With the nation engaged in a prolonged confrontation about the history of systemic racism and anti-racist books selling out of bookstores, many filmmakers and distributors are making movies and TV series about black Americans free to watch.

This 10-part documentary series directed by Steve James (Hoop Dreams), Bing Liu (Minding the Gap), Kevin Shaw, and Rebecca Parrish spends a year following black, white, and mixed-race students of a progressive public high school outside of Chicago that has struggled to close its racial “achievement gap.” It’s a penetrating look at how the best of white liberal intentions can still fall short, and how young people of color persevere with or in spite of their help.

It’s now streaming for free (just scroll down to hit play), courtesy of Starz.

The first feature from documentary filmmaker Khalik Allah, who also contributed to Beyoncé’s Lemonade, is available for free courtesy of the Criterion Channel.

Sacha Jenkins’ 2017 documentary about the 1992 Los Angeles riots following the acquittal of the police officers who beat Rodney King is now free to stream on YouTube, courtesy of Showtime.

Newton directed by the late great Agnès Varda is now streaming for free courtesy of the Criterion Channel.

But it was revived and restored in 2019, and it’s now available free courtesy of the Criterion Channel.

Set in 1902, the film, whose dialogue is in Gullah creole, was called “achingly gorgeous” and “a lyrical dream of rural life that’s plainspoken about its troubles” when it was selected by a panel of filmmakers and critics for Slate’s Black Film Canon.

Free courtesy of Starz.

Free courtesy of the Criterion Channel.

Magnolia Pictures is making three documentaries about black American subjects free to residents of eight cities, including Detroit, Miami, Philadelphia, and St.

Available free for the month of June, Destin Daniel Cretton’s true story stars Michael B.

The story of a married philosophy professor and painter at a crossroads in their marriage, it’s a “no-budget charmer that mixes lighthearted philosophical inquiry with serious whimsy” according to Slate’s Black Film Canon, and it’s now available free courtesy of the Criterion Channel.

According to the Black Film Canon, it’s “the definitive movie about the struggle, and about how change happens in fevered times: through hard, dedicated, dangerous work.”.

Free to stream on YouTube, courtesy of Showtime.

The documentary portrait of the late literary icon will be available free via Magnolia Pictures to residents of Detroit, Miami, Philadelphia, St.

Cheryl Dunye’s movie presents “the oft-marginalized (women of color, lesbians) in rich detail while grappling with the uncovering and retelling of history,” according to the Black Film Canon

It’s the story of a Philadelphia video clerk (played by Dunye) who becomes obsessed with a black actress she keeps seeing in old movies and decides to make a documentary about this forgotten aspect of American culture

Now available free courtesy of the Criterion Channel