Ruby Dee
Ruby Dee (October 27, 1922 – June 11, 2014) was an American actress, poet, playwright, screenwriter, journalist, and civil rights activist. She originated the role of "Ruth Younger" in the stage and film versions of A Raisin in the Sun. Her other notable film roles include The Jackie Robinson Story (1950), Do the Right Thing (1989) and American Gangster (2007).
| Known For | Acting |
|---|---|
| Most Rating | 1.2943 |
| Birthday | 1922-10-27 |
| Place of Birth | Cleveland, Ohio, USA |
| Also Known As | Ruby Ann Wallace, |
1989
Do the Right Thing
7.772/2071
Sal is the Italian owner of a pizzeria in Brooklyn. A neighborhood local, Buggin' Out, becomes upset when he sees that the pizzeria's Wall of Fame exh...
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Do the Right Thing
1991
Jungle Fever
6.402/328
A successful and married black man contemplates having an affair with a white girl from work. He's quite rightly worried that the racial difference wo...
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Jungle Fever
2007
American Gangster
7.597/6220
Loosely based on the criminal career of Frank Lucas, a gangster from La Grange, North Carolina, who smuggled heroin into the United States on American...
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American Gangster
2009
America
3.5/2
In "America," Dr. Maureen Brennan, a psychiatrist at a youth treatment center, encounters her newest patient, a bi-racial boy named America. Through t...
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America
1982
Cat People
6.053/588
After years of separation, Irena Gallier and her minister brother, Paul, reunite in New Orleans. When zoologists capture a wild panther, Irena is draw...
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Cat People
1990
Love at Large
4.956/34
Inept private investigator Harry Dobbs meets vampish new client Miss Dolan, who wants him to follow her abusive lover. But Dobbs sets about tailing a...
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Love at Large
1991
Jazztime Tale
7/1
Set in Harlem in 1919, two girls - one white, one black - form a lifelong friendship through a chance encounter and the jazztime music of young "Fats"...
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Jazztime Tale
1995
Just Cause
6.258/645
A Harvard professor is lured back into the courtroom after twenty-five years to take the case of a young black man condemned to death for the horrific...
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Just Cause
1993
Cop & ½
4.595/169
When a pint-sized 8-year-old kid witnesses a murder he offers to help the police, if they make him a cop, too. Saddled with this streetwise sidekick,...
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Cop & ½
1972
Buck and the Preacher
6.264/70
A wagon master and a con-man preacher help freed slaves dogged by cheap-labor agents out West.
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Buck and the Preacher
2006
No. 2
6.5/4
A matriarch organizes a feast with her family, in which she will name her successor. The heart has gone out of Nanna Maria's family. There are no part...
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No. 2
1951
The Tall Target
6.9/47
A detective tries to prevent the assassination of President-elect Abraham Lincoln during a train ride headed for Washington in 1861.
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The Tall Target
1957
Edge of the City
7.169/62
A male army deserter and a black male dock worker join forces against a corrupt manager, in a corrupt environment, and as their connection blossoms th...
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Edge of the City
1961
A Raisin in the Sun
7.707/152
Walter Lee Younger is a young man struggling with his station in life. Sharing a tiny apartment with his wife, son, sister and mother, he seems like a...
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A Raisin in the Sun
1950
The Jackie Robinson Story
6.318/22
Biography of Jackie Robinson, the first black major league baseball player in the 20th century. Traces his career in the negro leagues and the major l...
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The Jackie Robinson Story
1967
The Incident
7.4/86
Two hoodlums terrorize the passengers of a late-night New York City subway train.
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The Incident
1997
A Simple Wish
5.508/179
Murray is a male fairy godmother, and he is trying to help 8-year-old Anabel to fulfil her "simple wish" - that her father Oliver, who is a cab driver...
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A Simple Wish
2003
Unchained Memories: Readings from the Slave Narratives
5.188/8
When the Civil War ended in 1865, more than four million slaves were set free. Over 70 years later, the memories of some 2,000 slave-era survivors wer...
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Unchained Memories: Readings from the Slave Narratives
2005
Their Eyes Were Watching God
5.731/39
A drama set in the 1920s, where free-spirited Janie Crawford's search for happiness leads her through several different marriages, challenging the mor...
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Their Eyes Were Watching God
2011
Politics of Love
3.3/3
Politics makes strange bedfellows, but never stranger than when a sexy, savvy, African-American conservative Republican reluctantly falls for his Demo...
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Politics of Love
2001
Feast of All Saints
4.792/12
Set in nineteenth-century New Orleans, the story depicts the gens de couleur libre, or the Free People of Colour, a dazzling yet damned class caught b...
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Feast of All Saints
1972
Black Girl
6.8/11
An aspiring dancer and her two wicked sisters resent their mother's love for a foster daughter.
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Black Girl
2011
Video Girl
6.105/19
Lorie Walker is a small town girl whose big dreams of becoming a dancer come true when she becomes a star in the Hip-Hop video world. But she soon lea...
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Video Girl
1990
Decoration Day
6.9/10
A cantankerous widower (Garner) who is virtually living the life of a recluse is forced to rejoin his community when his Godchild (Skaggs) gets in tro...
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Decoration Day
1968
Uptight
6.8/19
Set against the backdrop of a community mourning the recent MLK assassination, Black militants building up an arsenal of weapons in preparation for a...
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Uptight
2000
Finding Buck McHenry
7/1
Jason Ross is an 11-year-old boy whose love for baseball exceeds his talent for the game. When cut from his little league team, Jason's undefeatable s...
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Finding Buck McHenry
1996
Mr. and Mrs. Loving
6/8
A moving and uplifting drama about the effects of interracial marriage in the 1960s. Friends since childhood, and loved by both families, this couple...
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Mr. and Mrs. Loving
1974
It's Good to Be Alive
7.3/5
This movie details the struggles of former Brooklyn Dodger catcher Roy Campanella to adapt to life in a wheelchair following his crippling automobile...
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It's Good to Be Alive
2000
A Storm in Summer
6.4/5
Set in 1969, Abel Shaddick, a crotchety deli owner, has a grudge against virtually everyone in his upstate New York town of Fairview, particularly aga...
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A Storm in Summer
2013
Long Distance Revolutionary: A Journey with Mumia Abu-Jamal
10/1
The film chronicles the life and revolutionary times of death row political prisoner Mumia Abu-Jamal.
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Long Distance Revolutionary: A Journey with Mumia Abu-Jamal
2013
Betty and Coretta
7.2/12
The widows of Martin Luther King and Malcolm X and how they carry on as single mothers after the assassination of their husbands.
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Betty and Coretta
2007
Steam
2.5/7
Three women — a young coed, a forty-something single mother, and one a senior-aged widow — meet in the sauna of the local gym, where they gradually ge...
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Steam
1979
I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings
4.3/10
Based on writer Maya Angelou's eloquent reminiscences of her days as a gifted youngster growing up in the South during the Depression years where she...
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I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings
1959
Virgin Island
6.333/3
A British woman marries an American writer in spite of her family's disapproval and goes to live with him on a tropical island.
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Virgin Island
1959
Take a Giant Step
5.222/9
After African-American teenager Spence Scott gets expelled from his private school for arguing with a teacher, he turns to his grandmother for advice....
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Take a Giant Step
1995
Tuesday Morning Ride
6.5/4
Tuesday Morning Ride is based on the short story "A Summer Tragedy" by Arna Bontemps, a Harlem Renaissance writer. Set in the 1930s, the story depicts...
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Tuesday Morning Ride
1963
Gone Are the Days!
7.5/4
A young, idealistic man returns home to the plantation where he grew up in servitude. With him, he brings his fiance, Lutiebelle, in hopes of convinci...
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Gone Are the Days!
1993
After Goodbye
0/0
Award-winning actress Ruby Dee narrates this powerful documentary about the impact of AIDS on the families, friends and members of the acclaimed Turtl...
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After Goodbye
1997
Sports on the Silver Screen
9/2
HBO (in association with the American Film Institute) presents this 1997 anthology, narrated by Liev Schreiber, which looks at sports in cinema from t...
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Sports on the Silver Screen
1946
That Man of Mine
8/1
Featuring the swinging sounds of the all-woman band The International Sweethearts of Rhythm and a young Ruby Dee, the 1946 musical showcases tendernes...
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That Man of Mine
1969
Deadlock
9/1
The murder of a journalist, coming shortly after the killings of a black teenager and a white cop, threatens to inflame passions in the city. To preve...
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Deadlock
1982
Long Day's Journey Into Night
6/1
Over the course of one day in August 1912, the family of retired actor James Tyrone grapples with the morphine addiction of his wife Mary, the illness...
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Long Day's Journey Into Night
2009
A Place Out of Time: The Bordentown School
7.3/3
For a seventy-year period, when America cared little about the education of African-Americans, and discrimination was law and custom, The Bordentown S...
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A Place Out of Time: The Bordentown School
1999
Passing Glory
6/5
A true story of a priest (Andre Braugher) in New Orleans who formed a group of black players and challenged an all-white prep school basketball team i...
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Passing Glory
1998
The Wall
6.75/4
The story of three items left at the Vietnam Veterans Memorial Wall: a pencil holder, a sheriff's badge, and an electric guitar. Each item connects th...
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The Wall
1976
Countdown at Kusini
7/1
An American musician working in Nigeria becomes involved with a patriot hunted by a mercenary in Africa.
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Countdown at Kusini
1994
Whitewash
6/1
When Helene Angel walks home from school with her older brother she is attacked by a street gang and painted white. The effect on Helene and her famil...
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Whitewash
2001
Taking Back Our Town
4/2
A true story about a concerned housewife, Pat Melancon, who tries to block Shintech, a massive Japanese petrochemical conglomerate, from building a pl...
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Taking Back Our Town
1990
The Court-Martial of Jackie Robinson
7.2/5
A film about the early life of the baseball star in the army, particulary his court-martial for insubordination regarding segragation.
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The Court-Martial of Jackie Robinson
1998
A Time To Dance: The Life and Work of Norma Canner
7/1
This intimate, uncannily moving documentary profiles Norma Canner, a pioneer in dance movement therapy, who found in dance a way to help people who ha...
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A Time To Dance: The Life and Work of Norma Canner
1999
Having Our Say: The Delany Sisters' First 100 Years
7.3/6
Tells the story of Sadie and Bessie Delany, two African-American (they preferred "colored") sisters who both lived past the age of 100. They grew up o...
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Having Our Say: The Delany Sisters' First 100 Years
1966
Neighbours
0/0
The Robinson's like to see themselves as liberals. So when their new black neighbours the Kingsbury's move into their apartment block they are invited...
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Neighbours
1950
No Way Out
6.931/109
Two hoodlum brothers are brought into hospital for gunshot wounds, and when one dies, the other accuses their Black doctor of murder.
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No Way Out
1996
Captive Heart: The James Mink Story
5.125/4
James Mink is a black man in Canada who has built a very successful livery business, and enjoys a white wife and a beautiful daughter, Mary. An excell...
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Captive Heart: The James Mink Story
1970
King: A Filmed Record... Montgomery to Memphis
7.333/12
A presentation of key events in the life of civil rights activist Martin Luther King Jr. Beginning with the 1955 bus boycott in Montgomery, Alabama, M...
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King: A Filmed Record... Montgomery to Memphis
1946
Love in Syncopation
0/0
Follows the band's rise in show business, starting with its origins in the Navy during World War II and their struggle to make it.
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Love in Syncopation
1948
The Fight Never Ends
8/1
Joe Louis, portraying himself, is a good influence on a group of Harlem youths who are tempted to "go bad" by a gangster known as Caper, an older brot...
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The Fight Never Ends
1948
What a Guy
7/1
Mantan Moreland's comedy feature.
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What a Guy
1974
Wedding Band
0/0
A drama which examines the enduring nature of love between a white man and a black woman in 1918 South Carolina.
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Wedding Band
2011
The Perfect Age of Rock 'n' Roll
5.5/7
In this film, childhood friends come face to face with the demons of rock and roll (lust, drugs, and passion) on a cross-country road trip that compel...
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The Perfect Age of Rock 'n' Roll
1989
Making 'Do the Right Thing'
6.9/8
The Behind-the-Scenes documentary of the dramatic comedy Do the Right Thing.
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Making 'Do the Right Thing'
2007
In the Shadow of Hollywood: Race Movies and the Birth of Black Cinema
6.5/4
This documentary captures the sounds and images of a nearly forgotten era in film history when African American filmmakers and studios created “race m...
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In the Shadow of Hollywood: Race Movies and the Birth of Black Cinema
1980
All God's Children
6.5/2
Big city judge Parke Denison is involved in a forced busing dispute at the climax of his long career. The friendship between two families -- one white...
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All God's Children
1984
Go Tell It on the Mountain
6.3/9
Over a single, pivotal Saturday in 1930s Harlem, 14-year-old John Grimes wrestles with his religious calling and his fraught relationship with his abu...
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Go Tell It on the Mountain
2004
Beah: A Black Woman Speaks
0/0
Beah: A Black Woman Speaks is a 2003 documentary about the life of Academy Award nominated actress Beah Richards. Directed by Lisa Gay Hamilton, it wo...
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Beah: A Black Woman Speaks
1993
The Ernest Green Story
6.813/8
Follows the story of Ernest Green, one of the Little Rock Nine who were the first blacks to integrate into an all white school.
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The Ernest Green Story
2012
A Thousand Words
6.13/1448
Jack McCall is a fast-talking literary agent, who can close any deal, any time, any way. He has set his sights on New Age guru Dr. Sinja for his own s...
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A Thousand Words
1990
Zora is My Name!
10/1
A celebration of the life of Zora Neale Hurston, who was born at the turn of the 20th Century and grew to be an important voice with her written portr...
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Zora is My Name!
2004
TV in Black: The First Fifty Years
5.333/3
Discover how television has reflected the African American experience in this retrospective of the medium's first half-century. Actors, writers and hi...
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TV in Black: The First Fifty Years
1958
St. Louis Blues
7.7/7
Will Handy grows up in Memphis with his preacher father and his Aunt Hagar. His father intends for him to use his musical gifts only in church, but he...
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St. Louis Blues
1963
The Balcony
5.194/18
The Madam of a brothel satisfies the erotic fantasies of her customers, while a revolution is sweeping the nation.
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The Balcony
2002
Theater Talk: 'A Raisin in the Sun'
0/0
Panel discussion about the original Broadway production of Lorraine Hansbury's "A Raisin in the Sun."
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Theater Talk: 'A Raisin in the Sun'
1992
Color Adjustment
6.9/13
From Amos 'n' Andy to Nat King Cole, from Roots to The Cosby Show, black people have played many roles on primetime television. Brilliantly weaving cl...
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Color Adjustment
1954
Go Man Go
5.4/5
The story of Abe Saperstein and the creation of the Harlem Globetrotters.
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Go Man Go
2006
Discovering William Greaves
7/1
A documentary on the career of William Greaves, featuring Greaves, his wife and co-producer Louise Archambault, actor Ruby Dee, filmmaker St. Clair Bo...
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Discovering William Greaves
1999
Baby Geniuses
4.089/427
BabyCo is the world's leading manufacturer in baby products. However, what the public doesn't know, is that Drs Kinder and Heep, two of its most brill...
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Baby Geniuses
2018
Poitier's Walter Lee
0/0
An interview with film scholar Mia Mask, co-editor of Poitier Revisited.
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Poitier's Walter Lee
1972
To Be Young, Gifted and Black
7/2
A mosaic biopic on Lorraine Hansberry, based on the stage play combining her unpublished writings, letters, and diaries.
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To Be Young, Gifted and Black
1971
The Sheriff
6/7
A rape case opens racial divisions in a small town. A black sheriff and his white deputy investigate allegations that a wealthy white businessman rape...
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The Sheriff
2014
Life's Essentials with Ruby Dee
1.5/1
In this open-letter style documentary, Ruby Dee & Ossie Davis' rich lives guide their grandson on his personal quest to master lasting love, conscious...
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Life's Essentials with Ruby Dee
1972
On Merit
0/0
Examines the history and purpose of the "merit system" used by the U.S. Civil Service in hiring and promoting Federal Government workers. Shows how th...
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On Merit
1999
The Unfinished Journey
6.5/4
A multimedia short created for the U.S. millennium celebrations, The Unfinished Journey reflects on America’s history and spirit through six chapters—...
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The Unfinished Journey
2007
Our Paul: Remembering Paul Robeson
0/0
A retrospective look at the career of Paul Robeson and his legacy as both an American and a citizen of the world.
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Our Paul: Remembering Paul Robeson
1999
Paul Robeson: Here I Stand
8/1
Paul Robeson: Here I Stand presents the life and achievements of an extraordinary man. Athlete, singer, and scholar, Robeson was also a charismatic ch...
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Paul Robeson: Here I Stand
1980
The Torture of Mothers: The Case of the Harlem Six
7/1
In 1963 a group of young Black boys living in Harlem were involved in an incident that earned them the nickname "The Harlem Six." Intent on protecting...
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The Torture of Mothers: The Case of the Harlem Six
2007
All About Us
4.4/6
Two Hollywood filmmakers attempt to find Morgan Freeman in Mississippi and convince him to star in their next movie. When life gets in their way they...
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All About Us
1947
Easy to Get
9/1
U.S. Army training film about avoiding venereal disease, intended primarily for Black servicemen.
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Easy to Get
1998
Small Steps, Big Strides: The Black Experience in Hollywood
9/1
Louis Gossett Jr. takes viewers through a special documentary celebration of the groundbreaking achievements of African-American performers and their...
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Small Steps, Big Strides: The Black Experience in Hollywood
2006
The Way Back Home
6.708/12
Life affirming spiritual drama about love and loss set in the lush surroundings of Central Florida. Spencer Krane has returned to the town where he wa...
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The Way Back Home
1973
Chelsea D.H.O.
8/1
Dr. Sam Delaney a caring physician in charge of a District Health Office in Philadelphia, treats his patient as well as the patient's illness.
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Chelsea D.H.O.
1967
Now is the Time
0/0
“Now is the Time” is a mosaic of marches, Black spiritual, emotional, and inner life set to the readings of Langston Hughes, James Baldwin, Mari Evans...
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Now is the Time
2026
Love in Exile
0/0
Set to a jazz accompaniment, the dramatic performance centered on Black love and survival weaves together Bible verses, free-verse and prose Davis wro...
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Love in Exile
Diamonds on the Silver Screen
0/0
A chronicle of the history of baseball in the movies. Includes interviews with the directors and stars of some of the most memorable baseball-themed f...
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