From poignant dramas like A Raisin in the Sun, to the raunchy blaxploitation comedy of Dolemite, and everything in between, you can dive into the history of Black cinema with dozens of films now streaming on Kanopy. Check out the recommended titles below, or browse Kanopy’s complete Black History Month collection here. (Descriptions provided by Kanopy.)

A Raisin in the Sun (1961, directed by Daniel Petrie)

Adapted from Lorraine Hansberry’s play, this groundbreaking drama celebrating the human spirit features an electrifying performance by Academy Award-winner Sidney Poitier. The Younger family, frustrated with living in their crowded Chicago apartment, sees the arrival of a $10,000 insurance check as the answer to their prayers. Matriarch Lena Younger (Claudia McNeil) promptly puts a down payment on a house in an all-white suburban neighborhood. But the family is divided when Lena entrusts the balance of the money to her mercurial son Walter Lee (Poitier), against the wishes of her daughter (Diana Sands) and daughter-in-law (Ruby Dee). It takes the strength and integrity of this African-American family to battle against generations of prejudice to try to achieve their piece of the American Dream.

Ganja & Hess (1973, directed by Bill Gunn)

Flirting with the conventions of blaxploitation and the horror cinema, Bill Gunn’s revolutionary independent film Ganja & Hess is a highly stylized and utterly original treatise on sex, religion, and African American identity. Duane Jones (Night of the Living Dead) stars as anthropologist Hess Green, who is stabbed with an ancient ceremonial dagger by his unstable assistant, endowing him with the blessing of immortality, and the curse of an unquenchable thirst for blood. When the assistant’s beautiful and outspoken wife Ganja (Marlene Clark) comes searching for her vanished husband, she and Hess form an unexpected partnership. Together, they explore just how much power there is in the blood.

Dolemite (1975, directed by D’Urville Martin)

Rudy Ray Moore stars in this legendary classic and pillar of the ‘blaxploitation’ genre. Sent to prison on a frame-up by some crooked cops and his arch rival, the notorious Willy Green, Dolemite is offered an early release if he can bring down Green and the politicians on his payroll who are terrorizing the city. Dolemite, Queen Bee and their beautiful All-Girl Army of Kung-Fu Killers take on the mob in this cult film favorite.

My Brother’s Wedding (1983, directed by Charles Burnett)

Pierce Mundy (Everett Silas) works at his parents’ South Central dry cleaners with no prospects for the future and his childhood buddies in prison or dead. With his best friend just getting out of jail and his brother busy planning a wedding to a snooty upper-middle-class black woman, Pierce navigates his conflicting obligations while trying to figure out what he really wants in life.

Daughters of the Dust (1991, directed by Julie Dash)

At the dawn of the 20th century, a multi-generational family in the Gullah community on the Sea Islands off of South Carolina – former West African slaves who adopted many of their ancestors’ Yoruba traditions – struggle to maintain their cultural heritage and folklore while contemplating a migration to the mainland, even further from their roots. The first wide release by a Black female filmmaker, Daughters of the Dust was met with wild critical acclaim and rapturous audience response when it initially opened in 1991. Casting a long legacy, the film still resonates today, most recently as a major influence on Beyonce’s video album Lemonade.

Just Another Girl on the I.R.T. (1993, directed by Leslie Harris)

Set in Brooklyn, this coming-of-age drama follows Chantel Mitchell (Ariyan A. Johnson), a smart and ambitious Black teenager determined to escape the generational poverty of her environment. Dreaming of becoming a doctor, Chantel navigates the challenges of high school, family responsibilities, and her romantic involvement with Tyrone (Kevin Thigpen).

Naked Acts (1996, directed by Bridgett M. Davis)

Celebrated as a key film in the canon of independent cinema by African-Americans in the 1990s, Bridgett M. Davis’s Naked Acts was included in the seminal anthology “The 50 Most Influential Black Films” by S. Torriano Berry. Beautiful aspiring actor Cicely (Jake-Ann Jones) has just landed her first major role, but there’s a big problem: it requires a nude scene. Her mother was a Blaxploitation star known for her sex appeal, while Cicely is a survivor of sexual assault with life-long body image issues, all of which has left her with a strong aversion to disrobing in public. Now, with the support of her boyfriend Joel (Ron Cephas Jones), she attempts to get past her fear.

Passing Strange (2009, directed by Spike Lee)

Spike Lee’s adaptation of the Broadway show “Passing Strange” presents the portrait of a musician as a young man. In 1970s Los Angeles, a talented but rebellious middle-class African-American discovers punk rock. Through the intervention of a sincere choir director, the young man travels to Europe, where his talents blossom, but at the expense of those who care for him. The film is based on the life of musician Stew, who appears as narrator and commentator on his younger, rasher self.

Selma (2014, directed by Ava DuVernay)

From the Oscar-winning producers of 12 Years a Slave and acclaimed director Ava DuVernay comes the true story of courage and hope that changed the world forever. Golden Globe nominee David Oyelowo shines as Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., who rallied his followers on the historic march from Selma to Montgomery in the face of violent opposition, an event that became a milestone victory for the civil rights movement. Oscar nominees Oprah Winfrey and Tom Wilkinson also star in this landmark film.

I Am Not Your Negro (2016, directed by Raoul Peck)

An Oscar-nominated documentary narrated by Samuel L. Jackson, I Am Not Your Negro explores the continued peril America faces from institutionalized racism. In 1979, James Baldwin wrote a letter to his literary agent describing his next project, Remember This House. The book was to be a revolutionary, personal account of the lives and successive assassinations of three of his close friends–Medgar Evers, Malcolm X and Martin Luther King, Jr. At the time of Baldwin’s death in 1987, he left behind only thirty completed pages of his manuscript. Now, in his incendiary new documentary, master filmmaker Raoul Peck envisions the book James Baldwin never finished. The result is a radical, up-to-the-minute examination of race in America, using Baldwin’s original words and flood of rich archival material.

Fences (2016, directed by Denzel Washington)

Set in 1950s Pittsburgh, the film adaptation of August Wilson’s Pulitzer Prize-winning play takes a passionate look at former baseball player Troy Maxson (Denzel Washington) as he fights to provide for those he loves in a world that threatens to push him down. Winner of the 2017 Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress (Viola Davis).

Neptune Frost (2021, directed by Saul Williams and Anisia Uzeyman)

Multi-hyphenate, multidisciplinary artist Saul Williams brings his unique dynamism to this Afrofuturist vision, a sci-fi punk musical that’s a visually wondrous amalgamation of themes, ideas, and songs that Williams has previously explored in his work. The film takes place in the hilltops of Burundi, where a group of escaped coltan miners form an anti-colonialist computer hacker collective. From their camp in an otherworldly e-waste dump, they attempt a takeover of the authoritarian regime exploiting the region’s natural resources – and its people. When an intersex runaway and an escaped coltan miner find each other through cosmic forces, their connection sparks glitches within the greater divine circuitry.

The League (2023, directed by Sam Pollard)

A celebration of Negro League baseball’s triumphs and challenges through the first half of the twentieth century, The League explores Black baseball as an economic and social pillar of Black communities and a stage for some of the greatest athletes to ever play the game, while also examining the unintended consequences of integration.

–Joe, Adult Services & Acquisitions