These poignant films address heavy topics. We encourage you to use these study guides to process the films and connect them to God’s call for justice in our time. These titles are generally available on popular streaming websites; some may be available through your local library.

“13th” (2016)

The U.S. imprisons more people than any other country in the world, and a third of U.S. prisoners are black. In this infuriating documentary, director Ava DuVernay argues that mass incarceration, Jim Crow and slavery are "the three major racialized systems of control adopted in the United States to date."

“I Am Not Your Negro” (2017)

Narrated by the words of James Baldwin with the voice of Samuel L. Jackson, I Am Not Your Negro connects the Civil Rights Movement to Black Lives Matter. Although Baldwin died nearly 30 years before the film's release, his observations about racial conflict are as incisive today as they were when he made them.

“Whose Streets?” (2017)

The 2014 killing of 18-year-old Michael Brown by police in Ferguson, MO. was one of the deaths that sparked the Black Lives Matter movement. Frustrated by media coverage of unrest in Ferguson, co-directors Sabaah Folayan and Damon Davis documented how locals felt about police in riot gear filling their neighborhoods with tear gas. As one resident says, "They don't tell you the fact that the police showed up to a peaceful candlelight vigil...and boxed them in, and forced them onto a QuikTrip lot."

“Teach Us All” (2017)

In September 1957, following the watershed Supreme Court case Brown v. Board of Education, a group of African-American students known as the Little Rock Nine courageously attempted to defy the notion that skin color should determine educational access by integrating an all-white southern high school. Nearly 60 years after the “Little Rock Crisis,” disparities in access to quality education remain among the most urgent civil rights issues of our time. With its school district hanging in the balance following a state takeover in January 2015, contemporary Little Rock presents a microcosm of the inequities and challenges manifesting in classrooms all across America, which is seeing a re-segregation of its schools.

Through case studies in Little Rock, New York City, and Los Angeles, this feature-length documentary film seeks to bring the critical lessons of history to bear on the current state of U.S. education and investigate: 60 years later, how far have we come – or not come – and where do we go from here?

 ‘The Stranger” (2016)

“The Stranger” is a 40-minute documentary film commissioned by the Evangelical Immigration Table and produced by Emmy-award winning producer Linda Midgett. “The Stranger” profiles three immigrant stories and includes interviews with local and national Christian leaders.

“Belle” (2013)

Belle is inspired by the true story of Dido Elizabeth Belle, the illegitimate daughter of a deceased Afri­can slave woman and the British Naval officer, Sir John Lindsay. The film opens with Lindsay pleading with Lord Mansfield, Lindsay’s uncle and England’s Chief Justice, to raise his mixed-race daughter in the manner befitting his aristocratic lineage. 

Although Dido’s lineage provides her the comfort of certain entitlements, she is regarded as above the servants but below the inhabitants of the house. Living in two worlds at once, Dido begins to question the inequality of her position. She meets and grows more involved with John Davinier, the son of the vicar who is beneath her social level. This bright and politically minded idealist opens her eyes to the horrors of slavery and the case of the 1781 Zong massacre where an estimated 142 African slaves were purposely drowned by their owners in order to claim the loss of their property in an insurance scheme. Together, Dido and John help to shape Lord Mansfield’s decision on the outcome of the case and the cause of abolishing slavery in England.

Belle brilliantly emphasizes the fact that the his­tory of slavery is part of our global history and its effects are being felt even today. It is important to note that the story behind the movie was inspired by artist Johnann Zoffany’s 18th century portrait of two beautiful, young English ladies, draped in silk and pearls – one is white and the other is biracial.

“Amazing Grace” (2006)

Amazing Grace depicts the true story of William Wilberforce, a courageous young man who was first elected to the House of Commons in the British Parliament at the young age of 21. Set over the course of the late 18th century and early 19th century, the film illustrates Wilberforce’s 20-year endeavor to abolish the slave trade in Great Britain. After learning about the inhumanities of the slave trade from a former slave and upheld by his strong moral convictions, Wilberforce becomes determined to lead the parliamentary campaign against the trade. Despite the encouragement and assistance of his abolitionist friends and family members, Wilberforce witnesses years of fierce resistance from his fellow Members of Parliament and the defeat of countless bills. Eventually his hard work and dedication to the cause are rewarded with the passing of a bill in 1807. Amazing Grace highlights important themes such as anti-slavery, dedication to your beliefs, collective action, and leadership.

“Oh, God!” (1977)

Jerry Landers, a supermarket assistant manager and a good yet non-religious person, suddenly finds a note in the mail one day that grants him an ‘interview’ with God. Thinking it to be a hoax he tosses it away, but when it keeps reappearing he finally gives in. Skeptical at first, he ends up carrying His personal message – that the world can work with what God has given us.

 “Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner?” (1967)

The movie is about a young white American woman (Joanna) and a man with whom she's had a whirlwind romance, an African American doctor (John) she met while on a holiday in Hawaii. As the movie opens, they're at the San Francisco Airport preparing to tell her parents their plans: to marry and live in Switzerland.

The tension that arises between family members provides historical insight concerning biracial couples in 1960’s America: Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner came out in 1967, which was also the year that the United States Supreme Court ruled in a case called Loving v. Virginia that all laws which banned interracial marriages violated the United States Constitution. Far from distant history, the themes this film explores are still relevant in modern racism, and worth careful study.

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