African American
see all genres ›Racial and cultural differences define much of who we are and adds diversity to drama when spotlit as a narrative theme.
Discover African American Films
Genres / Drama / Ethnic / African American
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Attraction
One of the great taboo-smashers of the late '60s, directed by Tinto Brass, featuring interracial affairs, anti-Vietnam statements, violence versus sex. ATTRACTION (NEROSUBIANCO) will stun anyone expecting a standard softcore European sex flick as released originally in the US as THE ARTFUL PENETRATION OF BARBARA. Brace...Start your free trial to watch -
The Bad Bunch
Violence and racial tension punctuate this fast moving study of prejudice and discrimination. THE BAD BUNCH is the story of a black gang who run the streets of Watts. It is also the story of Jim (played by director/screenwriter Greydon Clark), a white man who tries to befriend them. Prejudice stands in the way of any...Start your free trial to watch
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Black Like Me
Based on the landmark memoir by John Howard Griffin, BLACK LIKE ME stars James Whitmore as Griffin, who medically altered his pigment and, with the help of a sunlamp, reinvented himself as an itinerant black writer navigating his way through Mississippi and Alabama. Along the way he experienced firsthand both crushing racism...Start your free trial to watch -
Black Shampoo
John Daniels stars as Jonathan Knight, the owner of the most successful hair salon for women on the Sunset Strip. Jonathan is tall, muscular, black and ballsy. His reputation as a lover has become so awesome that he is sought after almost as much in that capacity as in his experience as a hair stylist. Everything is cool for...Start your free trial to watch -
Boss
Boss (former football star Fred Williamson), has "decided to hunt white folks for a change," becoming a bounty hunter and setting out on the trail of fugitive outlaw Jed Clayton (William Smith). With his comic sidekick Amos (D'Urville Martin), he rides into the town of San Miguel, finds that it has no sheriff and takes the...Start your free trial to watch
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Ganja and Hess
Flirting with the conventions of blaxploitation and the horror genre, 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 stars as anthropologist Hess Green. When he is stabbed with an ancient ceremonial dagger...Start your free trial to watch -
His Trust
HIS TRUST, subtitled "the faithful devotion and self- sacrifice of an old negro servant," is something of a race-relations precursor to D.W. Griffith's better-known BIRTH OF A NATION. The aforementioned servant is played in blackface, unfortunately, but the character's portrayal might surprise audiences who have historically...Start your free trial to watch -
His Trust Fulfilled
D. W. Griffith's loose sequel to HIS TRUST features George the "negro servant" who, after looking after the widow and daughter of his slain Confederate master in the first film, is now called upon to look after the girl when her mother dies. George's sacrifices to place the girl in a loving home and...Start your free trial to watch
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Jive Turkey
It's a turf battle over the mean streets of Harlem between Italian mobsters and the black hoodlums living in the neighborhood run by "Big Tony" (Frank DeKove). The fighting becomes intense as each side tries to push the other out and both groups bringing in their best hit men. Watch for a brutal transvestite mobster who kills...Start your free trial to watch -
A Morning Bath
A remake of rival Biograph's popular A HARD WASH, this film's "joke" plays with racist clichés as well as theatrical conventions where blacks, whether impersonated by white actors or played by African Americans, performed using burnt cork as "masks." No matter how vigorous the bath, the baby's skin remains dark and corky....Start your free trial to watch




