Hollywood doesn’t always get history right. But in the 30-plus years since Martin Luther King Jr. Day was first observed in 1986, Hollywood…
Hollywood doesn’t always get history right.
But in the 30-plus years since Martin Luther King Jr. Day was first observed in 1986, Hollywood has given us some exceptional movies that deal with racial prejudice and civil rights.
If you’re a fan of films, you can spend part of this Martin Luther King Jr. Day watching one of these movies that show the quest for equality and greater human decency.
This timeless film stars acting great Gregory Peck and is based on Harper Lee’s 1960 Pulitzer Prize-winning novel of the same name. Peck stars as Atticus Finch, father of the film’s narrator, Scout. Atticus defends a black man, Tom Robinson, after he’s accused of raping a while girl, Mayella Ewell. The accusation and trail turn the Finch’s small Depression-era Alabama town upside down. The film won three Academy Awards. Stream or buy on Amazon.
The story of African-American women who served as human computers and made other vital contributions to NASA during the ’50s and ’60s that helped launched the unmanned space flight program. For ages 10 and older. Buy on Amazon.
This documentary examines race and body image in the elite ballet world with the rise of African-American ballerina Misty Copeland. She was the first principal dancer at New York’s American Ballet Theater. For ages 9 and older. Stream or buy on Amazon.
Loosely based on the real life of Eugene Allen, a black man who worked at the White House for 34 years before retiring as head butler in 1986, this drama stars Forest Whitaker as Cecil Gaines. During Gaines’ tenure at the White House, he has a unique perspective on landmark social and political events such as president Dwight D. Eisenhower sending troops to Little Rock Central High School in support of school desegregation and the inauguration of America’s first black president, Barack Obama. Oprah Winfrey, John Cusack, Jane Fonda, Cuba Gooding Jr., David Oyelowo and Robin Williams are among the all-star cast. Stream or buy on Amazon.
Joanna Drayton, a 23-year-old white woman, brings home her fiance, who happens to be black, to meet her upper-class family.
