netflix.com/blacklivesmatter
Netflix
Curated list of titles on Netflix that only begin to tell the complex and layered stories about racial injustice and Blackness in America.
13th
Netflix
The Thirteenth Amendment, slavery, mass incarceration.
The Life and Death of Marsha P. Johnson
Netflix
About drag queen Marsha P. Johnson, who started the Stonewall riots.
When They See Us
Netflix
About The Central Park 5.
American Son
Netflix
An interracial couple waits for word on their missing son; set in Florida.
What Happened to Miss Simone?
Netflix
About Black activist and singer, Nina Simone.
LA 92
Netflix
The 1992 LA riots and the LAPD beating of Rodney King (incl. new footage).
Dear White People
Netflix
Students of color navigate the daily slights and slippery politics of life at an Ivy League college that isn’t nearly as post-racial as it thinks.
Explained: The Racial Wealth Gap (Season 1, Episode 20)
Netflix
Cory Booker and others discuss how slavery, housing discrimination and centuries of inequality have compounded to create a racial wealth gap.
Mudbound
Netflix
Two Mississippi families – one Black & one White; set in WWII.
Teach Us All
Netflix
Brown v. Board of Education and schools still being segregated 60 years after the ruling.
Whose Streets?
Hulu and Kanopy (via DC Public Library)
Ferguson, MO and the aftermath of the killing of Michael Brown.
Detroit
Hulu
Detroit riots and uprising that happened in 1967
Black America Since MLK: And Still I Rise
PBS
Henry Louis Gates, Jr. chronicles 50 years of American history through a personal lens.
Reconstruction: America after the Civil War
PBS
Henry Louis Gates, Jr. hosts; explores the transformative years following the American Civil War
The Talk
PBS
About the conversations BIPOC parents have with their children, especially their sons
Rosedale: The Way It Is
Bill Moyers Journal
Racial tensions soared as the Spencers, a middle-class black family moved into Rosedale, a Queens white working-class neighborhood. Bill Moyers examines the fear, hatred and courage generated as the have-nots of our society battle for a tiny piece of the good life. Full version may have to be purchased.
I Am Not Your Negro
Amazon Prime and Kanopy (via DC Public Library)
James Baldwin
Just Mercy
Amazon Prime and free rental for the month of June on numerous platforms.
A powerful true story that follows young lawyer Bryan Stevenson (EJI) as he works to free a man sentenced to death despite evidence proving his innocence
Selma
Amazon Prime and free rental for the month of June on numerous platforms.
About the 1965 march on Selma.
Salute
Amazon Prime
The Black Power salute at the 1968 Mexico Olympics.
Birth of a Movement
Amazon Prime
A response, of sorts, to Birth of a Nation.
John L. Walker: Striving for Equality
Amazon Prime
About the life and times (1850-1907) of a prominent Black attorney, politician, newspaper publisher, diplomat, and soldier.
The Black Power Mixtape
Amazon Prime
1967-1975 footage of leaders of the Black Power Movement; captured by Swedish journalists.
The Central Park Five (Ken Burns)
Amazon Prime
About the wrongful conviction of five Black and Latino teenagers for the rape of a white woman jogger in Central Park.
The Black Panthers: Vanguards of Revolution
Amazon Prime
About the Black Panthers.
Harriet Tubman: They Called Her Moses
Amazon Prime
About Harriet Tubman.
Major
Amazon Prime
The life of a 73-yo Black trans woman who has been fighting for Black trans rights for 40 years.
August Wilson: The Ground on Which I Stand
Amazon Prime
America’s Shakespeare and his work chronicling the life of 20th century Black Americans.
The Untold Story of Emmett Louis Till
Amazon Prime
About Emmett Till’s life and brutal lynching in Mississippi.
Chisholm ’72: Unbought & Unbossed
Amazon Prime
About Shirley Chisholm, the first Black women to run for president on a major policial party ticket.
Anita: Speaking Truth to Power
Amazon Prime
About Anita Hill and her testimony during the confirmation hearing of Clarence Thomas.
February One: The Story of the Greensboro Four
Amazon Prime
Four black men who staged a sit-in at an all white lunch counter.
Freedom Summer
Amazon Prime
The summer of 1964 and the student volunteers who ventured into Mississippi despite threats and violence.
Spies of Mississippi
Amazon Prime
The CRM and spying by Mississippi entities – Black and White.
Mr. Civil Rights: Thurgood Marshall
Amazon Prime
Brown v. Board of education, culmination of 20 years of work.
Two Black Men A Week
Amazon Prime
Delving into why so many Black men are killed by the police.
The Hate U Give
Amazon Prime
Based on the book of the same name, a Black teenage girl must decide whether to testify about her best friend being shot by a police.
Broken on All Sides: Race, Mass Incarceration and New Visions for Criminal Justice in the U.S.
Kanopy (via DC Public Library)
This documentary investigates the complex issues of discretion within the system, racial targeting, and the largest spike in the number of people incarcerated in our nation’s history.
Cruel and Unusual: Black Panthers Fighting for Justice in Prison
Kanopy (via DC Public Library)
Story of the Angola Three who, as members of the Black Panther Party, have been fighting for justice since the early 1970s.
Law & Order: An Examination of Police Practices and Behavior
Kanopy (via DC Public Library)
Surveys the wide range of work the police are asked to perform and the incidents shown illustrate how training, community expectations, socio-economic status of the subject, the threat of violence, and discretion affect police behavior.
Profiled: The Mothers of Murdered Black and Latino Youth
Kanopy (via DC Public Library)
Knits the stories of mothers of black and Latino youth murdered by the NYPD into a powerful indictment of racial profiling and police brutality and places them within a historical context of the roots of racism in the U.S.
We All We Got: An Elegy of Urban America
Kanopy (via DC Public Library)
In the context of the Black Lives Matter movement, the film is an intimate portrait of people affected by violence and residents who highlight the issues in Chicago.
White Like Me
Kanopy (via DC Public Library)
based on the work of acclaimed anti-racist educator and author Tim Wise, explores race and racism in the US through the lens of whiteness and white privilege
A Life Well Spent
Criterion Channel
A tribute to Texas songster Mance Lipscomb, considered by many to be the greatest guitarist of all time.
Black Mother
Criterion Channel
Black Mother channels rebellion and reverence into a deeply personal ode informed by Jamaica’s turbulent history but unfolding in the urgent present.
Black Panthers
Criterion Channel
Agnes Varda turns her camera on an Oakland demonstration against the imprisonment of activist and Black Panthers cofounder Huey P. Newton.
Cane River
Criterion Channel
Written, produced, and directed by Horace B. Jenkins and crafted by an entirely African American cast and crew.
Daughters of the Dust
Criterion Channel
First film directed by an African American women to receive a wide release.
Down in the Delta
Criterion Channel
The only film directed by the iconic writer, poet, and activist Maya Angelou, it is a warm, richly evocative celebration of black southern family and resilience.
Losing Ground
Criterion Channel
An exploration of love, race, and gender.
My Brother’s Wedding
Criterion Channel
Charles Burnett is a master of American cinema who led the way for black independent filmmakers to tell their stories on-screen.
The Watermelon Woman
Criterion Channel
A landmark look at the Black lesbian experience.
Hair Love
Hair Love, an Oscar®-winning animated short film from Matthew A. Cherry, tells the heartfelt story of an African American father learning to do his daughter’s hair for the first time.
You Watched ‘Tiger King’ – Now Watch This
Various platforms
Just like the first time we came together around a television show to create a national conversation, we can do the same for a much more important cause, racism and social injustice. Then we can reflect and learn and use that knowledge to enact lasting ch
Where do we go from here? A conversation led by Oprah
Part 1
Part 2
Oprah Winfrey leads the conversation speaking directly with Black thought leaders, activists and artists about systematic racism and the current state of America. Featured guests include: Stacey Abrams, Charles M. Blow, Keisha Lance Bottoms, Ava DuVernay,
James Corden: It’s Time for Change in the US
In the midst of civil unrest following the death of George Floyd at the hands of Minneapolis police, James Corden offers a message of support and love for those fighting for justice. After, bandleader Reggie Watts shares his perspective and experience of growing up black in America. And James shares British rapper Dave’s moving performance of “Black” from this year’s BRIT Awards.
… when our hearts break, WE Dance (from Alvin Ailey Dancers)
…dance
Dr. Robin DiAngelo discusses ‘White Fragility’
University of Washington professor Dr. Robin DiAngelo reads from her book “White Fragility: Why It’s So Hard for White People to Talk About Racism,” explains the phenomenon, and discusses how white people can develop their capacity to engage more construc
Social psychologist Jennifer L. Eberhardt, interviewed on “The Daily Show with Trevor Noah”
Dr. Eberhardt said the problems associated with racial bias are ones we have created. She also believes that these are problems we can solve.
Verna Myers: How to overcome our biases? Walk boldly toward them
Our biases can be dangerous, even deadly — as we’ve seen in the cases of Michael Brown in Ferguson, Missouri, and Eric Garner, in Staten Island, New York. Diversity advocate Verna Myers looks closely at some of the subconscious attitudes we hold toward out-groups. She makes a plea to all people: Acknowledge your biases. Then move toward, not away from, the groups that make you uncomfortable. In a funny, impassioned, important talk, she shows us how.
Podcasts & Web/Short Stories
The Next Question
Chi Chi Okwu, Austin Channing Brown, Jenny Booth Potter
The TNQ Show engages leading voices on critical topics of racial justice in America.
NPR’s Code Switch
Shereen Marisol Meraji, Gene Demby
What’s CODE SWITCH? It’s the fearless conversations about race that you’ve been waiting for! Hosted by journalists of color, our podcast tackles the subject of race head-on. We explore how it impacts every part of society — from politics and pop culture to history, sports and everything in between. This podcast makes ALL OF US part of the conversation — because we’re all part of the story. (The best Code Switch episodes to get you started: https://www.npr.org/sections/codeswitch/2020/03/26/820991385/the-very-best-of-code-switch-in-8-episodes)
NY Times’ Still Processing
Wesley Morris, Jenna Wortham
Hosted by two Black, queer culture writers from The New York Times, Jenna Wortham and Wesley Morris, who make sense of the internet, trends, social issues and pop culture at large.
NY Times Magazine 1619 Project
Nikole Hannah Jones
An audio series on how slavery has transformed America, connecting past and present through the oldest form of storytelling.
The Atlantic’s Floodlines
Vann R. Newkirk II
The story of an unnatural disaster.
African American Policy Forum’s Intersectionality Matters
Kimberlé Crenshaw
The podcast that brings intersectionality to life.
NPR’s White Lies
Chip Brantley, Andrew Beck
In 1965, Rev. James Reeb was murdered in Selma, Alabama. Three men were tried and acquitted, but no one was ever held to account. Fifty years later, two journalists from Alabama return to the city where it happened, expose the lies that kept the murder from being solved and uncover a story about guilt and memory that says as much about America today as it does about the past.
WaPo’s Other: Mixed Race in America
Alex Laughlin
This podcast explores the inner workings of the mythic American melting pot; what happens when your parents come from two different countries, cultures, or races. It’s the kindergarten-level foreign language you can speak to your aunts, the taste for “foreign” flavors you’ve known since childhood, and the distinct feeling of otherness projected onto your face because you look just a little bit “different.”
This five-part miniseries will introduce you to stories of mixed race Americans who are grappling with questions about who they are, and what it means to be an American today.
American Public Media’s (APM) Historically Black
Keegan-Michael Key, Roxane Gay, Issa Rae, Heben Nigatu, Tracy Clayton.
Objects hold history. They’re evocative of stories stamped in time. As part of The Washington Post’s coverage of the Smithsonian’s new National Museum of African American History and Culture, people submitted dozens of objects that make up their own lived experiences of black history, creating a “people’s museum” of personal objects, family photos and more.
The Historically Black podcast brings those objects and their stories to life through interviews, archival sound and music. The Washington Post and APM Reports are proud to collaborate in presenting these rich personal histories.
APM’s Order 9066
Sab Shimono, Pat Suzuki
President Franklin D. Roosevelt signed Executive Order 9066 just months after Japan bombed Pearl Harbor. Some 120,000 people of Japanese ancestry were forced from their homes on the West Coast and sent to one of ten “relocation” camps, where they were imprisoned behind barbed wire for the length of the war. Two-thirds of them were American citizens.
Order 9066 chronicles the history of this incarceration through vivid, first-person accounts of those who lived through it. The series explores how this shocking violation of American democracy came to pass, and its legacy in the present.
Sab Shimono and Pat Suzuki, veteran actors and stage performers who were both incarcerated at the Amache camp in Colorado, narrate the episodes. The series covers the racist atmosphere of the time, the camps’ makeshift living quarters and the extraordinary ways people adapted; the fierce patriotism many Japanese Americans continued to feel and the ways they were divided against each other as they were forced to answer questions of loyalty; the movement for redress that eventually led to a formal apology from the US government, and much more.
PBS’s Say It Loud
Evelyn from the Internets, Azie Dungey
Say It Loud is a PBS Digital Studios series that celebrates Black culture, context, and history, often with a comedic take on identity and pop culture, from Black pride movements to Black Twitter shenanigans. The show explores the complexity of Black experience and finds joy in the many ways Black folks have influenced American life.
Lynching in America
The Equal Justice Initiative
Equal Justice Initiative has documented the lynchings of over 4,000 African Americans between 1877 and 1950. In this series, listen to how this era of racial terror continues to shape America to this day.
About Race with Reni Eddo-Lodge
Reni Eddo-Lodge
From the author of Why I’m No Longer Talking To White People About Race, Reni Eddo-Lodge interviews key voices from the anti-racist activism community and addresses the recent history that lead to the politics of today.
BBC World’s Witness Black History
This podcast features interviews with people who were there at key moments in black and civil rights history.
Hear to Slay
Roxane Gay and Tressie McMillan Cottom
Roxane Gay and Tressie McMillan Cottom unveil their new podcast, Hear to Slay, a black feminist perspective on celebrity, culture, politics, art, life, love—all the things they’re obsessed with—and more.
Unlocking Us
Brene Brown
Brené with Ibram X. Kendi on How to Be an Antiracist
Seeing White
John Biewen
Just what is going on with white people? Police shootings of unarmed African Americans. Acts of domestic terrorism by white supremacists. The renewed embrace of raw, undisguised white-identity politics. Unending racial inequity in schools, housing, criminal justice, and hiring. Some of this feels new, but in truth it’s an old story.
Why? Where did the notion of “whiteness” come from? What does it mean? What is whiteness for?
Scene on Radio host and producer John Biewen took a deep dive into these questions, along with an array of leading scholars and regular guest Dr. Chenjerai Kumanyika, in this 14-part documentary series.
Amicus
Dahlia Lithwick
In this episode of Amicus, Dahlia discusses race, police, and the law and asks where is the justice in this Justice Department?
Systemic Racism Explained
act.tv
A primer that begins to explain a complex topic in 4 minutes. Meet Jamal and Kevin.
The Look
P&G
The Look: A Story about Racial Bias in America.
History of White People in America
PBS
In the decades after Bacon’s Rebellion, an African man and an English woman – husband and wife – sing of their fate, their future as law by law, edict by edict, their family, their marriage, their love made illegal.