Each year new movies are released that celebrate the lives of the resilient and brave Black leaders in our nation’s history. These movies illustrate the hardships many of these heroes endured and honor their work which should have been long-celebrated in textbooks, literature, and on our screens. It is wonderful that these stories are finally being told and to see all that our nation can learn from this rich history and benefit from having these heroes represented. The movies and TV adaptations of old books that are now being made more often bring these fascinating stories to life and unfold our minds to the face of triumph in adversity. Many of these Black historical heroes were women who fought hard to prove themselves in their careers and in society while rising above the prejudice that was ever-present in these settings.
So much of what our country has accomplished is due to the courage and stewardship that black women have shown as resourceful leaders. These strong women that are highlighted in the movies below banded together and used whatever means they had available to amplify their voices and ensure they had a space at the table. They stood up for justice, for each other, and for our country as a whole. It is because of their dedication and the commitment of new filmmakers that we get to hear these stories and further celebrate this noteworthy part of American culture.
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1. Hidden Figures
This enthralling story, Hidden Figures, highlights the driven young women who managed computing for various NASA projects at a pivotal time in U.S. history. This 2016 release follows the mathematicians, Katherine Johnson, Dorothy Vaughan, and Mary Jackson who work “behind the scenes” at NASA to compute equations for missions during the space race. Though they worked under prejudiced conditions in a segregated office, Katherine was assigned to lead a design team and proved her dismissive supervisor wrong by saying she lacked the mathematic skills necessary. Mary, who fought in court to attend the required courses at an all-white high school, completes the necessary courses to work at NASA and can call out a major design flaw in the heat shield team. Dorothy educated herself and her colleagues with a book on Fortran to better understand computer programming that helped her boot up the new computer system at NASA. She then leveraged her abilities when offered a promotion that she only agreed to as long as 30 of her co-workers would be reassigned alongside her when she was asked to come work in an integrated setting. It is an important story about the people working to make marvelous things happen that we read about in our history textbooks, yet, never got a lot of publicity until the book and subsequent film.
2. The Six Triple Eight
Just like Hidden Figures, The Six Triple Eight 2024 movie sheds light on the motivated, unsung leaders that made a huge impact in American History while dealing with unnecessary strife from discrimination. The women of the 6888th Postal Battalion in World War II wowed the haters, Eleanor Roosevelt, and the entire nation by tackling their mission of having six months to locate different regiments to distribute 17 million parcels of mail to troops all over Europe, which they completed in just a mere three months. They were able to do this while faced with lowly working and living conditions because of their commitment to their country and they made the most out of their situation to execute this mission under the leadership of Major Charity Adams.
3. Harriet
This 2019 biopic, Harriet, reveals the story of abolitionist, Harriet Tubman‘s, life and escape from slavery before leading hundreds of others to freedom in the North via hidden trails and networks. It follows her brave decision to risk her life in seeking freedom for herself and her neighbors and exhibits the moment in which she makes it to freedom and changes her name to Harriet Tubman to honor her mother and her husband, who she courageously left behind so as not to risk his life and freedom status. She later returns for her parents and leads large groups of people North and is added to the Underground Railroad Committee which she serves loyally despite the threats it poses to her and her family. She is a true hero that helped free 750 people from slavery and though she is noted in U.S. history textbooks, this movie is a great testament to her valor and grants a greater scope into all that she risked in her bravery.
4. Shirley
Also released on Netflix in 2024, Shirley follows the story of the first Black congresswoman, Shirley Chisholm, and her presidential campaign as the first woman to run for the Democratic party’s nomination. Capturing Congresswoman Chisolm and her advisors as they navigated the campaign and the racist comments thrown their way, this film offers a window into the challenges the party faced. Although several critics suggest that the script highlights events over characters and that it was a bit lackluster in terms of how they portrayed these valiant political players, this film still provides a great historical summary of Shirley’s commitment to the people and the 1972 race.
5. Betty & Coretta
The 2013 release of Betty & Coretta portrays the lives of two heroes, Coretta Scott King and Dr. Betty Shabazz, after the assassinations of their husbands, Martin Luther King Jr. and Malcolm X, and how they united in friendship as they navigated single motherhood and the weight of the civil rights movement. Their husbands’ followers now looked to them for guidance and they had to forge on to continue their legacy despite tragedy in both of their families. The determination that Coretta and Betty possessed to corral the civil rights movement and continue sharing these ideas of love while dispelling hate, was what ultimately made a huge impact in U.S. history. This movie helps uncover their part in the movement.
6. The Rosa Parks Story (2002)
This 2002 film, The Rosa Parks Story follows Rosa Parks and her brave story and ability to stand up for what’s right. It was nominated for an Emmy and does a fantastic job at depicting Rosa’s impact. Although the stories of Rosa Parks’ impact are heavily represented in our history books and literature (even extending to children’s books and poems), there are still several noteworthy films on her life and an Oscar-nominated documentary about her that offer an amazing portrayal of another great heroine.
These movies tell the important untold stories of our nation’s history. Whether you’re looking to self-educate during Black History Month or just wish to celebrate the brave women of our nation’s background, these are excellent movies to deliver such faithful stories. These movies uplift so many voices and spark important conversations. In a world where movies are quickly surpassing literature in terms of popularity, it is so important that filmmakers are giving these stories their outlet.
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