• Topic Guide
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Watch This: Black History in Documentaries

Learn about major events and figures in Black history through these nonfiction films. Some films can be streamed to your device from Kanopy or hoopla. Contact a librarian for assistance with these streaming services. Selected by Sunnyvale Public Library staff. Synopses from IMDb.

Sunnyvale Public Library

20 items

  • Based on newly declassified files, Sam Pollard's resonant film explores the US government's surveillance and harassment of Martin Luther King, Jr. Available on DVD and Blu-Ray.
    DVD, 2022New York, NY : IFC Films, [2022] — DVD 323.1196 MLK
  • Working from the text of James Baldwin’s unfinished final novel, director Raoul Peck creates a meditation on what it means to be Black in the United States. Available on DVD and Blu-Ray. Streamable from Kanopy and hoopla.
    DVD, 2017Los Angeles, CA : Magnolia Home Entertainment, [2017] — DVD 323.1196 I
  • A nonfiction account of the Ferguson uprising told by the people who lived it, this is an unflinching look at how the killing of 18-year-old Michael Brown inspired a community to fight back—and sparked a global movement. Available on DVD. Streamable…
    DVD, 2017©2017 — DVD 303.623 W
  • John Lewis

    Good Trouble

    The film explores Georgia representative's, 60-plus years of social activism and legislative action on civil rights, voting rights, gun control, health care reform, and immigration. Available on DVD. Streamable on hoopla.
    Unknown, 2020[Los Angeles, California] : Magnolia Home Entertainment, [2020] — DVD 328.7309 JOH
  • Black America Since MLK

    and Still I Rise

    Documentary with host Henry Louis Gates Jr. chronicles the triumphs, struggles and contradictions of the last fifty years in African American History. Available on DVD and Blu-Ray. Streamable on Kanopy and hoopla.
    DVD, 2016[Arlington, VA] : PBS Distribution, [2016] — DVD 973.0496 B
  • A behind-the-scenes documentary about the recording of Aretha Franklin’s best-selling album finally sees the light of day more than four decades after the original footage was shot. Available on DVD and Blu-Ray.
    DVD, 2019Universal City, CA : Universal Pictures Home Entertainment, [2019] — DVD 782.254 A
  • The Black Panthers

    Vanguard of the Revolution

    This documentary tells the rise and fall of the Black Panther Party, one of the 20th century's most alluring and controversial organizations that captivated the world's attention for nearly 50 years. Available on DVD. Streamable from Kanopy and…
    Unknown, 2016[Arlington, Virginia] : PBS Distribution, [2016] — DVD 322.4209 B
  • The first feature documentary about the remarkable writer, poet, actress, activist Maya Angelou. Available on DVD. Streamable from Kanopy.
    DVD, 2017[Arlington, Virginia] : PBS, [2017] — DVD 818.5409 M
  • A documentary that examines the 1989 case of five black and Latino teenagers who were convicted of raping a white woman in Central Park. After having spent between 6 and 13 years each in prison, a serial rapist confessed to the crime. Available on…
    DVD, 2013[Arlington, Virginia] : PBS : Distributed by PBS Distribution, ©2013. — DVD 364.1532 C
  • A documentary that recounts the many ways in which American slavery persisted as a practice many decades after its supposed abolition. Streamable on Kanopy and hoopla.
    DVD, 2012[Arlington, VA] : PBS Distribution, [2012] — DVD 305.896 S
  • Footage shot by a group of Swedish journalists documenting the Black Power Movement in the United States is edited together by a contemporary Swedish filmmaker. Available on DVD.
    DVD, 2011New York : IFC Films ; MPI Media Group [distributor], c2011. — DVD 305.8 B
  • Director Tamra Davis pays homage to her friend in this definitive documentary but also delves into Basquiat as an iconoclast. His dense, bebop-influenced neoexpressionist work emerged while minimalist, conceptual art was the fad; as a successful…
    Web resource
  • A survey of the musical form's history and major talents. Available on DVD. Streamable from Kanopy and hoopla.
    DVD, 2000[Washington, D.C.?] : PBS DVD ; Burbank, CA : distributed by Warner Home Video, c2000. — DVD 781.65 J PT.1
  • A documentary of the notorious racial terrorist bombing of an African American church during the Civil Rights Movement. Available on DVD.
    Unknown, 2010New York, NY : Home Box Office : Distributed by HBO Home Video, 2010. — DVD 323.092 F
  • Scottsboro

    An American Tragedy

    The history of the "Scottsboro Boys," a group of African American men who were victims of a racist miscarriage of justice that became a national controversy. Available on DVD. Streamable on Kanopy.
    Unknown, 2005[Alexandria, Va.] : PBS Home Video, [2005] — DVD 345.02 S