[FEATURED] GIFTED & BLACK: LEARN, READ, WATCH, AND LISTEN TO BLACK VOICES – A MASTERLIST

As I said in my introduction to these series of articles coming to the site in the upcoming days,  I want to use this space for good, to use my voice in a time where I feel I should be raising it and others. To start, I want to bring your attention to some of my favorite horror films, and some other important films, podcasts, books and more that you should and could watch. This is not at all a definitive list, but it’s a start. Do the work.

MOVIES & TV

• Night of the Living Dead – dir. George A. Romaro (Criterion)
• Horror Noire – dir. Xavier Neal-Burgin (Shudder)
• Get Out – dir. Jordan Peele (Amazon)
• Ganja and Hess – dir. Bill Gunn (Shudder)
• Blacula – dir. William Crain (Shudder)
• The Craft – dir. Andrew Fleming (Tubi, Amazon)
• Blade – dir. Stephen Norrington (Amazon)
• Knives and Skin – dir. Jennifer Reeder (Hulu)
• Tales from the Hood – dir. Rusty Cundieff (Amazon)
• Candyman – dir. Bernard Rose(Netflix)

DISCOVER MORE: Sugar Hill, The Invitation (my homegirl Julieann did a FANTASTIC write up of the women in this film), Abby, Eve’s Bayou, Def by Temptation, The Girl With All The Gifts, Night of the Cobra Woman, The People Under the Stairs, Bones, The Craft, They Live

Other films you should be watching (non-horror):

• 13th – dir.  Ava DuVernay (Netflix)
• The Black Power Mixtape – dir. Göran Olsson (IFC Unlimited)
• Dear White People – dir. Justin Simien (Netflix)
• When They See Us – dir. Ava DuVernay (Netflix)
• The Central Park Five – dir. Ken Burns, Sarah Burns, David McMahon (Netflix)
• Moonlight – dir. Barry Jenkins (Amazon)
• Say Her Name: The Life and Death of Sandra Bland – dir. Kate Davis and David Heilbroner (HBO)
• What Happened Miss Simone – dir. Liz Garbus  (Netflix)
• 3 1/2, 10 Bullets – dir. Marc Silver (HBO)
• 4 Little Girls – dir. Spike Lee  (HBO)
• Fences – dir. Denzel Washington (Amazon)
• Time: The Kalief Browder Story – dir. Jenner Furst (Netflix)
• Strong Island – dir. Yance Ford (Netflix)
• The Loving Story – dir. Nancy Buirski (HBO)
• BlacKkKlansman – dir. Spike Lee (Hulu, HBO Max)
• I Am Not Your Negro – dir. Raoul Peck (Kanopy, Amazon)
• Do The Right Thing – dir. Spike Lee (Amazon)
• Fruitvale Station – dir. Ryan Coogler (Tubi, Netflix)
• Sorry to Bother You – dir. Boots Riley (Hulu)
• 12 Years A Slave – dir. Steve McQueen  (Amazon)

DISCOVER MORE: High Fidelity, Watchmen, Belle, Where Hands Touch, If Beale Street Could Talk, Dark Girls, Pariah, King in the Wilderness, Insecure, Happy Birthday, Marsha! Queen Sugar, Atlanta, Seven Seconds, The Hate You Give, The Black Panthers, The Incredible Jessica James, Just Mercy, See You Yesterday, The Twilight Zone, Death of a Black Panther: Fred Hampton, Mudbound, Little Woods, Clemency, Widows, Creed, The Watermelon Woman, Daughters of the Dust, Dope, The Wiz

FILMMAKERS

• Nia DaCosta
• John Singleton
• Spike Lee
• William Crain
• Dee Rees
• Ava DuVernay
• Justin Simien
• Oscar Micheaux
• Jordan Peele
• Steve McQueen
• Bill Gunn
• Cheryl Dunye
• Julie Dash
• Gordon Parks
• Kasi Lemmons
• Kathleen Collins

DISCOVER MORE: Gina Prince-Bythewood, Antoine Fuqua, Carl Franklin, Denzel Washington, Mati Diop, Angela Robinson, Yance Ford, Barry Jenkins, Antoine Fuqua, Mario Van Peebles. Boots Riley, Donald Glover, Chinonye Chukwu, Lee Daniels, Amma Asante, Raoul Peck

Watch films right now by Black filmmakers on Criterion Channel for free!

PODCASTS

• 2 Dope Queens
• NPR’s Code Switch
• What A Day
• Ear Hustle
• Black Men Can’t Jump [In Hollywood]
• The Read
• Okay, Now Listen
• Still Processing
• The Friend Zone
• Therapy for Black Girls
• The Nod

DISCOVER MORE: The Stoop, Identity Politics, All My Relations, Pod Save the People, Scene on Radio, Witness Black History, About Race, The Unofficial Expert

BOOKS

NONFICTION

• Horror Noire by Robin R. Means Coleman
• How to be Anti-Racist by Ibram X. Kendi
• This Book is Anti-Racist by Tiffany Jewell
• Why I’m No Longer Talking to White People About Race by Reni Eddo-Lodge
• The New Jim Crow by Michelle Alexander
• Women, Race & Class by Angela Davis
• Between the World and Me by Ta-Nehisi Coates
• The Fire Next Time by James Baldwin by
• Ain’t I a Woman: Black Women and Feminism by bell hooks
• Well, That Escalated Quickly: Memoirs and Mistakes of an Accidental Activist by Franchesca Ramsey
• You Can’t Touch My Hair: And Other Things I Still Have to Explain by Phoebe Robinson
• Obviously: Stories from My Timeline by Akilah Hughes
• White Fragility: Why It’s So Hard for White People to Talk About Racism by Robin DiAngelo
• So You Want to Talk About Race by Ijeoma Oluo
• The Awkard Thoughts of W. Kamau Bell by W. Kamau Bell
• Eloquent Rage by Brittney Cooper

FICTION

• My Sister, The Serial Killer – Oyinkan Braithwaite
• MEM – Bethany C. Morrow
• White is for Witching – Helen Oyeyemi
• Such A Fun Age by Kiley Reid
• We Case a Shadow by Maurice Carlos Ruffin
• Homecoming by Yaa Gyasi
• Swing Time by Zadie Smith
• An American Marriage by Tayari Jones
• The Nickel Boys by Colson Whitehead
• Ordinary Light by Tracy K. Smith
• Citizen by Claudia Rankine
• Americanah by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
• Loving Day by Mat Johnson
• The Underground Railroad by Colson Whitehead
• A Brief History of Seven Killings by Marlon James

FOR CHILDREN

• Little Leaders: Bold Women in Black History by Vashti Harrison
• Little Leader: Exceptional Men in Black History by Vashti Harrison
• Hidden Figures by Laura Freeman
• Hair Love by Matthew A. Cherry
• Harlem’s Little Blackbird by Renee Watson
• Brown Girl Dreaming by Jacqueline Woodson
• I’m Gonna Push Through by Jasmyn Wright
• Crown: An Ode to the Fresh Cut by Derrick Barnes
• I Am Enough by Grace Byers
• Black Heroes: A Black History Book for Kids by Arlisha Norwood

FOR TEENS

• The Hate U Give by Angie Thomas
• Stamped from the Beginning by Jason Reynolds & Ibram X. Kendi
• The Poet X by Elizabeth Acevedo
• Black Enough: Stories of Being Young & Black in America edited by  Ibi Zoboi 
• With the Fire on High by Elizabeth Acevedo
• SLAY by Brittney Morris
• Monster by Walter Dean Myers
• Deathless Divide by Justina Ireland
• Children of Blood and Bone by Tomi Adeyemi
• Opposite of Always by Justin A. Reynolds
• Dear Martin by Nic Stone
• The Revolution of Birdie Randolph by Brandy Colbert

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