Reflect on Black History and Culture by Watching These Documentaries

Black History Month provides a framework for learning more about and reflecting on the various aspects of black culture and black lifestyle in North America, and elsewhere in the world.What better way is there to gain knowledge and understanding than to watch brilliant documentaries that cover the various issues that impact the lives of African-Americans and that celebrate black people whose talents and achievements have had a positive impact on the lives of everyone?My one-a-day list of documentaries for Black History Month is divided into four sections, one part per week.This is part three of the overall list. Watch. Learn. Enjoy! And feel free to add titles of other documentaries that will provide similar enlightenment.

1. Jamie Foxx Presents Thunder Soul

During the 1970s, the student band at Kashmere High School, a Houston, Texas, inner city school that was attended mostly by African-American students who were considered at risk, emerged as the unbeatable best in high school band music competitions across the U.S. This is their story, and the story of their wonderful music teacher, known as Prof. Read my full review.More »

2. My Neighbor, My Killer

In 1994, in Rwanda, Hutu men rampaged through Tutsi homes slaughtering men, children and infants. They maimed and raped women--but left them alive to suffer having seen their husbands, children, parents and siblings beaten, bludgeoned, hacked to death. In the slaughter, three-quarters of the Tutsi population was exterminated. Years later, there is a call for reconciliation. Filmmaker Anne Aghion spent ten years covering the process that is shown in this remarkable film. Read my full reviewMore »

3. Louder Than A Bomb

Chicago's annual Louder Than A Bomb poetry slam brings talented high school students together to perform in competition for top honors. Working in teams, supported by faculty and classmates, the teens hone their rhyming skills and styles until they are nothing less than terrific.Filmmakers Greg Jacobs and Jon Siskel follow four strongly competitive teams representing very different high schools from inner city and suburban neighborhoods. These teens are exploding with talent, and Chicago is clearly into their poetry. Read my full reviewMore »

4. A Small Act

Chris Mburu, an esteemed United Nations human rights advocate and Harvard University alumnus, hails from an impoverished household in rural Kenya. His primary school education was funded by a Swedish teacher named Hilde Back, who donated $15 per month to educate a child she'd never met, never expected to meet. Chris Mburu is paying it forward with the creation of the Hilde Back Education Fund, which sponsors bright children whose parents cannot afford to send them to school.A beautiful and inspirational film. Read my full review.More »

5. Raising Renee

Beverly McIver, an African-American artist whose paintings are autobiographical and of her family, has taken on the responsibility to take care of her mentally challenged sister, Renee. Her situation is a difficult one that is faced by many people. She loves her sister, but deeply resents having had to alter her own lifestyle to care for her. The film takes an almost psychoanalytic approach to McIver's revelations, and to her attempts to reconcile her feelings. Read my full reviewMore »

6. Rise Up

This is a documentary about reggae music and its importance at the heartbeat of Jamaicam cuture. The music genre has become popular worldwide due to the extraordinary talents of Bob Marley and other reggae artists. But, far away from the fancy international venues and festivals where the top reggae players perform, there are new reggae beats emanating from the impoverished ghettos of Kingston. Reggae, as we see in this wonderful music documentary, is an essential expression of the Jamaican people's anger and indignation about having to live in poverty. It also clearly serves as a source of hope that they will be able to overcome the hardships they face in their lives. Read my full review.More »

7. Off and Running

Avery Klein-Cloud is an African-American teenager who lives with her adoptive parents -- two gay white women who have also adopted and are raising other children of different ethnic backgrounds. The rainbow family is loving and all the kids are well-adjusted. Avery is smart, sensitive and positive in her outlook. She knows she's loved, she does well in school and she's a talented track competitor. But she has a prevailing curiosity about her roots. She wants to meet her biological mother. Avery's mood and lifestyle -- and the documentary -- take a dramatic turn when she decides to search for her birth mother. Supported by her adoptive parents and her siblings, but filled with personal doubts and anxieties, she begins her search, which is documented in Nicole Opper's Off and Running.. Read my full review.More »