The African-American story has been told many times through different disciplines such as history, literature (fiction and poetry), philosophy, and political science. These stories are lectured to remind us of the tragic chapter of the American history. More than reminding us of the past, they serve a purpose of keeping us on our toes on how far we have come, and how much ground left still to cover.

The African-American literature emerged in the late 18th century towards the early 19th century in United States to recapitulate the dehumanizing events slavery. It was a terrain so formidable, horrendous, pathless and existential that slave women, sometimes had to commit infanticide to save their babes from the horrible situation of slavery.

Margaret Garner, for example, murdered  her child and also attempted to murder the rest of her children. She was reported to be a fugitive who escaped from the plantation of her master and then arrested for killing her child and attempting to kill the rest rather than let them be returned from their owner’s plantation. This story inspired Toni Morrison’s second most read novel- Beloved, which gives accounts of the harsh treatment of African descendants in the hands of white Americans. 

In popular culture, these slave stories have been told many times through the big screen. Steve McQueen, a British filmmaker projected one of these stories in his 2013 movie, 12 Years A Slave: a story based on Solomon Northup’s book Twelve Years a Slave: Narrative of Solomon Northup, a Citizen of New York, Kidnapped in Washington City in 1841, and Rescued in 1853, from a Cotton Plantation near the Red River in Louisiana . Solomon Northup was a freeborn black man born in New York and later kidnapped to slavery in Washington DC in 1841.

The movie industry such as Hollywood, United Kingdom, and many others have put these kind of movies up on the big screen. Many of these stories are genuinely well told, and with no surprise, some are not. Let’s take a look at the best five that most Black people can agree on:

1. 12 Years a Slave (2013)

Directed by Steve McQueen and produced by Brad Pitt in 2013, the movie is a retelling of the slave memoir written by a New York freeborn African American farmer and writer named Solomon Northup who was lured into slavery in Washington DC by two swindlers in 1841. It start  Chiwetel Ejiofor, as Solomon Northup, Michael Fassbender as Edwin Epps, Lupita Nyong O’ as Patsey.This movie, apart from the horrible situation Solomon finds himself, also projects the white people as con people. This shown when he was deceived by Brown and Hamilton who assured him a short term paid job if he would go with them to Washington DC. He was later chained and forced into the New Orleans slave ship.  Northup was lured to come and experience his own portion of slavery in spite of the fact that he was born a free man.

2. Beloved (1998)

This movie is a direct remaking of Toni Morrison’s second novel, Beloved that was published in 1987. Directed by Jonathan Demme and produced by Edward Saxton and Oprah Winfery, the movie centers on a former slave woman(Sethe) after the American Civil War, her haunting by a poltergeist, and the visitation of her reincarnated daughter (Beloved) whom she had killed by slitting her throat to save her from the horrible slave situation she was in.  

Years after the infanticide, she got pregnant with her youngest daughter, Denver whom she ran away with from the Kentucky plantation she served in Cincinnati, Ohio. As she lived in a old house on 124 Bluestone Road, she and her family were haunted by the noisy ghost of her dead daughter whom she had killed years back; an angry poltergeist. The movie starred Oprah Winfery as Sethe, Thandie Newton as Beloved, Kimberly Elise as Denver, Dany Glover as Paul D, and Beah Richards as Baby Suggs.

 3. Harriet (2019)

Based on the heroic life of slave woman turned abolitionist, the movie tells the epic story of Harriet Tubman who, after escaping from her master’s plantation in Maryland, went to seek freedom with the abolitionists in Philadelphia.

A year later, she risks her life to liberate hundreds of slaves. She played an important role in the abolitionists movement of the American Civil War. She also worked as a spy for the Union Army. She is said to have led armed black soldiers to rescue more slaves.

In the movie, Cynthia Erivo plays the title character Harriet. It was produced in 2019 by Debra Martin chase and directed Kasi by Lemmons.

4. Gina’s Journey: The Search for William Grimes (2017)

The movie is a documentary movie based on the Afterword of the book, Life of William Grimes the Runaway Slave, written by Regina Mason. The Afterword, “ My long Road back to William Grimes” reveals Gina’s long path to retrace her and authenticate her ancestors her ancestor story and the intense personal sacrifices that made editing and republishing his original book possible.

In the film,Regina tries to find her identity as she visits historical places and key points of interest along her 15 year path of discovery. The film shows through flashback that William Grimes was enslaved in the South and endured a life of hardship as a freeman in the North.

5. 13^th (2016)

Titled after the thirteenth amendment to the U.S constitution which abolished slavery in 1865, the film is mattered on the intersection of race, justice and mass incarceration in the U.S. Directed by Ava DuVernay, she tries to project that slavery was practiced since the end of the American Civil War through oppression, criminalizing behaviors and suppressing the blacks by disenfranchisement. a and enabling police to arrest poor freedmen and force them to work for the state under convict leasing.

This film features several activists, academics, political figures from both major US political parties, and public figures, such as Angela Davis, Bryan Stevenson, Van Jones, Newt Gingrich, Cory Booker, Henry Louis Gates Jr., and others.

Your Turn: Which other movies do you believe tell the African American History better? Do you agree or disagree that the 5 shared above are the best of all? Share your comments below: