White Fragility
The New Jim Crow
How to be an Antiracist
Stamped from the Beginning
The Color of Law
So You Want to Talk About Race
Me and White Supremacy
Just Mercy
Between the World and Me
The Autobiography of Malcom X
The Fire Next time
Waking up White
Frederick Douglas
I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings
Women, Race, & Class
Dying of Whiteness
Nobody
Black Femenist Thought
Stamped
The Hate U Give
Beloved
The Bluest Eye
Go Tell It on the Mountain- James Baldwin
Dear Martin
Just Mercy
All American Boys
Monster
I'm Not Dying With You Tonight
Race Matters
On the Come Up
killing rage: Ending Racism
The Skin I'm In
How It Went Down
The Boy in the Black Suit
Coming of Age in Mississippi
Punching the Air
All Day And A Night
Who Killed Malcom X?
13th
When They See Us
Dear White People
If Beale Street Could Talk
American Son
Selma
Just Mercy
Ali
Brian Banks
The Secret Life of Bees
Blackkklansman
Dope
Last Black Man in San Francisco
Boyz N The Hood
Moonlight
4 Little Girls
Good Hair
Sorry to Bother You
Malcolm X
The Help
The Hate U Give
From Playbill.com:
Follow The Temptations' extraordinary journey from the streets of Detroit to the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame—how they met, how they rose, the groundbreaking heights they hit, and how personal and political conflicts threatened to tear the group apart as the United States fell into civil unrest.
Spike Lee's adaptation of the Broadway show "Passing Strange" presents the portrait of a musician as a young man. In 1970s Los Angeles, a talented but rebellious middle-class African-American discovers punk rock. Through the intervention of a sincere choir director, the young man travels to Europe, where his talents blossom, but at the expense of those who care for him. The film is based on the life of musician Stew, who appears as narrator and commentator on his younger, rasher self.
From Playbill.com:
In May 1921, Shuffle Along, a new musical conceived by Flournoy Miller and Aubrey Lyles with music and lyrics by Eubie Blake and Noble Sissle, became the unlikeliest of hits, significantly altering the face of the Broadway musical as well as that of New York City.
Sarafina (Leleti Khumalo) is a young black South African struggling for freedom during the apartheid. While she has remained relatively silent in her opposition of the racist government in her country, the movement to make the language of Afrikaans the official language in her school leads her to protest in the streets with her fellow students. Her anti-government views become even more intense when her favorite teacher (Whoopi Goldberg) is arrested for protesting.
From StageAgent:
Based on Alice Walker’s 1982 novel of the same name, The Color Purple spans 35 years in the life of Celie, a teenage African-American girl living in Georgia who is given by her abusive stepfather to an even more abusive husband. Though Celie spends most of her days as a servant in her own household, she, cut off by her husband from those she loves, tries to remain hopeful that she will ultimately be reunited with her sister Nettie and her children by way of her stepfather, Adam and Olivia. Over the years, Celie, increasingly jaded by her lot, finds ways to cope with life--a potential lover in the fabulous Shug Avery, a friend in her stepson’s wife Sofia, a love of making stretchable pants that turns into a booming business. Though her string of unfortunate events, though, Celie learns that the most important thing is that she is a survivor, and that no matter what happens to her, she is still here.
Based on Alice Walker’s 1982 novel of the same name, The Color Purple spans 35 years in the life of Celie, a teenage African-American girl living in Georgia who is given by her abusive stepfather to an even more abusive husband. Though Celie spends most of her days as a servant in her own household, she, cut off by her husband from those she loves, tries to remain hopeful that she will ultimately be reunited with her sister Nettie and her children by way of her stepfather, Adam and Olivia. Over the years, Celie, increasingly jaded by her lot, finds ways to cope with life--a potential lover in the fabulous Shug Avery, a friend in her stepson’s wife Sofia, a love of making stretchable pants that turns into a booming business. Though her string of unfortunate events, though, Celie learns that the most important thing is that she is a survivor, and that no matter what happens to her, she is still here.
From MTI:
An enslaved Nubian princess, Aida, finds her heart entangled with Radames, an Egyptian soldier who is betrothed to the Pharaoh's daughter, Amneris. As their forbidden love blossoms, Aida is forced to weigh her heart against the responsibility that she faces as the leader of her people. Aida and Radames' love for one another becomes a shining example of true devotion that ultimately transcends the vast cultural differences between their warring nations, heralding a time of unprecedented peace and prosperity.
From MTI
The inimitable Thomas "Fats" Waller rose to international fame during the Golden Age of the Cotton Club and that jumpin' new beat, swing music. Although not quite a biography, Ain't Misbehavin' evokes the delightful humor and infectious energy of this American original as a versatile cast struts, strums and sings the songs that he made famous in a career that ranged from uptown clubs to downtown Tin Pan Alley to Hollywood and concert stages in the U.S., Canada and Europe.
In New York City for the first time while on his way to enlist in the U.S. Army during the Vietnam War, Oklahoma farm hand Claude Hooper Bukowski (John Savage) meets up with a freewheeling group of Central Park hippies led by the irrepressible George Berger (Treat Williams). When the unlikely friends meet upper-middle-class debutante Sheila Franklin (Beverly D'Angelo), sparks fly between the country boy and the city girl, and Berger's troupe attempts to keep the young lovers together.
From MTI:
In 1963, the Gellman family and their African-American maid, Caroline, live in sleepy Lake Charles, Louisiana. Caroline is drifting through life as a single mother of four working in a service job to a white family. A fragile, yet beautiful friendship develops between the young Gellman son, Noah, and Caroline. Noah's stepmother, Rose, unable to give Caroline a raise, tells Caroline that she may keep the money that Noah leaves in his pockets. Caroline balks and refuses to take money from a child but her own children desperately need food, clothing and shoes. Outside of the laundry room, some of the greatest social advancements that the country has seen are being set in motion, and change is knocking on the door.
From MTI
In 1913, Leo Frank, a Brooklyn-raised Jew living in Georgia, is put on trial for the murder of thirteen-year-old Mary Phagan, a factory worker under his employ. Already guilty in the eyes of everyone around him, a sensationalist publisher and a janitor's false testimony seal Leo's fate. His only defenders are a governor with a conscience and, eventually, his assimilated Southern wife who finds the strength and love to become his greatest champion.
From Stage Agent:
Based on the novel of the same name by E.L. Doctrow, Ahren’s and Flaherty’s Ragtime is a compelling epic capturing the American experience at the turn of the 20th century. Tracking three diverse families in pursuit of the American dream in the volatile “melting pot” of turn-of-the-century New York, Ragtime confronts the dialectic contradictions inherent in American reality: experiences of wealth and poverty, freedom and prejudice, hope and despair. Over the course of the show, the worlds of a wealthy white couple, a Jewish immigrant father and his motherless daughter, and an African American ragtime musician intertwine. Together, they discover the surprising interconnections of the human heart, the limitations of justice and the unsettling consequences when dreams are permanently deferred. Featuring many of the historical figures that built and shaped turn-of-the-century America, including J.P. Morgan, Emma Goldman, Harry Houdini, Evelyn Nesbit and Henry Ford, this musical sweeps across the diversity of the American experience to create a stirring epic that captures the beats of the American experience: the marches, the cakewalks and - of course, the ragtime.
From Theatre Mania:
South Carolina, 1964. Lily Owens, a restless white teenager, struggles with her merciless father and the haunting memory of her mother's death. When Rosaleen, her black caregiver, is beaten and jailed for asserting her right to vote, Lily's rebellious spirit is ignited. She and Rosaleen escape on an adventure where they are taken in by a trio of black beekeeping sisters. While Lily tries to unlock the secrets of her past, she and Rosaleen find solace in the mesmerizing world of bees and spirituality in this extraordinary tale of awakening, fellowship, and healing.
When Harlem schoolteacher Dorothy tries to save her dog from a storm, she's miraculously whisked away to an urban fantasy land called Oz. After accidentally killing the Wicked Witch of the East upon her arrival, Dorothy is told about the Wiz, a wizard who can help her get back to Manhattan. As Dorothy goes in search of the Wiz, she's joined by the Scarecrow, the Tin Man and the Cowardly Lion.
Slave Play is a three-act play by Jeremy O. Harris. The play is about race, sex, power relations, trauma, and interracial relationships. It follows three interracial couples undergoing "Antebellum Sexual Performance Therapy" because the black partners no longer feel sexual attraction to their white partners.
From Stage Agent:
For fifty years, Charles R. Drew Prep School for Boys is a highly respected institution dedicated to helping its’ students grow into “strong, ethical black men.” But what happens when Pharus does not fit the mold for a typical “Drew man?” Pharus is different from his peers, and his effeminate nature constantly sets him apart. Though he may be the leader and most talented member of Drew’s renowned gospel choir, he struggles to gain their acceptance and respect. Choir Boy, written by the Academy Award-winning writer of Moonlight, Tarell Alvin McCraney, is a moving story of sexuality, race, hope, gospel music, and a young gay man finding his voice.
YELLOWMAN is a multi-character memory play about an African-American woman who dreams of life beyond the confines of her smalltown Southern upbringing and the light-skinned man whose fate is tragically intertwined with hers.
The play chronicles the adult lives of two African-American brothers as they cope with poverty, racism, work, women, and their troubled upbringings. Lincoln lives with Booth, his younger brother, after being thrown out by his wife. Booth reminds Lincoln that his presence was meant to be a temporary arrangement.
Jitney is August Wilson's first play, written in and about the late 1970s in Pittsburgh's Hill District. The action takes place in a run-down station of a gypsy cab company. Becker, who runs the station, is a world-weary man of a certain age who has just received a pair of bitter blows.
August Wilson's play Fences tells the story of Troy Maxson, an African-American garbage collector and ex-convict who once had a promising future in baseball. His circumstances as a youth led him to prison, after which he settled down with Rose and made a family.
A Raisin in the Sun, a play by Lorraine Hansberry, is the story of a lower-class African American family living on the Southside of Chicago during the 1950s. The family seeks to move into a home in a White middle-class neighborhood.
LHosted by journalists of color, this NPR podcast tackles conversations about race head-on. In a recent episode, “A Decade of Watching Black People Die,” Code Switch discusses the events of the past few weeks.
Serial is heading back to court. This time, in Cleveland. A year inside a typical American courthouse. This season we tell you the extraordinary stories of ordinary cases. One courthouse, told week by week.
The 1619 Project is an ongoing project developed by The New York Times Magazine in 2019 with the goal of re-examining the legacy of slavery in the United States and timed for the 400th anniversary of the arrival of the first Africans in Virginia
From redandblack.com:
This newer podcast specifically deals with the topics of black culture, politics and sports. In their second full episode, Lathan and Lindsay discuss the importance of the Black Lives Matter protests. In their most recent episode, they analyze President Donald Trump’s response to the protests.
From redandblack.com:
This historical podcast chronicles the events and racial tensions leading up to and during the Tulsa race massacre in Tulsa, Oklahoma’s Greenwood District. The district, also known as “Black Wall Street,” was a prosperous black community in the early 20th century. The podcast also explores how law enforcement's lax investigation of the event helped perpetrators walk free.
From redandblack.com:
In his podcast, Emmy award-winning producer, actor and comedian Larry Wilmore discusses the issues of the week. He also hosts interviews with people working in entertainment, sports, politics and culture. In his two most recent episodes, Wilmore gives his thoughts about the killings of Ahmaud Arbery and George Floyd as well as racism in America.