50 of the Best Black Movies of All Time – and Where to Watch Them All

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The history of Black cinema is filled with a diverse range of films that have had a significant impact on both the film industry and society as a whole. These films often provide a window into the Black experience and culture while also addressing important issues such as police brutality, racism and struggles with identity. Throughout Hollywood history, the depiction of Black characters has been a topic of controversy and debate. In early cinema, Black characters were often portrayed as stereotypical and one-dimensional, reinforcing harmful racial biases and prejudices. As the years progressed, the depiction of Black characters have become more nuanced and complex (although there is always room to grow) with filmmakers addressing issues of race, identity and representation. This shift in representation has been significant, not only in terms of promoting diversity and inclusion on screen but also in challenging societal norms and promoting greater understanding and empathy across cultures. 

Among the most celebrated and beloved Black films are Spike Lee’s Do The Right Thing and Moonlight directed by Barry Jenkins. Do The Right Thing released in 1989 and explores the tensions between different racial groups living in a Brooklyn neighborhood. 2016’s Moonlight follows the journey of a young Black man as he navigates his identity, sexuality and complicated family dynamics. Both of these films have garnered critical acclaim and have become cultural touchstones, representing the power and potential of Black cinema.

Other notable Black films have also had a profound impact on the industry as a whole. Ava DuVernay’s 2014 biopic, Selma, chronicles the historic march from Selma to Montgomery led by Martin Luther King Jr. and the fight for voting rights for Black Americans. In addition to the importance of the events portrayed in the film, it was also notable for receiving a nomination for the Academy Award for Best Picture; this was a groundbreaking achievement as it marked the first time a film directed by a Black woman had been recognized in this category. 1985’s The Color Purple, directed by Steven Spielberg, follows a young Black woman's journey to find herself and overcome trauma in the early 1900s; it went on to be nominated for an astounding eleven Oscars. John Singleton was nominated for the Best Director Oscar following 1991’s Boyz n the Hood which explores the challenges a group of young Black men face living in South Central Los Angeles. These films, along with many others, have contributed to the rich legacy of Black cinema, showcasing the resilience, beauty and complexity of Black culture. Here are 50 must-watch Black movies and where to stream them.

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Filters
  1. Do the Right Thing

    Do the Right Thing

    1989

    #1

    Salvatore "Sal" Fragione is the Italian owner of a pizzeria in Brooklyn. A neighborhood local, Buggin' Out, becomes upset when he sees that the pizzeria's Wall of Fame exhibits only Italian actors. Buggin' Out believes a pizzeria in a black neighborhood should showcase black actors, but Sal disagrees. The wall becomes a symbol of racism and hate to Buggin' Out and to other people in the neighborhood, and tensions rise.

  2. A Raisin in the Sun

    #2

    Walter Lee Younger is a young man struggling with his station in life. Sharing a tiny apartment with his wife, son, sister and mother, he seems like an imprisoned man. Until, that is, the family gets an unexpected financial windfall.

  3. Bad Boys

    Bad Boys

    1995

    #3

    Marcus Burnett is a henpecked family man. Mike Lowrey is a footloose and fancy free ladies' man. Both Miami policemen, they have 72 hours to reclaim a consignment of drugs stolen from under their station's nose. To complicate matters, in order to get the assistance of the sole witness to a murder, they have to pretend to be each other.

  4. Boyz n the Hood

    Boyz n the Hood

    1991

    #4

    In the middle of the Los Angeles ghetto, drugs, robberies and shootings dominate everyday life. During these times, Furious tries to raise his son Tre to be a decent person. Tre's friends, on the other hand, have little regard for the law and drag the entire neighborhood into a street war...

  5. Barbershop

    Barbershop

    2002

    #5

    A day in the life of a barbershop on the south side of Chicago. Calvin, who inherited the struggling business from his deceased father, views the shop as nothing but a burden and waste of his time. After selling the shop to a local loan shark, Calvin slowly begins to see his father's vision and legacy and struggles with the notion that he just sold it out.

  6. 12 Years a Slave

    12 Years a Slave

    2013

    #6

    In the pre-Civil War United States, Solomon Northup, a free black man from upstate New York, is abducted and sold into slavery. Facing cruelty as well as unexpected kindnesses Solomon struggles not only to stay alive, but to retain his dignity. In the twelfth year of his unforgettable odyssey, Solomon’s chance meeting with a Canadian abolitionist will forever alter his life.

  7. Coming to America

    Coming to America

    1988

    #7

    An African prince decides it’s time for him to find a princess... and his mission leads him and his most loyal friend to Queens, New York. In disguise as an impoverished immigrant, the pampered prince quickly finds himself a new job, new friends, new digs, new enemies and lots of trouble.

  8. BlacKkKlansman

    BlacKkKlansman

    2018

    #8

    Colorado Springs, late 1970s. Ron Stallworth, an African American police officer, and Flip Zimmerman, his Jewish colleague, run an undercover operation to infiltrate the Ku Klux Klan.

  9. Black Panther

    Black Panther

    2018

    #9

    King T'Challa returns home to the reclusive, technologically advanced African nation of Wakanda to serve as his country's new leader. However, T'Challa soon finds that he is challenged for the throne by factions within his own country as well as without. Using powers reserved to Wakandan kings, T'Challa assumes the Black Panther mantle to join with ex-girlfriend Nakia, the queen-mother, his princess-kid sister, members of the Dora Milaje (the Wakandan 'special forces') and an American secret agent, to prevent Wakanda from being dragged into a world war.

  10. Brown Sugar

    Brown Sugar

    2002

    #10

    Sidney and Dre can attribute their lifelong friendship and the launch of their careers to one single childhood instant... witnessing the birth of hip-hop on a New York street corner. Now some 15 years later, she is a revered music critic at a national magazine and he is a successful, though unfulfilled, hip-hop record company executive. Both come to realize that their true life passions will only be fulfilled by remembering what they learned that day on the corner.

  11. Dear White People

    Dear White People

    2014

    #11

    Four college students attend an Ivy League college where a riot breaks out over an "African-American" themed party thrown by white students. With tongue planted firmly in cheek, the film explores racial identity in 'post racial' America while weaving a story about forging one's unique path in the world.

  12. Carmen Jones

    Carmen Jones

    1954

    #12

    Carmen, a seductive woman, seduces a young soldier, Joe, in order to avoid imprisonment. However, when she leaves Joe for another man, he seeks revenge.

  13. Jackie Brown

    Jackie Brown

    1997

    #13

    Jackie Brown is a flight attendant who gets caught in the middle of smuggling cash into the country for her gunrunner boss. When the cops try to use Jackie to get to her boss, she hatches a plan — with help from a bail bondsman — to keep the money for herself.

  14. Django Unchained

    Django Unchained

    2012

    #14

    With the help of a German bounty hunter, a freed slave sets out to rescue his wife from a brutal Mississippi plantation owner.

  15. Eve's Bayou

    Eve's Bayou

    1997

    #15

    Summer heats up in rural Louisiana beside Eve’s Bayou, 1962, as the Batiste family tries to survive the secrets they’ve kept and the betrayals they’ve endured.

  16. Fences

    Fences

    2016

    #16

    In 1950s Pittsburgh, a frustrated African-American father struggles with the constraints of poverty, racism, and his own inner demons as he tries to raise a family.

  17. Foxy Brown

    Foxy Brown

    1974

    #17

    A voluptuous black woman takes a job as a high-class prostitute in order to get revenge on the mobsters who murdered her boyfriend.

  18. Friday

    Friday

    1995

    #18

    Craig and Smokey are two guys in Los Angeles hanging out on their porch on a Friday afternoon, smoking and drinking, looking for something to do.

  19. Moonlight

    Moonlight

    2016

    #19

    The tender, heartbreaking story of a young man’s struggle to find himself, told across three defining chapters in his life as he experiences the ecstasy, pain, and beauty of falling in love, while grappling with his own sexuality.

  20. Get Out

    Get Out

    2017

    #20

    A young black man visits his white girlfriend's cursed family estate. He finds out that many of its residents, who are black, have gone missing in the past.