon finds himself working for Lulu as a cocaine dealer. Ace rises to the top of the Harlem drug scene thanks to a series of lucky breaks and strong interpersonal skills. Unfaithful employees and/or rivals, of course, conspire to bring Ace down.

Director: Charles Stone III

Language: English

Genre: Action, Crime and Drama

Main Cast: 

• Wood Harris

• Mekhi Phifer
• Cam’ron

IMDb Rating: 7.1

Running Time: 98 minutes

Box Office: $3,116,526

Movie Trailer: Paid in Full (2002) – Movie Trailer

Streaming Platform: Amazon

125. Crooklyn (1994)

Spike Lee’s vivid semi-autobiographical picture of a Brooklyn schoolteacher, her obstinate jazz musician husband, and their five children in 1973.

Director: Spike Lee

Language: English

Genre: Comedy and Drama

Main Cast: 

• Alfre Woodard
• Delroy Lindo
• Spike Lee
• Zelda Harris

IMDb Rating: 7

Running Time: 115 minutes

Box Office: $13,642,861

Movie Trailer: Crooklyn (1994) – Movie Trailer

Streaming Platform: Amazon

126. Loving (2016)

Mildred Jeter, a local black woman and family acquaintance, falls in love with Richard Loving, a white construction worker in Caroline County, Virginia. They decide to marry once Mildred discovers she is pregnant, but because interracial marriage violates Virginia’s anti-miscegenation laws, they drive to Washington, D.C. to marry in 1958. Richard decides to construct Mildred a house less than a mile from her family’s home.

Director: Jeff Nichols

Language: English

Genre: Biography, Drama and Romance

Main Cast: 

• Joel Edgerton
• Ruth Negga
• Marton Csokas
• Nick Kroll

IMDb Rating: 7

Running Time: 123 minutes

Box Office: $12,957,265

Movie Trailer: Loving (2016) – Movie Trailer

Streaming Platform: Netflix

127. Monster’s Ball (2001)

‘Monster’s Ball,’ set in the South, tells the story of Hank, a bigoted white guy who falls in love with Leticia, a black woman. Hank, ironically, is a Death Row jail officer who executed Leticia’s spouse. The interracial affair between Hank and Leticia causes bewilderment and sparks new ideas for the two unexpected lovers.

Director: Marc Forster

Language: English

Genre: Drama and Romance

Main Cast: 

• Halle Berry

• Billy Bob Thornton
• Heath Ledger

IMDb Rating: 7

Running Time: 112 minutes

Box Office: $45,011,434

Movie Trailer: Monsters Ball (2001) – Movie Trailer

Streaming Platform: Amazon

128. Soul Food (1997)

Mama Joe has brought her family together for 40 years around a soul cuisine Sunday supper. When she is hospitalized due to diabetes, the meals are halted, and tensions between her three daughters begin to tear the family apart. Teri is envious of Maxine’s marriage and upset that everyone assumes her corporate pay is available to the rest of the family. Teri’s bossiness irritates Maxine, as does her insensitivity to family customs. Bird, the youngest and newlywed to an ex-con, accepts a favor from an old lover, resulting in her husband’s incarceration.

Director: George Tillman Jr.

Language: English

Genre: Comedy and Drama

Main Cast: 

• Vanessa Williams
• Vivica A. Fox
• Nia Long
• Michael Beach

IMDb Rating: 7

Running Time: 115 minutes

Box Office: $43,700,855

Movie Trailer: Soul Food (1997) Movie Trailer

Streaming Platform: Amazon

129. The Wood (1999)

Things aren’t looking good on the wedding day of a writer’s buddy when the groom goes missing before the ceremony. Mike, the writer, can’t help but share the storey of his adolescence with his buddies while he and his other male friend try to find him. They had shared the similar experiences of growing up and life’s discoveries since he met them on his first day at a new school.

Director: Rick Famuyiwa

Language: English

Genre: Comedy, Drama and Romance

Main Cast:

• Taye Diggs
• Omar Epps
• Richard T. Jones
• Sean Nelson

IMDb Rating: 7

Running Time: 106 minutes

Box Office: $25,059,640

Movie Trailer: The Wood (1999) – Movie Trailer

Streaming Platform: Amazon

130. Cadillac Records (2008)

“Cadillac Records” chronicles the exhilarating but stormy lives of some of America’s musical heroes, including Muddy Waters, Leonard Chess, Little Walter, Howlin’ Wolf, Etta James, and Chuck Berry, in this tale of sex, violence, race, and rock and roll in 1950s Chicago.

Director: Darnell Martin

Language: English

Genre: Biography, Drama and Music

Main Cast: 

• Adrien Brody
• Jeffrey Wright
• Gabrielle Union
• Columbus Short

IMDb Rating: 7

Running Time: 109 minutes

Box Office: $8,883,644

Movie Trailer: Cadillac Records (2002) – Movie Trailer

Streaming Platform: Amazon

131. Cool Runnings (1993)

Four Jamaicans create the nation’s first bobsled team, which will compete in the 1988 Winter Olympics. They grudgingly engage the assistance of a disgraced former Olympic gold medalist to coach them. When they arrive in Canada, however, they are viewed as outcasts by the other teams, who worry they will only serve to shame the sport.

Director: Jon Turteltaub

Language: English

Genre: Adventure, Comedy and Family

Main Cast: 

• Leon Robinson
• Doug E. Doug
• Rawle D. Lewis
• Malik Yoba

IMDb Rating: 7

Running Time: 98 minutes

Box Office: $154,856,263

Movie Trailer: Cool Runnings (1993) – Movie Trailer 

Streaming Platform: Amazon

132. Dead Presidents (1995)

The Hughes brothers directed this action picture, which depicts a robbery of old bills that have been removed from circulation and are slated by the government to be “money to burn.” However, it more widely discusses Black Americans’ participation in the Vietnam War and consequent disappointment with progress in social concerns and civil rights in the United States during the 1960s.

Director: Albert Hughes and Allen Hughes

Language: English

Genre: Action, Crime and Drama

Main Cast: 

• Larenz Tate
• Keith David
• Chris Tucker
• N’Bushe Wright

IMDb Rating: 6.9

Running Time: 119 minutes

Box Office: $24,147,179

Movie Trailer: Dead Presidents (1995) – Movie Trailer 

Streaming Platform: Amazon

133. Farewell Amor (2020)

An Angolan immigrant is reunited with his wife and daughter in the United States after 17 years apart. They discover a mutual love of dance that may help them overcome their differences as strangers sharing a one-bedroom apartment.

Director: Ekwa Msangi

Language: English and Portuguese

Genre: Drama, Music and Romance

Main Cast: 

• Ntare Mwine
• Zainab Jah
• Jayme Lawson
• Joie Lee

IMDb Rating: 6.9

Running Time: 101 minutes

Box Office: $4,689

Movie Trailer: Farewell Amor (2020) – Movie Trailer

Streaming Platform: Amazon

134. Get on Up (2014)

On his way to the stage, musician James Brown reflects on a tumultuous childhood in which music served as his sole constructive outlet for his feelings. A chance exhibition of that in prison resulted in a new buddy who assisted him in getting out of prison and into a musical career. Brown became a star by defiantly creating new possibilities in show business, both on and off the stage, in the face of racism and traditional thinking, with his fire and creative audacity. Along the way, James would become a mediator, redefining and elevating the African-American community’s sense of self-worth at a time when it was most needed.

Director: Tate Taylor

Language: English

Genre: Biography, Drama and Music

Main Cast: