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Any one of the movies on our list would make excellent Black History Month viewing. Both features and shorts were considered. Using culture critic Elvis Mitchell's 2022 film history documentary 'Is That Black Enough for You?!?' as a jumping-off point, Stacker compiled a list of 50 significantly lesser-seen films from Black movie history. As a result, a large swath of Black films have been lost or remain largely unknown to general audiences. They either lacked the money to do it themselves, or studios refused to allocate the funds needed to maintain the films. Whether they worked in tandem with or apart from the Hollywood institution, many Black directors found their work was not promoted, championed, and preserved like that of their white counterparts. But this exclusion didn't deter Black creatives they simply chose their own stories to tell, creating studios of their own to produce them.Įarly directors like Oscar Micheaux and Spencer Williams worked entirely independently of the established system, while their later counterparts, like Spike Lee and Julie Dash, were granted entrance into the system (though it was somewhat limited). Often, their contributions have been restricted, with early Black actors landing only bit parts and Black crewmembers being kept out of the unions used by the major studios. Black writers, actors, producers, and directors have been involved in Hollywood from the very beginning of the American film industry some 125 years ago.

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