Streaming movies about American racial violence

It Didn’t Begin with George Floyd       

By Laurie Baron

Laurie Baron

The Birth of a Nation: Not to be confused with the racist silent film of the same title, this is a reconstruction of the Nat Turner rebellion.  Amazon, Google Play, iTunes, Vudu, YouTube

Black Wall Street Tulsa: Documentary about the 1921 Tulsa Race Riot

Boyz n the Hood: Growing up as a black male in Los Angeles. Amazon, Google Play, Hulu, iTunes, Vudu, YouTube

Detroit: Dramatization of the Detroit riots of 1967. Amazon, Google Play, iTunes, Vudu, YouTube

Do the Right Thing: Anatomy of how and why riots erupt. Amazon, Google Play, iTunes, Vudu, YouTube

Eyes on the Prize: 14 hour PBS documentary on the history of the Civil Rights movement.

4 Little Black Girls: Documentary about the Birmingham church bombing of 1963.

Fruitvale Station: Portrayal of the events leading to the San Francisco police killing the African American Oscar Grant.  Amazon, Google Play, iTunes, Tubi, Vudu, YouTube

Ghosts of Mississippi: Dramatization of the investigation into the murder of Medgar Evers. Amazon, Google Play, iTunes, Vudu, YouTube

Hate Crimes in the Heartland: The Tulsa Race Riots and the Good Friday murders. Vudu

The Hate U Give: Teenager witnesses police shooting her best friend.  Cinema, Fandango, Vudu

I Am Not Your Negro: History of racism in the United States based on James Baldwin’s unfinished manuscript. Amazon, Google Play, iTunes, Vudu, YouTube

LA 92: Documentary on the Rodney King riots in 1992. Amazon, Google Play, iTunes, Netflix, Vudu, YouTube

Mississippi Burning: Investigation into the murder of 3 civil rights activists in 1964. Amazon, iTunes, Vudu

Murder in Mississippi: TV docudrama about the murder of three civil rights activists in 1965.

Queen and Slim: Fictional movie about a young black couple who are victimized by an unjust police stop and then evade arrest.   Amazon, Google Play, Vudu, YouTube

Reconstruction: America After the Civil War: Documentary on the history of Reconstruction and the white backlash against it.

The Rise and Fall of Jim Crow: Documentary on history of legal discrimination and segregation of blacks from after the Civil War to the Civil Rights movement.

Rosewood: A reenactment of the massacre of hundreds of African Americans by the whites of  Rosewood, Florida in 1923.Amazon, Google Play, iTunes, Vudu, YouTube

Selma: The background of the 1965 voting rights march from Selma to Montgomery and the police violence it triggered.  Amazon, Google Play, iTunes, Vudu, YouTube

Scottsboro: An American Tragedy: Documentary about the imprisonment and trial of 9 black men falsely accused of raping two white women.  Another link. 

13th: Documentary on the history of the 13th amendment and its misuse to criminalize and incarcerate young black men. Netflix

12 Years a Slave: Based on the memoir of an African American freeman who was kidnapped and enslaved in the South. Amazon, Google Play, iTunes, Vudu, YouTube

Violence: An American Tradition: Documentary on the history of American racial violence.

Watchmen: A futuristic series about race relations in the United States which begins with the legacy of the 1921 Tulsa massacre.  Amazon, Google Play, HBO, iTunes, Vudu, YouTube

When They See Us:4 part series about the Central Park 5.  Netflix

Within Our Gates: Silent movie by pioneering black director Oscar Micheaux about the experience of a Southern black woman who moves to the North.

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Laurie Baron, Ph.D, is professor emeritus of European History at San Diego State University; a humor columnist (in his own name and in that of his dog Elona), and is an authority on Jewish-themed movies, particularly those dealing with the Holocaust. To see an archive of his stories, please click on his byline at the top of this page. He may be contacted via lawrence.baron@sdjewishworld.com