4 Little Girls (1997)

Director: Spike Lee
Genre:  Documentary
Language: English
Subtitles: English

Rated: NR

Director Spike Lee uses this feature-length documentary to tell the story of the 1963 bombing of an Alabama African-American church -- an event that took the lives of four young girls and became a pivotal moment in the civil rights struggle. Lee's film examines the crime and its perpetrators as well as the four young victims (as described by friends and families). It also includes interviews with noted civil rights activists and journalists

 A Lesson Before Dying (1999)

Director: Joseph Sargent
Genre:  Drama
Language: English, Spanish
Subtitles: English, Spanish

Rated: PG 13 Adult Language

From the prize-winning novel by Ernest J. Gaines comes another story of racism and redemption in the Deep South. When a young black man (Mekhi Phifer) is wrongly condemned for the murder of a white man, his family convinces a trusted schoolteacher (Don Cheadle) to visit him daily. In the process, both men learn lessons about the never-ending struggle for human dignity. The film received an Emmy for Outstanding Made for Television Movie.

 Amistad (1997)

Director: Steven Spielberg
Genre:  Drama
Language: English
Subtitles: None

Rated: R Violence, Adult Situations, Questionable for Children

Steven Spielberg directed this story about the 1839 revolt aboard Spanish slave ship La Amistad and the uprising's tragic aftermath. An African-born slave (Djimon Hounsou) leads a mutiny against his brutal captors. Because the ship is in American waters, a U.S. court must decide the slaves' fate. In an eloquent courtroom speech, ex-president John Quincy Adams (Anthony Hopkins) argues for the Africans' freedom.

 Do the Right Thing (1989)

Director: Spike Lee
Genre:  Drama
Language: French, English
Subtitles: Spanish

Rated: R Not For Children, Violence, Profanity, Sexual Situations

Spike Lee directs and stars in this controversial film that traces a sweltering summer day in the life of one of New York's toughest neighborhoods. The stellar cast includes Danny Aiello, Ossie Davis, Ruby Dee, Richard Edson, Giancarlo Esposito, Samuel L. Jackson, Bill Nunn, Rosie Perez and John Turturro. This powerful portrait of urban racial tensions -- which ultimately boil over into a climactic riot -- earned popular and critical praise.

 Down In The Delta (1998)

Director: Maya Angelou

Genre:  Drama
Language: English
Subtitles: None

Rated: PG13 For drug related material

Unemployed single mother Loretta Sinclair (Alfre Woodard) lives with her mother, Rosa Lynn (Mary Alice), in a Chicago apartment … until drug abuse causes Loretta to neglect her children. Rosa Lynn sells a family heirloom and ships Loretta and the kids to their Mississippi Delta hometown, where Uncle Earl (Al Freeman Jr.) -- despite the problems in his life -- takes them in and teaches them about their rich heritage.

 Get on the Bus (1996)

Director: Spike Lee
Genre:  Drama
Language: English, French
Subtitles: English,

Rated: R Adult Situations, Questionable for Children, Profanity

A father and son, chained together by court order. A black historian. A cop. A former gang member. These are some of the souls who rode the bus from Los Angeles to Washington, D.C., to attend the Million Man March in 1995. Released on the one-year anniversary of the controversial gathering, director Spike Lee's stirring narrative examines the delicate threads of racism that permeate African-American culture.

 Malcolm X (1997)

Director: Spike Lee
Genre:  Drama
Language: English, French
Subtitles: English, Spanish, French

Rated: PG13 Violence, Adult Situations, Questionable for Children, Profanity

Few lives are so ideally suited to a film biography as that of Malcolm X (Denzel Washington, who earned an Oscar nomination for the role). Spike Lee directs this look at the courageous life of a man who began life as a low-level gangster. A stay in prison led to his conversion to Islam; but when he turned against the Nation, he became a murder target.

 Miss Evers’ Boys (1997)

Director: Joseph Sargent

Genre:  Drama
Language: English
Subtitles: None

Rated: PG For theme and related elements

A powerful story of a terrible experiment, sanctioned by the U.S. Government for forty years. Eunice Evers was a witness to-and participant in- the deaths of men who were patients and her friends, sacrificed to a cause known as the Tuskegee Experiment.

Mississippi Masala (1992)

Director: Mira Nair
Genre:  Romance
Language: English
Subtitles: English

Rated: R For sensuality and language

Mira Nair concocts a fascinating picture of Mina (Sarita Choudhury), an Indian woman whose father (Roshan Seth) pines for his native Uganda, where his family lived prosperously until the evil Idi Amin took power. Transplanted to rural Mississippi, the family struggles to make ends meet by running a string of motels, but they don't yet feel at home. When Mina falls for an African American entrepreneur (Denzel Washington), complications arise.

 Once Upon a Time… When We Were Colored (1996)

Director: Tim Reid
Genre:  Drama
Language: English
Subtitles: None

Rated: PG Adult Situations, Questionable for Children

Based on Clifton L. Taulbert's autobiography, Tim Reid's heartfelt directorial debut profiles an African-American coming of age in the segregated South. Growing up in Mississippi, Cliff witnesses both Ku Klux Klan marches and overt discrimination. With the help of his uncle (Richard Roundtree) and great-grandfather (Al Freeman Jr.), he becomes an honor student and helps his community stand up to racism

 Rosewood (1997)

Director: John Singleton
Genre:  Drama
Language: English, Spanish
Subtitles: English, Spanish, French

Rated: R Adult Situations, Violence, Profanity

When a white woman from Sumner, Florida falsely claims a black stranger assaulted her, a town declares war on the peaceful residents of Rosewood. A heroic ex-soldier and a shopkeeper rescue the survivors of the mob's terror.

 Ruby Bridges (1998)

Director: Euzhan Palcy
Genre:  Children & Family
Language: English
Subtitles: Spanish

Rated: NR

Director Euzhan Palcy brings to the screen events that helped shape American history: the integration of an all-white school in the 1960s by first-grader Ruby Bridges (Monet). Tensions arise as protesters fight Ruby's attendance, but aided by her courageous parents (Michael Beach and Lela Rochon), an enthusiastic teacher (Penelope Ann Miller) and a supportive child psychologist (Kevin Pollack), Ruby prepares to face racism head-on.

Slam (1998)

Filmmaker Marc Levin, known for his documentaries exploring prison life, drug addiction, and street gangs, won the 1998 Sundance Film Festival grand jury prize when he made his feature dramatic directorial debut with this downbeat prison drama about a black poet jailed on minor drug charges.