As we celebrate African-American History Month 2022, let us thank the Black filmmakers who are making films that tell African-American history from different viewpoints. We now have Black directors, actors, producers and screenwriters who are producing films that are filming the Black experience from the Black gaze instead of a White gaze. Current Black filmmakers and documentarians are continuing the long history of telling the stories of the African-American experience in America through film.
The reason that the stories have not been told is because of historical racism and prejudice within the industry. The stories of African Americans and their related histories need to be told through film. Yes, exhume those Black bodies, tell their stories and share their historical struggle, contributions and humanity with the world!
Tell more stories through the lens of critical race theory—research and theories into how racism, White supremacy and governmental policies were used to thwart the economic, political and social advancements of African Americans—through cinematic narratives and images.
Tell stories through the lens of critical resistance theory—research and theories into how African-Americans have been fighting White racism and White supremacy since 1619 in order to make America a more just, inclusive, diverse and democratic nation—through cinematic narrations and images.
Tell the history of African Americans through their lens of interpreting historic events and movements that African Americans were either a part of or leaders of and their goal to make America a more perfect union—through cinematic artistic expressions. In other words, the telling of African-American history through film.
African and African-American history is more than 7,000 years old. There are thousands of Afrocentric stories that need to be told and documented through film.
Tell the stories of the African Black Egyptian dynasties (1st–18th and 25th).
Tell the stories of the African kingdoms of Ghana, Mali and Ife.
Tell the stories of the African centers of learning: Timbuktu and Sankore.
Tell the stories of the African slave-trading kingdoms of Dahomey and Zanzibar.
Tell the stories of Africans in Europe, China, Japan, Australia and South America.
Tell the stories of the African slave rebellions in Africa, the Caribbean, South America and America.
Tell the stories of the interactions of the African slaves and native people in America.
Tell the stories of Africans in the Revolutionary and Civil wars.
Tell the stories of Africans who became American citizens after the passage of the 14th Amendment.
Tell the stories of African-American citizens who participated in the northern migration.
Tell the stories of African-American citizens and their struggle with Jim Crow laws and social apartheid.
Tell the stories of African-American citizens and their involvement in the Harlem Renaissance.
Tell the stories of African-American citizens in World War I, World War II, the Vietnam War, the Iraq War, the Afghanistan War, the Gulf/Kuwait War and in the war against terrorism.
Tell the stories of African-American citizens and their involvement in the civil rights movement.
Tell the stories of African-American citizens and their involvement in the Black arts movement.
Tell the stories of African-American citizens and their involvement in the Black Lives Matter movement.
Tell the stories of African-American citizens in the LGBTQ movement.
Tell the American stories of how African-American citizens fought for their freedom and the stories of their contributions toward the development of our democracy through film.
To paraphrase former President Barack Obama: Tell the stories that helped create America as a “More Perfect Union.”
To paraphrase Spike Lee: The more Black stories/films, the “Mo’ Better.”
