The Weather Underground (2003), The Autobiography of Miss Jane Pittman (1974), Neshoba: The Price of Freedom (2008), Accidental Courtesy: Daryl Davis, Race & America (2016), The Help (2011), Nothing But a Man (1964), Ali & Cavett: The Tale of the Tapes (2018), 4 Little Girls (1997) ... Let's take a look at the ranked list of the best Civil Rights Movement movies.
Storyline: When the Beatles land in America in the early 1960s, young men wearing their hair long strike the nation as an abomination. But within a few years, youthful rebellion grows more severe: Witness the Weathermen, the radical antiwar activists who mobilize (unsuccessfully) to overthrow the U.S. government. With contemporary interviews and archival footage, this documentary elucidates the Weather Underground's controversial history and continuing significance.
Plot Keywords: documentary, history, politics, radicalism, anti-war, social movement, revolution ...
Movie Details Click Here !Storyline: A 110-year-old former Louisiana slave (Cicely Tyson) reminisces about her life and society from the Civil War to germinating civil rights.
Plot Keywords: drama, historical, biography, race, american history, slavery, female protagonist ...
Movie Details Click Here !Storyline: In 1964, three civil rights activists go missing in Mississippi. The bodies of James Chaney, Andrew Goodman and Michael Schwerner are found months later, and the three Klansman accused of murdering them are put on trial. All three are found not guilty, including Edgar Ray Killen who openly flaunts his involvement in the killings for years after the trial. Interviews with local community members and the victim's families highlight the ongoing effort to bring Killen to trial a second time.
Plot Keywords: documentary, civil rights, murder, racism, 1960s, justice, cold case ...
Movie Details Click Here !Storyline: Musician Daryl Davis has an unusual hobby. He's played all over the world with legends like Chuck Berry and Little Richard, but it's what Daryl does in his free time that sets him apart. Daryl likes to meet and befriend members of the Ku Klux Klan -- something few black men can say. In his travels, he's collected robes and other artifacts from friends who have left the Klan, building a collection piece by piece, story by story, in hopes of eventually opening a "Museum of the Klan."
Plot Keywords: documentary, race relations, american society, racism, social justice, dialogue, tolerance ...
Movie Details Click Here !Storyline: Set in Mississippi during the 1960s, Skeeter (Stone) is a southern society girl who returns from college determined to become a writer, but turns her friends' lives -- and a Mississippi town -- upside down when she decides to interview the black women who have spent their lives taking care of prominent southern families. Aibileen (Davis), Skeeter's best friend's housekeeper, is the first to open up -- to the dismay of her friends in the tight-knit black community. Despite Skeeter's life-long friendships hanging in the balance, she and Aibileen continue their collaboration and soon more women come forward to tell their stories -- and as it turns out, they have a lot to say. Along the way, unlikely friendships are forged and a new sisterhood emerges, but not before everyone in town has a thing or two to say themselves when they become unwittingly -- and unwillingly -- caught up in the changing times.
Plot Keywords: racial discrimination, female friendship, social class, courage, justice, coming of age, defiance ...
Movie Details Click Here !Storyline: Born in Birmingham, Duff Anderson, the father of a male toddler, who lives with a nanny, re-locates to a small town to work on the railroad. He meets with and is attracted to Josie much to the chagrin of her preacher father. The marriage does take place nevertheless, both re-locate to live in their own house and he gets a job in a mill. He decides not to bring his son to live with them. Challenges arise when the Mill Foreman finds out that Duff is attempting to unionize the workers, forcing Duff to quit, and look for work elsewhere. Unable to reconcile himself to working on a daily wage of $2.50 picking cotton nor even as a waiter, he gets a job at a garage. He is enraged at a customer for belittling him and Josie, and is let go. Unemployed, unable to support his wife and son, he gets abusive and leaves - perhaps never to return.—rAjOo (gunwanti@hotmail.com)
Plot Keywords: race relations, american south, social injustice, working class, marriage, family, discrimination ...
Movie Details Click Here !Storyline: The life and times of Muhammed Ali are shown through the lens of his numerous appearances on "The Dick Cavett Show."
Plot Keywords: documentary, interview, boxing, sports legend, historical footage, social issues, racial equality ...
Movie Details Click Here !Storyline: This film recounts the people and events leading up to the one of the most despicable hate-crimes during the height of the civil-rights movement, the bombing of the 16th Street Church in Birmingham, Alabama. In that attack, four little African-American girls lost their lives and a nation was simultaneously revolted, angered and galvanized to push the fight for equality and justice on.—Kenneth Chisholm <kchishol@execulink.com>
Plot Keywords: documentary, history, civil rights, racism, 1960s, bombing, african american ...
Movie Details Click Here !Storyline: Two FBI agents investigating the murder of civil rights workers during the 60s seek to breach the conspiracy of silence in a small Southern town where segregation divides black and white. The younger agent trained in FBI school runs up against the small town ways of his former Sheriff partner.
Plot Keywords: crime, racism, murder, fbi, 1960s, investigation, corruption ...
Movie Details Click Here !Storyline: Tells the story of the American civil rights movement through its powerful music - the freedom songs protesters sang on picket lines, in mass meetings, and in jail cells as they fought for justice and equality. Features new performances of the freedom songs by top artists; archival footage; and interviews with civil rights foot soldiers and leaders. Freedom songs evolved from slave chants, from the labor movement, and especially from the black church. Music enabled blacks to sing words they could not say, and it was crucial in helping the protesters as they faced down brutal aggression with dignity and non-violence. The infectious energy of the songs swept people up and empowered them to fight for their rights. This film celebrates the vitality of this music.—Anonymous
Plot Keywords: history, music, documentary, usa, protest, songs, freedom ...
Movie Details Click Here !Storyline: This documentary presents a sobering reminder of the racial tensions that gripped America not so long ago. In Mississippi during the '50s, a black teenager named Emmett Louis Till, who is from Chicago and visiting his great-uncle, whistles at a white woman in public. Not too long afterward, he is kidnapped and murdered. The filmmakers revisit the public outrage that follows, revealing Till's family as being particularly brave for standing up to white racism when it was clearly unsafe to do so.
Plot Keywords: documentary, history, racial discrimination, american history, murder case, social justice, racial violence ...
Movie Details Click Here !Storyline: Using flashbacks from a statement recorded late in life and archival footage for atmosphere, this film traces Harvey Milk's career from his 40th birthday to his death. He leaves the closet and New York, opens a camera shop that becomes the salon for San Francisco's growing gay community, and organizes gays' purchasing power to build political alliances. He runs for office with lover Scott Smith as his campaign manager. Victory finally comes on the same day Dan White wins in the city's conservative district. The rest of the film sketches Milk's relationship with White and the 1978 fight against a statewide initiative to bar gays and their supporters from public school jobs.
Plot Keywords: biography, history, drama, lgbt, political, activist, american ...
Movie Details Click Here !Storyline: The unforgettable true story chronicles the tumultuous three-month period in 1965, when Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. led a dangerous campaign to secure equal voting rights in the face of violent opposition. The epic march from Selma to Montgomery culminated in President Johnson signing the Voting Rights Act of 1965, one of the most significant victories for the civil rights movement. Director Ava DuVernay's "Selma" tells the story of how the revered leader and visionary Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr and his brothers and sisters in the movement prompted change that forever altered history.
Plot Keywords: history, biography, drama, american history, racial equality, social justice, politics ...
Movie Details Click Here !Storyline: During the civil rights movement of the '50s and '60s in Mississippi, Medgar Evers (Howard E. Rollins Jr.) rose from being an insurance agent to become one of the most integral activists of the era. From boycotting white merchants in the mid '50s to being a key figure in desegregating the University of Mississippi in 1962, Evers met success, and with it many enemies. When racists swarm his house, his life and the lives of his wife (Irene Cara) and children are threatened.
Plot Keywords: biography, history, drama, usa, racial equality, social justice, murder ...
Movie Details Click Here !Storyline: Dramatizes the events in 1955-1956 in Montgomery, Alabama, when blacks boycotted public transport because they were forced to sit at the back. Odessa works as a maid for the Thompsons, and as well as she is treated, she feels it is her duty to walk to work, even if it means she is exhausted, and gets to work late.—Murray Chapman <muzzle@cs.uq.oz.au>
Plot Keywords: african american, white supremacy, historical drama, social injustice, female protagonist, moral dilemma, family conflict ...
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