Summary: Best friends and criminals Durell Washington and LeeJohn are two thieves who haven't got a prayer. Sentenced to 5,000 hours of community service, Durell's life quickly goes from bad to worse. Realizing that the Lord helps those who help themselves, he eventually decides to help himself to the neighborhood church's building fund. Accompanied by LeeJohn, the two down-on-their-luck men are...
Format: moving image
Publisher / Publication Date: Sony Pictures Home Entertainment 2008
Copies Available at Fife Lake
1 available in Digital Video Disc, Call number: DVD FIRSummary: Dancing great Bill Williamson takes a look back on the beginnings of his career and his romance with fellow rising star Selina. Their romance is brief because Selina does not want to settle down.
Format: moving image
Publisher / Publication Date: Twentieth Century Fox Home Entertainment 2005
Copies Available at Woodmere
1 available in Musicals DVDs, Call number: DVD MUSICALS STOSummary: An adaptation of Alex Haley's "Roots", in which Haley traces his African American family's history from the mid-18th century to the Reconstruction era.
Format: moving image
Publisher / Publication Date: Warner Home Video 2007
Copies Available at Woodmere
1 available in Television Series DVDs, Call number: DVD TV ROOSummary: Screen version of the life of Malcolm X, who through his religious conversion to Islam, found the strength to rise up from a criminal past to become an influential civil rights leader
Format: moving image
Publisher / Publication Date: Warner Home Video 2000
Copies Available at Interlochen
1 available in Digital Video Disc, Call number: DVD Movie MalcolmSummary: Till is a profoundly emotional and cinematic film about the true story of Mamie Till Mobley's relentless pursuit of justice for her 14-year-old son, Emmett Till, who, in 1955, was lynched while visiting his cousins in Mississippi. In Mamie's poignant journey of grief turned to action, we see the universal power of a mother's ability to change the world.
Format: moving image
Publisher / Publication Date: 2023
Copies Available at Woodmere
2 available in Crime / Mystery DVDs, Call number: DVD + BLU-RAY TILSummary: Underground tells the story of American heroes and their harrowing journey from slavery to freedom, with the legendary Harriot Tubman blazing the trail.
Format: moving image
Publisher / Publication Date: 2017
Copies Available at Woodmere
1 available in Television Series DVDs, Call number: DVD TV UNDSummary: Among the most fascinating chapters of film history is that of the so-called "race films" that flourished in the 1920s -'40s. Unlike the "black cast" films produced within the Hollywood studio system, these films not only starred African Americans but were funded, written, produced, edited, distributed, and often exhibited by people of color. Entrepreneurial filmmakers built an industry apart...
Format: moving image
Publisher / Publication Date: 2016
Copies Available at Woodmere
1 available in Documentary DVDs, Call number: DVD DOC PIO1 available in Sight & Sound Print Material, Call number: SSC DVD DOC PIO
Summary: Underground tells the story of American heroes and their harrowing journey from slavery to freedom, with the legendary Harriot Tubman blazing the trail.
Format: moving image
Publisher / Publication Date: 2017
Copies Available at Fife Lake
1 available in Television Series DVDs, Call number: DVD UNDSummary: It follows the journey of Reeves and his rise from enslavement to law enforcement as one of the first Black U.S. Deputy Marshals west of the Mississippi. Despite arresting over 3,000 outlaws during his career, the weight of the badge was heavy, and he wrestled with its moral and spiritual cost to his beloved family. This release features over two hours of special features, including an...
Format: moving image
Publisher / Publication Date: 2024
Copies Available at Fife Lake
1 available in Television Series DVDs, Call number: DVD LAWCopies Available at East Bay
1 available in Digital Video Disc, Call number: DVD MOVIE LAWCopies Available at Woodmere
1 available in Browsing Hot DVDs, Call number: HOT DVDContents: In 'da beginning. Bring in 'da noise, bring in 'da funk (3:48) ; The door to Isle GorGee (1:00) ; Slave ships (3:19) ; Som'thin' from nuthin'/Circle stomp (4:04) ; The pan handlers (1:17) -- Urbanization. The lynching blues (3:01) ; Chicago bound (4:12) ; Shifting sounds (1:03) ; Industrialization (3:44) ; Quittin' time/The Chicago riot rag (6:17) ; I got the beat/Dark tower (3:28) ; The...
Format: sound recording-musical
Publisher / Publication Date: RCA Victor 0000
Copies Available at Woodmere
1 available in Compact Audio Disc, Call number: CD SHOW MUSIC BRISummary: Twenty years ago, we were introduced to Penny Proud, a young African American girl navigating through her teens- in spite of larger-than-life situations. Penny's encounters with her friends, her over-protective parents and her too-hip granny spiral into adventures filled with hijinks, hilarity and heart.
Format: moving image
Publisher / Publication Date: 2022
Copies Available at Fife Lake
1 available in Family DVDs, Call number: DVD PROSummary: Based on the life of Jean-Michel Basquiat, a young American unknown graffiti artist who lived on the streets of New York City in a cardboard box. Jean-Michel was "discovered" by Andy Warhol's art world and became a star. But his success came at a high price, and Basquiat paid with friendship, love, drugs and eventually, his life.
Format: moving image
Publisher / Publication Date: Echo Bridge Home Entertainment 1996
Copies Available at Woodmere
1 available in Drama DVDs, Call number: DVD DRAMA BASSummary: "Elements of Shakespeare's stories are woven into this beautiful and enchanting tale that details the beginning, end and rebirth of a love affair between William and Venus, a member of the mystical Native American Lightning Clan. Though society, cultural circumstances, and family pressures conspire to keep them apart, a young William and Venus devise ways to meet and strengthen the bond between...
Format: moving image
Publisher / Publication Date: Vertical Entertainment 2013
Copies Available at Interlochen
1 available in Family DVDs, Call number: DVD Family From 2013Summary: A fictional account of one amazing night where icons Muhammad Ali, Malcolm X, Sam Cooke, and Jim Brown gathered discussing their roles in the Civil Rights Movement and cultural turmoil of the '60s.
Format: moving image
Publisher / Publication Date: 2021
Copies Available at Woodmere
1 available in Drama DVDs, Call number: DVD DRAMA ONECopies Available at Fife Lake
1 available in Digital Video Disc, Call number: DVD ONESummary: A fictional account of one amazing night where icons Muhammad Ali, Malcolm X, Sam Cooke, and Jim Brown gathered discussing their roles in the Civil Rights Movement and cultural turmoil of the '60s.
Format: moving image
Publisher / Publication Date: 2021
Copies Available at Woodmere
1 available in Drama DVDs, Call number: BLU-RAY DRAMA ONESummary: When 11-year-old Jason Ross is cut from his little league team his undefeatable spirit leads him to try and create an expansion team. In searching for a new coach, Jason comes to believe that Mack Henry is really Buck McHenry, the legendary pitcher from the old Negro Baseball Leagues. While Mack begins to coach this rag-tag team, Jason and his friends set out to prove his true identity.
Format: moving image
Publisher / Publication Date: Feature Films for Familes 2004
Copies Available at Woodmere
1 available in Family DVDs, Call number: DVD FAMILY FINWilson, August
Summary: The protagonist of Fences (part of Wilsons ten-part Pittsburgh Cycle plays), Troy Maxson, is a strong man, a hard man. He has had to be to survive. Troy Maxson has gone through life in an America where to be proud and black is to face pressures that could crush a man, body and soul. But the 1950s are yielding to the new spirit of liberation in the 1960s, a spirit that is changing the world Troy...
Format: text
Publisher / Publication Date: Plume 2016
Copies Available at Woodmere
1 available in Adult Non-fiction, Call number: 812 WILSummary: "All-American athlete, scholar, renowned baritone, stage actor, and social activist, Paul Robeson ... the son of an escaped slave, managed to become a top-billed movie star during the time of Jim Crow America ... his film legacy lives on and continues to speak eloquently of the long and difficult journey of a courageous and outspoken African-American."--Container.
Format: moving image
Publisher / Publication Date: 2007
Copies Available at Woodmere
1 available in Drama DVDs, Call number: DVD DRAMA PAUSummary: Comedians Keegan-Michael Key and Jordan Peel give viewers no choice but to laugh at their hilarious way of examining life in a provocative and irreverent way, through a combination of filmed sketches and live stage segments. From gangsters sharing a passion for Twilight to Ice-T as a naughty puppy, or racist super heroes, it showcases their chemistry, camaraderie and unique point of view, born...
Format: moving image
Publisher / Publication Date: [Publisher not identified] 2014
Copies Available at Woodmere
1 available in Television Series DVDs, Call number: DVD TV KEYSummary: "A monumental reimagining of American history, Barry Jenkins’s adaptation of Colson Whitehead’s Pulitzer Prize–winning 2016 novel is a harrowing and rhapsodic journey through a still-echoing past. Weaving together historical fiction with moments of magical realism, The Underground Railroad is a full sensory immersion into the world of Cora (Thuso Mbedu), who, fleeing...
Format: moving image
Publisher / Publication Date: 2024
Sorry, no copies available
Place a hold to request this item.Summary: Infused with spirituals, folk songs, blues, and jazz, Hallelujah follows the fortunes of Zeke, a poor cotton farmer. Love, loss, passion, redemption, make this cinematic milestone the first all-black feature from a major studio.
Format: moving image
Publisher / Publication Date: Turner Entertainment 2006
Copies Available at Woodmere
1 available in Musicals DVDs, Call number: DVD MUSICALS HALSummary: South Central L.A. junk dealer Fred Sanford and his partner-in-grime, son Lamont, are constantly struggling to make ends meet, but Fred always has just one more get-rich-quick scheme up his sleeve, sometimes involving best friend Grady. When he's not haggling over his empire of junk, he's sparring with his sister-in-law, the cantankerous, Bible-thumping Aunt Esther.
Format: moving image
Publisher / Publication Date: Sony Pictures Home Entertainment 2008
Sorry, no copies available
Place a hold to request this item.Summary: It follows the story of two brothers who created the Black Mafia Family, the most prominent drug distribution network in American history.
Format: moving image
Publisher / Publication Date: 2022
Sorry, no copies available
Place a hold to request this item.Summary: A timeless love story set in early 1970s Harlem involving newly engaged nineteen-year- old Tish and her fiance Fonny who have a beautiful future ahead. But their plans are derailed when Fonny is arrested for a crime he did not commit. Now the pair and their families must fight for justice in the name of love and the promise of the American dream.
Format: moving image
Publisher / Publication Date: Twentieth Century Fox Home Entertainment 2019