African American Docudramas and Historical Fiction films
A list of African American docudramas and historical fiction films. These are films that dramatize and depict either significant persons or events in African American history. (List is in progress)
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- DirectorAlfred E. GreenStarsJackie RobinsonRuby DeeMinor WatsonBiography of Jackie Robinson, the first black major league baseball player in the 20th century. Traces his career in the negro leagues and the major leagues. Restored in original Black and White.
- DirectorMichael LandonStarsStephen R. HudisThe life story of Baseball legend Jackie Robinson.
- DirectorDenzel WashingtonStarsDenzel WashingtonForest WhitakerKimberly EliseA drama based on the true story of Melvin B. Tolson, a professor at Wiley College Texas. In 1935, he inspired students to form the school's first debate team, which went on to challenge Harvard in the national championship.
- DirectorSpike LeeStarsDenzel WashingtonAngela BassettDelroy LindoBiographical epic of the controversial and influential Black Nationalist leader, from his early life and career as a small-time gangster, to his ministry as a member of the Nation of Islam and his eventual assassination.
- DirectorEdward ZwickStarsMatthew BroderickDenzel WashingtonCary ElwesRobert Gould Shaw leads the U.S. Civil War's first all-black volunteer company, fighting prejudices from both his own Union Army, and the Confederates.
- DirectorAva DuVernayStarsDavid OyelowoCarmen EjogoOprah WinfreyA chronicle of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.'s campaign to secure equal voting rights via an epic march from Selma to Montgomery, Alabama, in 1965.
- DirectorClark JohnsonStarsJeffrey WrightTerrence HowardCCH PounderBlack Americans boycott the public buses during the 1950s civil rights movement.
- DirectorJulie DashStarsAngela BassettPeter Francis JamesTonea StewartA seamstress recalls events leading to her act of peaceful defiance that prompted the 1955 bus boycott in Montgomery, Alabama.
- DirectorAmma AsanteStarsGugu Mbatha-RawMatthew GoodeEmily WatsonThe biracial daughter, Dido Elizabeth Belle (Gugu Mbatha-Raw), of Royal Navy Captain Sir John Lindsay (Matthew Goode) is raised by aristocratic Great-uncle Lord William Murray, 1st Earl of Mansfield (Tom Wilkinson) in 18th century England.
- DirectorKenny LeonStarsBryce Clyde JenkinsHarrison KnightSkai JacksonThe Watsons set out on a family road trip where their experiences give them a newfound courage to stand up for what is right and help them grow stronger as a family in the process.
- DirectorSteve McQueenStarsChiwetel EjioforMichael Kenneth WilliamsMichael FassbenderIn the antebellum United States, Solomon Northup, a free Black man from upstate New York, is abducted and sold into slavery.
- DirectorRusty CundieffStarsStorm ReidSharon LealLarenz TateWhite Water is the story of a 7 year-old black kid in segregated 1963 Opelika, Alabama who becomes obsessed with the desire to taste the water from the "white's only" drinking fountain and sets out on a quest to do the unthinkable: drink from it.
- DirectorDee ReesStarsQueen LatifahKamryn JohnsonRikki McKinneyThe story of legendary blues performer Bessie Smith, who rose to fame during the 1920s and '30s.
- DirectorMartha CoolidgeStarsHalle BerryBrent SpinerKlaus Maria BrandauerDorothy Dandridge's way to fame and fortune as a dancer, singer and actress.
- 1997–20231h 34mTV-G7.1 (592)TV EpisodeDirectorCharles BurnettStarsMackenzie AstinJurnee SmollettClifton PowellIn 1965 Alabama, an 11 year old girl (Jurnee Smollett) is touched by a speech by Martin Luther King, Jr. (Clifton Powell) and becomes a devout follower. But her resolution is tested when she joins others in the famed march from Selma to Montgomery.
- StarsAnn-MargretPatricia ClarksonTim DalyA plantation owner's son falls in love with a slave named Easter and together they have a Biracial daughter named Queen. As Queen grows up, she faces the struggle of trying to fit into the troubled world around her. She tries passing for white, but it leads to sorrow in post-Civil War America. Everywhere she goes, she faces obstacles and hardships while searching for happiness and a place to belong.
- StarsLeVar BurtonRobert ReedJohn AmosA dramatization of author Alex Haley's family line from ancestor Kunta Kinte's enslavement to his descendants' liberation.
- CreatorErnest KinoyStarsDebbi MorganDorian HarewoodPaul KosloThe dramatization of Alex Haley's family line from post Civil War America to the writer's search for his roots.
- DirectorJohn KortyStarsCicely TysonEric BrownRichard DysartStory of a black woman in the South who was born into slavery in the 1850s and lives to become a part of the civil rights movement in the 1960s.
- StarsCicely TysonJason BernardClifford DavidA film about the life and career of the African American abolitionist and slave escape leader, Harriet Tubman.
- StarsPaul WinfieldCicely TysonTony BennettThe story of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., stretching from his days as a Southern Baptist minister up to his assassination in Memphis in 1968.
- 1997–20231h 36mTV-PG7.1 (1.2K)TV EpisodeDirectorEuzhan PalcyStarsPenelope Ann MillerKevin PollakMichael BeachWhen six-year-old Ruby is chosen to be the first African-American to integrate her local elementary school, she is subjected to the true ugliness of racism for the first time.
- DirectorPeter LevinStarsCicely TysonMorgan FreemanRodrick F. WimberlyIn this touching story, a dedicated African-American teacher in an inner-city school in the midwestern United States facing tough odds helps inner-city children to succeed. Meanwhile, she faces an adversarial colleague and a principal who disapproves of her teaching methods. To top it off, a youth regularly messes up the classroom after school to tick the teacher off.
- DirectorWoodie King Jr.StarsMorgan FreemanYolanda KingMansoor Najee-ullahAfter breaking ties with the Nation of Islam, Malcolm X became a man marked for death...and it was just a matter of time before his enemies closed in. Despite death threats and intimidation, Malcolm marched on - continuing to spread the word of equality and brotherhood right up until the moment of his brutal and untimely assassination. Highlighted by newsreel footage and interviews, this is the story of the last twenty-four hours of Malcolm X. Featuring the music of jazz percussionist Max Roach.
- DirectorTate TaylorStarsChadwick BosemanNelsan EllisDan AykroydA chronicle of James Brown's rise from extreme poverty to become one of the most influential musicians in history.
- DirectorBrian HelgelandStarsChadwick BosemanT.R. KnightHarrison FordIn 1947, Jackie Robinson becomes the first African-American to play in Major League Baseball in the modern era when he was signed by the Brooklyn Dodgers and faces considerable racism in the process.
- DirectorBoaz YakinStarsDenzel WashingtonWill PattonWood HarrisIn 1971 Virginia high school football was everything to the people of Alexandria. But when the school board was forced to integrate an all-black school with an all-white one, the very foundation of football's tradition was put to the test.
- DirectorJames GartnerStarsJosh LucasDerek LukeAustin NicholsIn 1966, Texas Western coach Don Haskins led the first all-black starting line-up for a college basketball team to the NCAA national championship.
- DirectorGary FlederStarsRob BrownDennis QuaidClancy BrownA drama based on the life of college football hero Ernie Davis, the first African-American to win the Heisman Trophy.
- DirectorTheodore MelfiStarsTaraji P. HensonOctavia SpencerJanelle MonáeThe story of a team of female African-American mathematicians who served a vital role in NASA during the early years of the U.S. space program.
- StarsJonathan Rhys MeyersMalachi KirbyForest WhitakerAn adaptation of Alex Haley's "Roots." Chronicles the history of an African man and his descendants sold into slavery in America.
- DirectorTony PatonStarsClarence MuseErnest AndersonMaidie NormanAt the offices of Consolidated Producers Corporation, producer Tony Paton is determined to make a film about the great African American chemist, George Washington Carver. His backer, Murphy, is skeptical about the marketability of such a project, but Paton convinces him that it is time to depict the truth about races, creeds, and religions and trust that ticket buyers will make their own decisions about the merits of such an unusual film. The story begins in Alabama, at the great Negro university, the Tuskegee Institute: Carver, who teaches as well as does research at the institute, chats on his front porch with two children. One of the children, a boy named Augustus, tells Carver that he wants to be just like him when he grows up, and then asks if the scientist, who has demonstrated the many uses of the peanut, can even make the homely crop sing. A bemused Carver then asks the children to sing a Sunday school song, as the music gives him inspiration to continue his labors. Later, in his laboratory, Carver assists his young apprentice, Robert, in perfecting a "chemurgy" process which will make the earth's soil more productive. One day, Mr. Jeffries, an entrepreneur, arrives with a business proposition for Carver. Jeffries suggests that they manufacture soap, butter, flour and axle grease, all to be made using Carver's formulas. Carver rejects the proposition, however, as he wants no profits from his work, and sends the disappointed Jeffries away. Lucretia, Augustus's mother and Robert's fiance, next knocks on the lab door to tell the men that her son is very sick. Carver is at first annoyed at having his work again interrupted, but when he sees the note that the boy's physician, Dr. Miller, has written, he discovers to his shock that the boy has poliomyelitis. Carver tells Lucretia to go to her sister's house and pray, imploring her to maintain a "mustard seed of faith." With his own mustard seed of faith, Carver determines to find a cure for the damaging effects of the polio virus. Carver goes to visit Augustus and, looking at a picture of the boy's father, tells Robert that the man was one of Tuskegee's best students, but died as a medic in the war. Carver then says he hopes that Augustus, who will surely pursue his father's career, will not be a wheelchair-bound scientist. Carver tries an experimental treatment on Augustus, which includes massage, to promote circulation and re-establish the connection of the brain to the atrophied muscles. Time passes, and Augustus makes great progress. Years later, Robert and Lucretia, now married, and Augustus, go to visit Carver. Lucretia says that they will take Carver home with them to dine upon his favorite dish. Carver replies that he has a hunch that he should not go. Sensing that his death is near, Carver tells the men to learn more about the polio virus, and then tells Lucretia to make herself useful by sewing dresses for a few more little girls. He finishes his speech by telling Augustus never to forget the benefits of education as well as the peanut and all its uses. Carver says he must complete his final experiment in eternity, and his figure is seen passing through a closed door upon which a flower is painted.
- DirectorRobert GordonStarsColey WallacePaul StewartHilda SimmsThe life and career of Heavyweight Champion Joe Louis, who held the title for 12 years--longer than any other boxer in history--and who had to not only battle opponents inside the ring and racism outside it.
- DirectorBud GreenspanStarsShirley Jo FinneyCicely TysonJason BernardThe story of American track sprinter Wilma Rudolph, who overcame physical handicaps to win three gold medals in the 1960 Olympics.
- DirectorLamont JohnsonStarsJoanne WoodwardCharles DurningHenderson ForsytheStory of the federally-ordered integration of Central High School in Little Rock, Arkansas, in 1957.
- DirectorStan LathanStarsShavar RossCCH PounderThalmus RasulalaSet in the 1860's South, Booker is the impassioned story of the boy who struggled through slavery to found the Tuskegee Institute. Through the eyes of nine-year-old Booker T. Washington, viewers witness the end of the Civil War, the cruelties that endured after slavery was abolished, and the hard work that led Booker to education and true freedom. Booker is a one-hour drama based on the childhood of Booker T. Washington and his quest for education in the chaotic aftermath of the Civil War. Booker was shown nationally on PBS by the series, WONDERWORKS and subsequently on the Disney Channel, the BBC, and throughout the world. Booker continues to be broadcast and used in thousands of schools in America and abroad. The film was chosen as among the top 10 best home video release for children by Parenting Magazine and best script for a children's drama by the Writer's Guild of America.
- DirectorRichard IrvingStarsDorian HarewoodGeorg Stanford BrownDebbi MorganThis is the compelling story of Jesse Owens, a man who overcame racial barriers to become one of history's greatest Olympic athletes by disproving Adolf Hitler's theory of Aryan athletic superiority through his success in track and field.
- DirectorEric LaneuvilleStarsDenzel WashingtonLynn WhitfieldAkosua BusiaHe risked it all to make the grade.
- DirectorBill DukeStarsHoward E. Rollins Jr.Richard LawsonWilliam Allen YoungA police officer is called by F.B.I. to infiltrate into gang of arms smugglers.
- DirectorKevin HooksStarsLouis Gossett Jr.LeVar BurtonAvery BrooksOn Christmas Eve 1770, a young African warrior, who three years prior had been captured and sold into slavery in America, leads a desperate group of runaway slaves as they attempt to reach freedom in the North.
- DirectorAlan ParkerStarsGene HackmanWillem DafoeFrances McDormandTwo F.B.I. Agents with wildly different styles arrive in Mississippi to investigate the disappearance of some civil rights activists.
- DirectorJohn G. AvildsenStarsMorgan FreemanBeverly ToddRobert GuillaumeThe dedicated but tyrannical Joe Clark is appointed the principal of a decaying inner-city school he is determined to improve by any and all means.
- DirectorLarry PeerceStarsAndre BraugherDaniel SternRuby DeeA film about the early life of the baseball star in the army and in particular his court-martial for insubordination regarding segregation.
- DirectorRichard PearceStarsSissy SpacekWhoopi GoldbergDwight SchultzTwo women, black and white, in 1955 Montgomery Alabama, must decide what they are going to do in response to the famous bus boycott led by Martin Luther King.
- DirectorRoger YoungStarsTom HulceJennifer GreyBlair UnderwoodIn 1964, members of the Ku Klux Klan murdered three Civil Rights workers who had traveled to the South to encourage African-American voter registration. Examines the last three weeks in the lives of the slain activists.
- DirectorKevin HooksStarsCicely TysonBlair UnderwoodJames Earl JonesA superb depiction of the watts riot and how it possibly started in great detail.
- DirectorRobert TownsendStarsRobert TownsendMichael WrightLeonThe story of the rise and fall of an African American vocal group.
- DirectorBrian GibsonStarsLynn WhitfieldRubén BladesDavid DukesBorn poor in St. Louis, Missouri, Josephine Baker achieved fame and fortune through her sizzlingly exotic, erotic performances. Starting life on the American Vaudeville circuit, success takes Josephine to Paris where her semi-nude dancing causes an international sensation. Through her marriages to an Italian pseudo-count and an orchestra leader, to her bond with army officer Sydney Williams, Josephine's life is a rollercoaster ride of love and rejection from both her lovers and her country. But semi-nude, or head-to-toes in sequins; in battle fatigues or rags - her beauty and ambition ensured that Josephine Baker will always be remembered as the first, and possibly most loved, truly international star.
- StarsSidney PoitierBurt LancasterRichard KileyA dramatization of the American court case that destroyed the legal validity of racial segregation.
- DirectorEric LaneuvilleStarsMorris ChestnutRobert AlexanderSteven AllenFollows the story of Ernest Green, one of the Little Rock Nine who were the first blacks to integrate into an all white school.
- DirectorBrian GibsonStarsAngela BassettLaurence FishburneRaéVen KellyThe story of singer Tina Turner's rise to stardom and how she gained the courage to break free from her abusive husband, Ike Turner.
- DirectorRobert MarkowitzStarsLaurence FishburneAllen PayneMalcolm-Jamal WarnerThe true story of how a group of African-American pilots overcame racist opposition to become one of the finest United States fighter groups in World War II.
- DirectorKevin Rodney SullivanStarsDelroy LindoMykelti WilliamsonEdward HerrmannBlack baseball greats, Satchel Paige and Josh Gibson, vie to be the first afro-American major leaguer, only to see the outspoken rookie, Jackie Robinson, be chosen.
- DirectorRob ReinerStarsAlec BaldwinJames WoodsWhoopi GoldbergA Mississippi district attorney and the widow of Medgar Evers struggle to finally bring a white racist to justice for the 1963 murder of the civil rights leader.
- DirectorJoseph SargentStarsAlfre WoodardLaurence FishburneCraig ShefferThe true story of the U.S. Government's 1932 Tuskegee Syphilis Experiment, in which a group of black test subjects were allowed to die, despite a cure having been developed.
- DirectorJohn SingletonStarsJon VoightVing RhamesDon CheadleA dramatization of a 1923 horrific racist lynch mob attack on an African-American community.
- StarsCharles Malik WhitfieldD.B. WoodsideTerron BrooksBiography of the singers who formed the hit Motown musical act, The Temptations.
- DirectorLynne LittmanStarsDiahann CarrollRuby DeeAmy MadiganTells the story of Sadie and Bessie Delany, two African-American (they preferred "colored") sisters who both lived past the age of 100. They grew up on a North Carolina college campus, the daughters of the first African-American Episcopal bishop, who was born a slave, and a woman with an inter-racial background. With the support of each other and their family, they survived encounters with racism and sexism in their own different ways. Sadie quietly and sweetly broke barriers to become the first African-American home-ec teacher in New York City, while Bessie, with her own brand of outspokenness, became the second African-American dentist in New York City. At the ages of 103 and 101, they told their story to Amy Hill Hearth, a white New York Times reporter who published an article about them. The overwhelming response launched a bestselling book, a Broadway play, and this film.
- DirectorMichael MannStarsWill SmithJamie FoxxJon VoightA biography of sports legend Muhammad Ali, focusing on his triumphs and controversies between 1964 and 1974.
- DirectorDoug McHenryStarsHarry LennixVanessa WilliamsDon AllisonNew Yorker Adam Clayton Powell Jr. (Harry J. Lennix) becomes a congressman and condemns all forms of segregation and discrimination.
- DirectorSteven SpielbergStarsDjimon HounsouMatthew McConaugheyAnthony HopkinsIn 1839, the revolt of Mende captives aboard a Spanish owned ship causes a major controversy in the United States when the ship is captured off the coast of Long Island. The courts must decide whether the Mende are slaves or legally free.
- DirectorRobert TownsendStarsAndre BraugherCharles S. DuttonMario Van PeeblesUnion activist Asa Philip Randolph's efforts to organize the black porters of the Pullman Rail Company in 1920s America.
- DirectorMario Van PeeblesStarsMario Van PeeblesNia LongJoy BryantMario Van Peebles' half-documentary/half-homage to his father Melvin Van Peebles' movie Sweet Sweetback's Baadasssss Song (1971).
- DirectorTaylor HackfordStarsJamie FoxxRegina KingKerry WashingtonThe story of the life and career of the legendary rhythm and blues musician Ray Charles, from his humble beginnings in the South, where he went blind at age seven, to his meteoric rise to stardom during the 1950s and 1960s.
- DirectorJeremy KaganStarsMario Van PeeblesHowie MandelJeremy BlackmanAfter the Crown Heights riots, an orthodox Rabbi and a community activist help two youths--one a Hasidic Jew, the other African-American--form a hip-hop group to heal their neighboorhood.
- DirectorTerry GeorgeStarsDon CheadleSophie OkonedoJoaquin PhoenixPaul Rusesabagina, a hotel manager, houses over a thousand Tutsi refugees during their struggle against the Hutu militia in Rwanda, Africa.
- DirectorJoseph SargentStarsCliff McMullenYasiin BeyLuray CooperA dramatization of the relationship between heart surgery pioneers Alfred Blalock and Vivien Thomas.
- DirectorThomas CarterStarsSamuel L. JacksonRick GonzalezRobert Ri'chardControversy surrounds high school basketball coach Ken Carter after he benches his entire team for breaking their academic contract with him.
- DirectorBill CondonStarsBeyoncéJamie FoxxEddie MurphyA trio of black female soul singers cross over to the pop charts in the early 1960s, facing their own personal struggles along the way.
- DirectorSunu GoneraStarsTerrence HowardBernie MacKimberly EliseThe determined Jim Ellis starts a swim team for troubled teens at the Philadelphia Department of Recreation.
- DirectorTim DisneyStarsNicole BeharieWill PattonAlfre WoodardA single mother struggles to clear her name after being wrongly accused and arrested for dealing drugs in an impoverished Texas town.
- DirectorJoe WrightStarsJamie FoxxRobert Downey Jr.Catherine KeenerA newspaper journalist discovers a homeless musical genius and tries to improve his situation.
- DirectorTim StoryStarsForest WhitakerIsaiah WashingtonShad MossAl, a basketball coach at a New Orleans high school, finally has a winning team when Hurricane Katrina happens. He tries to build a winning team anew after the hurricane.
- DirectorNorman JewisonStarsDenzel WashingtonVicellous ShannonDeborah Kara UngerThe story of Rubin 'Hurricane' Carter, a boxer wrongly imprisoned for murder, and the people who aided in his fight to prove his innocence.
- DirectorAnthony HemingwayStarsCuba Gooding Jr.Gerald McRaneyDavid OyelowoA crew of African American pilots in the Tuskegee training program, having faced segregation while kept mostly on the ground during World War II, are called into duty under the guidance of Col. A.J. Bullard.
- DirectorLee DanielsStarsForest WhitakerOprah WinfreyJohn CusackAs Cecil Gaines serves eight presidents during his tenure as a butler at the White House, the civil rights movement, Vietnam, and other major events affect this man's life, family, and American society.
- DirectorYves SimoneauStarsAngela BassettTyler HynesGloria ReubenThe widows of Martin Luther King and Malcolm X and how they carry on as single mothers after the assassination of their husbands.
- DirectorReginald HudlinStarsChadwick BosemanJosh GadKate HudsonThe story of Thurgood Marshall, the crusading lawyer who would become the first African-American Supreme Court Justice, as he battles through one of his career-defining cases.
- DirectorKasi LemmonsStarsDon CheadleChiwetel EjioforBruce McFeeThe story of Washington D.C. radio personality Ralph "Petey" Greene, an ex-con who became a popular talk show host and community activist in the 1960s.
- StarsOctavia SpencerTiffany HaddishCarmen EjogoThe inspiring story of trailblazing African American entrepreneur Madam C.J. Walker who built a haircare empire that made her America's first female self-made millionaire.
- TV Movie
- DirectorPhil Alden RobinsonStarsDanny GloverVicellous ShannonVondie Curtis-HallA tale about a young man's bout in the 1960s, in Mississippi, before Blacks were allowed to vote, and did sit ins at White establishments. The harrowing ordeals people wanting the same opportunities had to go through.
- DirectorSpike LeeStarsJohn David WashingtonAdam DriverLaura HarrierRon Stallworth, an African American police officer from Colorado Springs, Colorado, successfully infiltrates the local Ku Klux Klan branch aided by a Jewish surrogate who eventually becomes its leader. Based on actual events.