Best Black Dramas of All Time

Follows the lives of three young males living in the Crenshaw ghetto of Los Angeles, dissecting questions of race, relationships, violence, and future prospects.

A flight attendant with a criminal past gets nabbed by the ATF for smuggling. Under pressure to become an informant against the illegal arms dealer she works for, she must find a way to secure her future without getting killed.

In 1964 on Chicago's Near-North Side, the lives of four carefree high school seniors and best friends, including an aspiring playwright and an all-city basketball champion, takes a tragic turn.

In the slums of Rio, two kids' paths diverge as one struggles to become a photographer and the other a kingpin.

Biographical epic of the controversial and influential Black Nationalist leader, from his early life and career as a small-time gangster, to his ministry as a member of the Nation of Islam and his eventual assassination.

A young street hustler attempts to escape the rigors and temptations of the ghetto in a quest for a better life.

Two basketball hustlers, black Sidney Deane and white Billy Hoyle, join forces to double their chances of winning money on the street courts as well as in a tournament.

The story of the life and career of the legendary rhythm and blues musician Ray Charles, from his humble beginnings in the South, where he went blind at age seven, to his meteoric rise to stardom during the 1950s and 1960s.

With help from his friends, a Memphis pimp in a mid-life crisis attempts to become a successful hip-hop emcee.

While dealing with a friend's cold feet on his wedding day, a writer reminisces about his youth with his best friends.

An outcast New York City cop is charged with bringing down Harlem drug lord Frank Lucas, whose real life inspired this partly biographical film.

A drama based on the experiences of Agu, a child soldier fighting in the civil war of an unnamed African country.

A tale spanning forty years in the life of Celie, an African-American woman living in the South who survives incredible abuse and bigotry.

In 1971, Virginia high-school football was everything to the people of Alexandria, but when the school board was forced to integrate an all-Black school with an all-white one, the foundation of football's tradition was put to the test.

A rookie cop spends his first day as a Los Angeles narcotics officer with a rogue detective who isn't what he appears to be.

The former World Heavyweight Champion Rocky Balboa serves as a trainer and mentor to Adonis Johnson, the son of his late friend and former rival Apollo Creed.

A young African-American man grapples with his identity and sexuality while experiencing the everyday struggles of childhood, adolescence, and burgeoning adulthood.

Antwone Fisher, a young navy man, is forced to see a psychiatrist after a violent outburst against a fellow crewman. During the course of treatment a painful past is revealed and a new hope begins.

Four inner-city teenagers get caught up in the pursuit of power and happiness, which they refer to as "the juice".

Follows a young rapper in the Detroit area, struggling with every aspect of his life; he wants to make it big but his friends and foes make this odyssey of rap harder than it may seem.

A Vietnam vet adjusts to life after the war while trying to support his family, but the chance of a better life may involve crime and bloodshed.

Max lives in Brooklyn. He enjoys playing soccer, skateboarding, and drinking with his friends at local bars. Last summer he and his girlfriend, Willow, won a free cruise to Jamaica but two days before the trip she dumps him cold. When his friends flake, Max winds up alone on the high seas, navigating the crowds of gray-haired cruisers. Over the course of several days he flirts with the staff photographer, drinks cocktails with the boat's celebrity juggler and has several strange encounters with the only other loner.

A young musician, tormented by an abusive situation at home, must contend with a rival singer, a burgeoning romance, and his own dissatisfied band, as his star begins to rise.

An angel comes to Earth to help a preacher save his church and his family.

With the help of a German bounty-hunter, a freed slave sets out to rescue his wife from a brutal plantation owner in Mississippi.