Black History Month is upon us, and it’s time to celebrate! You’ve already curated your list of Black-owned restaurants to patronize and entrepreneurs to uplift. But the celebration doesn’t stop there! This month, dive into the diverse and enriching world of Black-led and created movies and TV shows. We’ve compiled some must-watch recommendations below to get you started.

Movies:

“A Thousand and One”

Directed by A.V. Rockwell, the 2023 film premiered at the year’s Sundance Film Festival and won the Grand Jury Prize. According to the film’s official IMDb page, “after unapologetic and fiercely loyal Inez [played by singer and actress Teyana Taylor] kidnaps her son Terry [played by actors Aaaron Kingsley Adetola, Aven Courtney and Josiah Cross as he grows] from the foster care system, mother and son set out to reclaim their sense of home, identity, and stability, in a rapidly changing New York City.”

The film is seen as Taylor’s movie star moment while exploring themes including love, family, colorism and gentrification.

“Just finished watching A Thousand and One and I really loved it. THESE are the kind of movies we need more of. Teyana Taylor and the whole cast did a great job. It was shot well. I enjoyed everything about it,” X user Dé said in a Jan. 28 post.

“The Color Purple” (2023)

This version of the classic 1985 film is based on the Broadway musical and the book by author Alice Walker of the same name. To recap, the movie tells the life story of Celie, a uneducated and poor Black woman in Georgia who perseveres through abuse and hardships in order to find peace and joy within herself and her long-lost sister.

Singer Fantasia Barrino, who also played the role of Celie on Broadway, along with a superstar cast including Taraji P. Henson, Colmon Domingo and Danielle Brooks, use music as a way to explore the emotions of the characters.

This new version also explores the queer love story between Henson’s Shug Avery and Barrino’s Celie that was in the original novel by Walker but not the 1985 film.

“The Color Purple (the novel, the movie, the musical, AND the movie musical) is an INCREDIBLE Black, Queer, Women centered story that I think everyone needs to treat themselves to in their lifetime. Do yourself a favor and consume any and all versions that you can,” X user Samson said in a Jan. 20 post.

“Moonlight”

The 2016 A24 film also explores queer identity through the eyes of Chiron (played by Ashton Sanders and Trevante Rhodes under the nickname “Black”). Directed by Barry Jenkins, who produced films like “If Beale Street Could Talk” and “Aftersun,” the movie is a coming-of-age story set in Miami as Chiron comes to terms with his attraction to other men in the midst of life’s daily pressures and adulthood.

The film was the first with a gay main character and a fully Black cast to win the Oscar for “Best Picture” in 2017 (throwback to that announcement disaster.)

The movie is still seen today as a game-changer in Black queer cinema, exploring all the emotions that come with being Black and queer.

“Moonlight’ is a film that is both lyrical and deeply grounded in its character work, a balancing act that’s breathtaking to behold. It is one of those rare pieces of filmmaking that stays completely focused on its characters while also feeling like it’s dealing with universal themes about identity, sexuality, family, and, most of all, masculinity,” Brian Tallerico, the managing editor of the website Roger Ebert, said in their 2016 review on the site.

“The Blackening”

The film uses both horror and comedy to dive into deeper commentary about how Black people are treated in society and how they treat each other. “The Blackening” was directed by Tim Story (who is behind Black comedy staples like “Barbershop”) and written by Dewayne Perkins (who stars in the film and co-wrote the original sketch the movie is based on) and Tracy Oliver (who is the creator and writer of the Prime Video series “Harlem”).

There’s a killer on the loose during a friend group’s (including actors Grace Byers, X Mayo and Sinqua Walls) annual Juneteenth celebration in a cabin in the woods. However, they are all Black…so who is going to die first? The film takes the “Black person dying first” horror trope and flips it on its head with plenty of scares, inappropriate jokes and Black culture references to have anyone clutching their pearls and cracking up.

“‘The Blackening’ comes with a horror movie’s requisite skittish and stalking camerawork, its creaks and breath-holding hushes, its gore and payback. But it is the friends’ flee, fight, freeze — or throw under the bus — banter that makes the film provocative fun,” critic Lisa Kennedy said in a 2023 article for The New York Times.

“13th”

The Netflix documentary from acclaimed director Ava DuVernay explores the American prison system and its intersections with racial inequality. The film argues that “the American criminal justice system really serves as a strategy to control black and brown people – in essence, slavery by another name,” Michel Martin, the previous host of NPR’s “All Things Considered,” said in a 2016 episode. The 13th amendment, that the movie is named after, has a loophole stating that “involuntary servitude could be used as a punishment for crime,” according to Wendy Ide in their 2016 review for the Guardian. This loophole has continued to be abused today.

DuVernay speaks with activists, scholars and politicians about how the current prison complex contributes to systemic racism and its targeted actions towards Black and brown individuals. The film is seen as a must-watch and even won a Peabody Award in 2017.

“One of the staggering things this movie captures is how racism could be the driving force behind something as seismic as the rise of mass incarceration in America, yet that racism could remain in many ways ‘invisible’ … A film as starkly humane as ‘13TH’ makes you realize that it’s everyone’s problem,” Owen Gleiberman says in their 2016 review of the film for Variety.

TV Shows:

“Queen Charlotte: A Bridgerton Story”

The 2023 “Bridgerton” spinoff focuses on the love story of Queen Charlotte and King George as they work through trials and tribulations in sickness and in health. Charlotte (played by actress India Amarteifio) provides the sass and powerful authority that made people fall in love with her older self (played by actress Golda Rosheuvel) in the original “Bridgerton” series.

Along with the younger version of “Bridgerton” fan favorite Lady Danbury (played by both Arsema Thomas and Adjoa Andoh), the series explores the themes of racism during this time period, the “strong Black woman” idea, and Black people often being forced to represent their whole community in their positions. In true “Bridgerton” fashion as well, there are plenty of romantic and sob-worthy moments, too.

“Across the prequel’s many relationships is a common thread asking: What is love? What is duty? When are the two allowed to overlap? And when should we sacrifice one for the other? These questions and their answers infuse incredible stakes into each one of the show’s relationships and make you want, desperately, to see them all thrive,” Yasmeen Hamadeh said in their 2023 review for Mashable.

“I May Destroy You”

The award-winning HBO series created, written, co-directed (with director Sam Miller) and starring filmmaker and actress Michaela Coel follows the life of her character Arabella. After she is sexually assaulted in a club, she attempts to recall what truly happened while re-assessing everything in her life, from career to relationships.

It provides commentary on not only the Black British experience, but also on the “Me Too” movement and living and rebuilding after trauma as a Black woman.

“‘I May Destroy You’” is moving and, despite the subject matter, at times very funny. It should inspire plenty of conversation about very sensitive subject matter with ever-increasing complexities. It marks bold new territory for Coel, who’s operating at a level unmatched among her peers,” Tambay Obenson wrote in their 2020 review for Indiewire.

“Atlanta”

The FX show is regarded as one of the best to grace television screens. Created by and starring actor and musician Donald Glover, the story follows his character Earn as he works with his cousin, rapper Paper Boi (played by actor Brian Tyree Henry), as they try to make it big in Atlanta’s growing rap scene. Along the way, they confront issues like modern racism, existentialism, and putting Black creativity out into a world that is rarely accepting of it.

The show also has plenty of meme-worthy moments throughout (the white-face boy scene is at the top of the list), with guest stars who have even earned award recognition, like comedian Kat Williams in the “Alligator Man” episode.

“Just when you think you’re watching a whimsical stoner-comedy, it grabs you like a dead hand reaching up from a haunted lake, and reminds you of the absurdist horror lurking beneath,” Ellen E Jones said in their 2022 review of season three for The Guardian.

“America to Me”

For those more in a documentary mood, the 2018 series from Starz from director Steve James offers an inside look of Chicago’s Oak Park and River Forest High School. The daily lives of its administrators, students and teachers are followed around the school as they complete the school year. There are also larger discussions taking place about social, educational racial inequalities, as the school has a largely diverse population.

“… It’s also an entertaining and carefully woven story of contemporary high school, with enough sports, first love, outcasts, popular kids, dances, drama and generational discord in suburban Chicago that it could be a John Hughes movie, if John Hughes had made movies with majority African-American casts,” Daniel Fienburg said in their 2018 review for The Hollywood Reporter.

“Watchmen”

Even though the 2019 HBO series only lasted one season, it is still a great watch. The series is based on the comic book series and the 2009 movie of the same name from director Zack Snyder. Being “set in an alternate history where masked vigilantes are treated as outlaws, Watchmen embraces the nostalgia of the original groundbreaking graphic novel of the same name, while attempting to break new ground of its own,” the show’s official IMDb page states. The series takes place 34 years after the original story after white supremacists attack the Tulsa police department (which is also where the 1921 race massacre occurred).

In response, new laws are passed that allow cops to hide behind masks. One of the cops, Angela Abar (in an award-winning performance from actress Regina King), decides to become her own version of a superhero and fight back against the racism and evil in her city. In the story, Black people are not only superheroes in this story but they are history-makers.

“Watchmen is frequently great. It skillfully weds spectacle to intimacy, and it tells a story about what happens when you talk to God about your pain and realize he’d rather talk about anything else. Calling it the best new show of the fall feels too limiting, because it’s trying to be so many things to so many people. It left me dizzy from its audacity,” Emily St. James said in their 2019 review for Vox.

Give these shows and movies a watch this month to not only be entertained, but to learn more about the past and present of the Black experience. Remember, this is just a starting point. Explore further, discover new voices, and celebrate the depth and diversity of Black storytelling throughout February and beyond!