Black History Month

Use Kanopy to stream award-winning feature films, documentaries, miniseries, biopics, and other videos highlighting Black cinema and those working in the industry. Search other related terms to view more relevant videos in Kanopy.

Stream documentaries, news clips, and other videos pertaining to Black History on Academic Video Online. Search other related terms to view more relevant videos in AVON.

Stream award-winning feature films, documentaries, miniseries, biopics, and other videos pertaining to Black history and culture on our Kanopy streaming service. Search other related terms to view more relevant videos in Kanopy.

Stream documentaries, news clips, and other videos pertaining to Black Studies on Academic Video Online. Search other related terms to view more relevant videos in AVON.

Stream documentaries, news clips, and other videos pertaining to the life and work of Ida B. Wells on Academic Video Online. Search other related terms to view more relevant videos in AVON.

(Feature film, 1 hour 49 minutes) Critics and audiences alike have gotten behind Mario Van Peebles' candid portrait of his father Melvin's struggle as a young, black director during the society-shifting early '70s. Determined to make a film that matters, Melvin (played by son Mario) deals with two-faced backers, a rag tag crew, threatening creditors and various shades of Hollywood hypocrisy. Obsessed and with everything on the line, including his failing eyesight and family, his only choice is to stick to his guns and do whatever it takes to get his neo-blaxploitation epic Sweet Sweetback's Baadasssss Song to the audience for which it was envisioned. The real-life father and son dynamic brings an intimacy to this inspiring and often hilarious tribute to the father of black cinema. The result is a seamless layering of entertaining drama and poignant documentary that mirrors itself from every angle and never loses its edge.

(Documentary, 1 hour 37 minutes) A Tribe Called Quest has been one of the most commercially successful and artistically significant musical groups in recent history. The band’s sudden break-up in 1998 shocked the industry and saddened the scores of fans, whose appetite for the group’s innovative musical stylings never seem to diminish. This insightful film, directed by Michael Rapaport, takes viewers on a behind-the-scenes journey - chronicling the group's rise to fame and revealing the stories behind the tensions which erupted in the years to come. Watch this film with audio description here: https://video.alexanderstreet.com/watch/beats-rhymes-life-the-travels-of-a-tribe-called-quest-with-audio-description

(Documentary, 53 minutes) Black Feminist is a feature length documentary film surrounding the double edged sword of racial and gender oppression that black women face in America. This documentary is told through interviews from scholars, lecturers, writers, business owners, veterans, comedians and authors. In addition to information interviews, this documentary is narrated by our storybook character LaToya Johnson, played by Nadirah Lugg.

(Documentary, 59 minutes) Program examines the student takeover of Ford Hall at Brandeis University, an administration building Brandeis students occupied during the filming of the program. The first portion of the program features black and white footage of the takeover, including an enumeration of student demands and a statement to the press by university President Morris Abram. The second half of the program consists of a panel discussion of Black Power on university campuses. Discussion panel is moderated by Henry Hampton (Founder, Black Side, Inc.) and features Brandeis students Randy Bailey and Ricardo Millette, Boston University student Doris Francis, Harvard University student Skip Griffin, and Associate Dean of Jackson College Beatrice Miller.

(Documentary, 1 hour) Langston Hughes was one of the most prominent figures of the Harlem Renaissance and is often referred to as Harlem's poet laureate. This film shows how Hughes successfully fused jazz, blues and common speech to celebrate the beauty of Black life.

(Documentary, 1 hour 50 minutes) On February 7, 2003, renowned artists across music genres and generations commandeered the stage at New York City's Radio City Music Hall to pay tribute to their common heritage and passion: the blues. Shared with thousands of fans in attendance, legendary performers from the roots of rock, jazz, and rap joined forces for a once-in-a-lifetime salute to the blues benefit concert whose proceeds went to musical education. Executive produced by Martin Scorcese, produced by Alex Gibney and directed by Antoine Fuqua, Lightning in a Bottle captures the night's magic and weaves a history of blues through the juxtaposition of performers, backstage interviews, rehearsals, and archival clips of some of the greatest names in American music, from blues royalty like Buddy Guy and B. B. King to their musical heirs ranging from John Fogerty and Bonnie Raitt to Mos Def and Indie.Arie.

(Feature film, 1 hour 39 minutes) Set on the west side of the Los Angeles fight world, a scene inhabited by bouncers, cagefighters, cops and special forces types REDBELT is the story of Mike Terry (Chiwetel Ejiofor), a Jiu-jitsu master who has avoided the prize fighting circuit, choosing to instead pursue a life of honor and education by operating a self-defense studio with a samurai's code. An accident on a dark, rainy night, between an off duty officer and a distraught lawyer puts in motion a series of events that will change Terry's life dramatically.

(Documentary, 1 hour 32 minutes) You hold in your hands a backstage pass to one of the most extraordinary concert events ever filmed. Featuring musical legends James Brown, B.B. King, Bill Withers, Celia Cruz, and a host of others, SOUL POWER documents the three-night Zaire '74 music festival planned to coincide with the now-legendary and epic "Rumble in the Jungle" between Muhammad Ali and George Foreman. Much more than a concert film, SOUL POWER provides a dynamic fly-on-wall look into the turbulent proceedings, with on-the-spot commentary from the musicians themselves, concert organizers Hugh Masekela and Stewart Levine, Muhammad Ali and boxing promoter extraordinaire Don King, SOUL POWER will leave you breathless.

(Feature film, 1 hour 54 minutes) Sugar is the inspirational story of Miguel Santos, a gifted pitcher struggling to make it to the big leagues of American baseball. Nicknamed "Azúcar" (Spanish for "sugar"), 19-year-old Miguel travels from his poor but tightly-knit community in the Dominican Republic to play minor league baseball in the United States - where anything is possible. He finds himself in a small Iowa town, where he struggles with the culture, the language, and the pressure of knowing that only his success can rescue his family.

(Documentary, 57 minutes) This inspiring World War II story spotlights 450 men who fought on two fronts at once. Black American aviators, known as the Tuskegee Airmen, battled Axis powers in Europe and North Africa and then took on racism at home. Trained by the segregated military system as an experiment to see if blacks could fly in combat, these pilots made more than 15,000 sorties and 1,500 missions. Their success led to the integration of the U.S. armed forces.

Credo Reference encyclopedic entries concerning African American History. Includes broad, introductory information, images, biographies, timelines, links to other relevant resources, and keyword concept map tools.

Adam Matthew Primary Source Collections. From the website: "Focusing predominantly on Atlanta, Chicago, New York, and towns and cities in North Carolina this resource presents multiple aspects of the African American community through pamphlets, newspapers and periodicals, correspondence, official records, reports and in-depth oral histories, revealing the prevalent challenges of racism, discrimination and integration, and a unique African American culture and identity."

Adam Matthew Primary Source Collections. From the website: "This unique collection of documents brings to life American History from the times of the earliest settlers until the end of World War II. It is sourced from the Gilder Lehrman Collection, one of the finest archives available for the study of American history. Its quantity and quality offers a wonderful overview of American history alongside some deep research strands. It is divided into two modules: Module 1 Settlement, Commerce, Revolution and Reform: 1493-1859 and Module 2 Civil War, Reconstruction and the Modern Era: 1860-1945."

The JKM Library has access to Ebony Magazine from 1945 to the present through various databases. Follow this link and then select the specific Ebony collection you would like to view under "Full Text Access".

Adam Matthew Primary Source Collections. From the website: "Music, Politics, Fashion, Youth Culture - the period from 1950 to 1975 witnessed dramatic changes in society. From the austerity of the 1950s to the excess of the 1970s, discover the period through a wealth of printed and manuscript sources, visual material, ephemera and video clips. By focusing on substantial collections of original archival material - manuscript, typescript and ephemera, from key libraries in Britain and America - Popular Culture, provides the primary sources that will enable students and scholars to examine key issues and events of the period."

Adam Matthew Primary Source Collections. From the website: "Based at Fisk University from 1943-1970, the Race Relations Department and its annual Institute were set up by the American Missionary Association to investigate problem areas in race relations and develop methods for educating communities and preventing conflict. Documenting three pivotal decades in the fight for civil rights, this resource showcases the speeches, reports, surveys and analyses produced by the Department’s staff and Institute participants, including Charles S. Johnson, Dr Martin Luther King, Jr., and Thurgood Marshall."

Adam Matthew Primary Source Collections. From website: "Bringing together primary source documents from archives and libraries across the Atlantic world, this resource allows students and researchers to explore and compare unique material relating to the complex subjects of slavery, abolition and social justice. In addition to the primary source documents there is a wealth of useful secondary sources for research and teaching; including an interactive map, scholarly essays, tutorials, a visual sources gallery, chronology and bibliography."