These documentaries (available on Hoopla) focus on specific events of police brutality and ideas surrounding race relations.
These films show individuals who died at the hands of police, leaders of social movements, and the protests that relate to them. Each documentary is available to watch through Hoopla using your library card.
****WARNING**** Some films may contain scenes of graphic material and language.
Whose Streets? (2017)
Told by activists and leaders who live and breathe this movement for justice, Whose Streets? is an unflinching look at the Ferguson uprising and a powerful battle cry from a generation fighting to live.
Ken Burns: The Central Park Five (2013)
Award-winning filmmaker Ken Burns tells the story of the five black and Latino teenagers from Harlem who were wrongly convicted of raping a white woman in New York City’s Central Park in 1989.
I Am Not Your Negro (2017)
Based on James Baldwin’s unfinished book, Remember This House, this film connects the Civil Rights Movement of the past, to the #BlackLivesMatterMovement of the present.
The People Speak (2015)
Inspired by Howard Zinn’s book, A People’s History of the United States—one of the country’s top best sellers—and Voices of a People’s History of the United States, this documentary explores the work of America’s most iconic leaders including: Frederick Douglass, Bob Dylan, Chief Joseph, and more.
Copwatch (2017)
COPWATCH follows We Copwatch, an organization dedicated to filming the police. Among its members are the individuals who captured the original videos of the deaths of Eric Garner in Staten Island and Freddie Gray in Baltimore that ignited the entire nation.
Cruel and Unusual (2017)
“Cruel and Unusual” tells the story of the Angola 3, three remarkable men – Robert King, Herman Wallace and Albert Woodfox – who as members of the Black Panthers have been fighting for justice since the early 1970s.
For decades forgotten in the depths of America’s bloodiest prison, between them the Angola 3 spent over a century in solitary.
Booker’s Place (2012)
Academy Award nominated filmmaker explores life in 1960’s Mississippi and the momentous impact of “Booker” Wright, a black man who voiced opinions on race relations on network TV, and the subsequent ensuing fallout.
Two Black Men A Week (2017)
Every week, at least two black men are murdered by the police force in United States of America.
Answering the Call (2016)
The bloody attacks of protesters in Selma in 1965 led to the historic protection of all Americans’ right to vote. The film explores a cherished family story of Selma and the current state of voter suppression in America.