LibGuides: Black Lives Matter Resources: Films/Podcasts

Books about Black Film

"Baad Bitches" and Sassy Supermamas by Stephane Dunn
Publication Date: 2008-01-01
The Politics and Poetics of Black Film by David C. Wall (Editor); Michael T. Martin (Editor)
Publication Date: 2015-10-20

Podcasts

Code Switch
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.
1619
An audio series on how slavery has transformed America, connecting past and present through the oldest form of storytelling.
Lynching in America
Equal Justice Initiative has documented the lynchings of over 4,000 African Americans between 1877 and 1950. In this series, hear how this era of racial terror lynchings continues to shape America to this day.
Intersectionality Matters! African American Policy Forum
Intersectionality Matters! is a podcast hosted by Kimberlé Crenshaw, an American civil rights advocate and a leading scholar of critical race theory.
Momentum: A Race Forward Podcast
Momentum: A Race Forward Podcast features movement voices, stories, and strategies for racial justice.

Streaming Videos from Fondren Collections

The following films are available on Kanopy, one of our streaming services available to Rice users. Kanopy has a larger collection of Social and Systemic Injustice documentaries available as well.

I Am Not Your Negro
In 1979, James Baldwin wrote a letter to his literary agent describing his next project, Remember This House. The book was to be a revolutionary, personal account of the lives and successive assassinations of three of his close friends--Medgar Evers, Malcolm X and Martin Luther King, Jr. At the time of Baldwin's death in 1987, he left behind only thirty completed pages of his manuscript. An Oscar-nominated documentary narrated by Samuel L. Jackson, I AM NOT YOUR NEGRO explores the continued peril America faces from institutionalized racism.
Ken Burns: The Central Park Five
This Peabody Award winning film chronicles the Central Park Jogger case, for the first time from the perspective of the five teenagers whose lives were upended by this miscarriage of justice.
P.S. I Can't Breathe: Demand for Justice
This documentary welcomes dialogue around racial inequality, policing, and the Criminal Justice System by focusing on Eric Garners case. We hope viewers will increase their understanding of issues plaguing Black and Brown Communities by witnessing a massive group of protesters unite for the purpose of justice.
Show me Democracy: Student Activism Amidst the Uprising in Ferguson
Amidst the uprising in Ferguson, MO, seven St. Louis college students evolve into activists as they demand change through policy and protest. This film examines their personal lives and backgrounds as each of them copes with the fallout of Ferguson.
Whose Streets?
Told by the activists and leaders who live and breathe this movement for justice, WHOSE STREETS? is an unflinching look at the Ferguson uprising.

Streaming Videos from other sources

Netflix - Black Lives Matter collection
Learn more about racial injustice and the Black experience in America with this collection of films, series and documentaries. Viewers who search for the names George Floyd, Ahmaud Arbery, Breonna Taylor, and Tony McDade while using Netflix will also be directed to this collection.
The 13th
Combining archival footage with testimony from activists and scholars, director Ava DuVernay's examination of the U.S. prison system looks at how the country's history of racial inequality drives the high rate of incarceration in America.
Just Mercy
Just Mercy, based on the life work of civil rights attorney Bryan Stevenson, is one resource we can humbly offer to those who are interested in learning more about the systemic racism that plagues our society.
Selma
Ava DuVernay's Selma is available for free rental on all US digital platforms during the month of June. The 2014 film chronicles Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.'s campaign to secure equal voting rights with an epic march from Selma to Montgomery, Alabama in 1965.
When They See Us
2019 Netflix miniseries created, co-written, and directed by Ava DuVernay. It is based on events of the 1989 Central Park jogger case and explores the lives and families of the five male suspects who were falsely accused then prosecuted on charges related to the rape and assault of a woman in Central Park, New York City.