Andrew Young

Downing of a Flag is a two-hour documentary film that focuses on the Confederate Battle flag and its impact on the people, politics and perceptions of South Carolina and beyond. Through firsthand interviews featuring various perspectives and a wealth of historical footage, Downing of a Flag traces the symbol's controversial relationship with the Palmetto State, exploring its true meaning and how an unspeakable tragedy served as the catalyst for its long-debated removal.

5.2/10

In Knockemstiff, Ohio and its neighboring backwoods, sinister characters converge around young Arvin Russell as he fights the evil forces that threaten him and his family.

7.2/10
6.5%

Based on newly declassified files, the film explores the US government’s surveillance and harassment of Martin Luther King, Jr.

6.9/10
9.9%

Whenever the phrase "breaking the color line" is used, there's a temptation to invoke Jackie Robinson's story. However, Perry Wallace, the first black college athlete in the Southeast Conference, was a mere teenager who stood all alone at center court in such hotbeds of rabid racism as Starkville, Mississippi and Tuscaloosa, Alabama.

On the anniversary of Martin Luther King's death, Sir Trevor McDonald travels to the Deep South of America to get closer to the man who meant so much to him.

Documentary commemorating the 50th anniversary of Martin Luther King's March on Washington, a pivotal moment in the Civil Rights Movement in the United States. The film tells the story of how the march for jobs and freedom began, speaking to the people who organised and participated in it. Using rarely seen archive footage the film reveals the background stories surrounding the build up to the march as well as the fierce opposition it faced from the JFK administration, J Edgar Hoover's FBI and widespread claims that it would incite racial violence, chaos and disturbance. The film follows the unfolding drama as the march reaches its ultimate triumphs, gaining acceptance from the state, successfully raising funds and in the end, organised and executed peacefully.

7.2/10

Documentary about British fashion designer Ozwald Boateng.

6.2/10

Directors Robert Townsend and Quincy Newell offer this comprehensive and hilarious examination of the history, evolution and cultural significance of African American comedy in America, from the earliest minstrel shows to the latest HBO special. Featuring interviews with cultural critics and loads of comedic clips, this program features appearances by a who's-who of black comedians including Chris Rock, Bill Cosby, Whoopi Goldberg and many more.

7/10

Documentary about the final five, turbulent years in the life of civil rights activist Martin Luther King. The story begins at the Lincoln Memorial in August 1963, when a 34-year-old preacher galvanized millions with his dream for an America free of racism and comes to a bloody end five years later on a motel balcony in Memphis. King has since become a mythic figure, an activist whose works and image are more hotly contested, negotiated and sold than almost anyone else's in American history. (Storyville)

8.2/10

On September 15, 1963, a bomb destroyed a black church in Birmingham, Alabama, killing four young girls who were there for Sunday school. It was a crime that shocked the nation--and a defining moment in the history of the civil-rights movement. Spike Lee re-examines the full story of the bombing, including a revealing interview with former Alabama Governor George Wallace.

7.8/10
10%

This special three-part presentation of "Like It Is" examines the history of the black civil rights movement in the United States, emphasizing the role of black leaders and activists. Including the defected FBi-agent "Othello" Darthard Perry tells it all.

Madeline Anderson’s documentary brings viewers to the front lines of the civil rights movement during the 1969 Charleston hospital workers’ strike, when 400 poorly paid Black women went on strike to demand union recognition and a wage increase, only to find themselves in confrontation with the National Guard and the state government. Anderson personally participated in the strike, along with such notable figures as Coretta Scott King, Ralph Abernathy and Andrew Young, all affiliated with Martin Luther King’s Southern Christian Leadership Conference. Anderson’s film shows the courage and resiliency of the strikers and the support they received from the local black community. It is an essential filmed record of this important moment in the history of civil and women’s rights. The film is also notable as arguably the first televised documentary on civil rights directed by a woman of color, solidifying its place in American film history.

7.2/10

Integration Report 1, Madeline Anderson's trailblazing debut, was the first known documentary by an African American female director. With tenacity, empathy and skill, Anderson assembles a vital record of desegregation efforts around the country in 1959 and 1960, featuring footage by documentary legends Albert Maysles and Richard Leacock and early Black cameraman Robert Puello, singing by Maya Angelou, and narration by playwright Loften Mitchell. Anderson fleetly moves from sit-ins in Montgomery, Alabama to a speech by Martin Luther King Jr. in Washington, D.C. to a protest of the unprosecuted death in police custody of an unarmed Black man in Brooklyn, capturing the incredible reach and scope of the civil rights movement, and working with this diverse of footage, as she would later say, “like an artist with a palette using different colors.”

7.1/10