GLINC Talks About Black History Month (2/2)

February is Black History Month so we are using this occasion to educate ourselves on how Black Canadians have impacted our collective history and paved the way for future generations to succeed. This week, we are highlighting a sampling of 10 movies written about Black stories that will raise awareness and hopefully start a conversation about the Black experience. Thanks to Cineplex, $1 from every transaction in February will be donated to The Black Academy to foster opportunities for young and emerging Black talent in Canada’s entertainment industry.

Disclaimer: This blogpost is not sponsored. We are not working with any of the publishing companies mentioned below – the links provided are not affiliate links, meaning we will not receive any compensation.

Hidden Figures

Three brilliant African American women at NASA – Katherine Johnson, Dorothy Vaughan and Mary Jackson – served as the brains behind one of the greatest operations in history: the launch of astronaut John Glenn into orbit, a stunning achievement that restored the nation’s confidence, turned around the Space Race, and galvanized the world. Based on a true story.  

Selma

The film 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.  

John Lewis: Good Trouble

Chronicles John Lewis’ 60-plus years of social activism and legislative action on civil rights, voting rights, gun control, health-care reform and immigration. Using present-day interviews with Lewis, now 79 years old, Porter explores his childhood experiences, his inspiring family and his fateful meeting with Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. in 1957.  

The Hate U Give

Starr Carter is constantly switching between two worlds: the poor, mostly black, neighborhood where she lives and the rich, mostly white, prep school she attends. The uneasy balance between these worlds is shattered when Starr witnesses the fatal shooting of childhood best friend Khalil at the hands of a police officer. Now, facing pressures from all sides of the community, Starr must find her voice and stand up for what’s right. Based on the novel by Angie Thomas. 

If Beale Street Could Talk

In early 1970s Harlem, daughter and wife-to-be Tish vividly recalls the passion, respect and trust that have connected her and her artist fiancé Alonzo Hunt, who goes by the nickname Fonny. Friends since childhood, the devoted couple dream of a future together, but their plans are derailed when Fonny is arrested for a crime he did not commit.  

Loving

Interracial couple Richard and Mildred Loving fell in love and were married in 1958. They had grown up in Central Point, a small town in Virginia that was more integrated than surrounding areas in the American South. Yet it was the state of Virginia, where they were making their home and starting a family, that first jailed and then banished them. Richard and Mildred relocated with their children to the inner city of Washington, D.C. While relatives made them feel welcome there, the more urban environment did not feel like home to them, and ultimately, the pull of their roots in Virginia would spur Mildred to try to find a way back. Their civil rights case, “Loving v. Virginia,” went all the way to the Supreme Court, which in 1967 reaffirmed the very foundation of the right to marry. Richard and Mildred returned home and their love story has become an inspiration to couples ever since. Based on a true story.  

Just Mercy

After graduating from Harvard, Bryan had his pick of lucrative jobs. Instead, he heads to Alabama to defend those wrongly condemned or who were not afforded proper representation, with the support of local advocate Eva Ansley. One of his first, and most incendiary, cases is that of Walter McMillian, who, in 1987, was sentenced to die for the notorious murder of an 18-year-old girl, despite a preponderance of evidence proving his innocence and the fact that the only testimony against him came from a criminal with a motive to lie. In the years that follow, Bryan becomes embroiled in a labyrinth of legal and political maneuverings and overt and unabashed racism as he fights for Walter, and others like him, with the odds—and the system—stacked against them.  

Race

As a student and athlete in Depression-era America, Jesse Owens bears the weight of family expectations, racial tension at college, and his own high standards for competition. Bolstered by the love and support of Ruth Solomon, with whom he has a young daughter, Jesse’s success in intercollegiate competitions earns him a place on the U.S. Olympics team. The American Olympics committee weighs a boycott in protest against Hitler with committee president Jeremiah Mahoney and millionaire industrialist Avery Brundage debating the issue. Once Brundage prevails with the committee and U.S. participation is confirmed, Jesse enters a new racial and political minefield after he arrives in Berlin with his fellow athletes.  

12 Years a Slave

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 at the hands of a malevolent slave owner, 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.  

Green Book

When Tony Lip, a bouncer from an Italian-American neighborhood in the Bronx, is hired to drive Dr. Don Shirley, a world-class Black pianist, on a concert tour from Manhattan to the Deep South, they must rely on “The Green Book” to guide them to the few establishments that were then safe for African-Americans. Confronted with racism, danger—as well as unexpected humanity and humor—they are forced to set aside differences to survive and thrive on the journey of a lifetime.