Honor Black History Month with powerful films that highlight the rich cultural heritage and impactful achievements of Black Americans. Kanopy’s collection offers a profound look into the history, resilience, and progress of the Black community. Access the collection now at kanopy.com/category/40898.
Chronicling the history and personal experiences of African Americans on the road from the advent of the automobile through the seismic changes of the 1960s and beyond – Driving While Black explores the background of a phrase rooted in realities that have been a part of the African American experience for hundreds of years – told in part through the stories of the people who lived through it.
The most successful African American director of the first half of the 20th century, Oscar Micheaux wrote, directed, and produced more than 44 films and six novels before his death in 1951. Charting his incredible artistic journey, Zippel’s revealing documentary pays tribute to the extraordinary accomplishments of a resolute storyteller (and Illinois native) whose work served as a powerful rebuke to the ubiquitous racism of the times.
This entirely African American-conceived and produced ensemble drama is the result of a collaboration of a pair of pioneering Black artists: writer Ishmael Reed and filmmaker Bill Gunn, who wrote and directed the underground classic Ganja & Hess and wrote the screenplay for Hal Ashby’s The Landlord.
Led by historical experts and community leaders in the BIPOC surfing movement, Wade in the Water resurrects the thousand-year-old Black surfing tradition, stirring the next generation of Black surfers. The film explores the neglected history of Black surfing’s heritage by charting the origins of African aquatic culture and examining the evolution of Black surfing through the modern day.
Zora Neale Hurston: Claiming a Space
Zora Neale Hurston has long been considered a literary giant of the Harlem Renaissance, but her anthropological and ethnographic endeavors were equally important and impactful. This is an in-depth biography of the influential author whose groundbreaking anthropological work would challenge assumptions about race, gender and cultural superiority that had long defined the field in the 19th century.
