![]() ![]() By 1969 Oakland’s Black Panthers had created the Free Breakfast for Children program and free clinics to treat diseases that were more common among Black Americans than whites.Įschewing the nonviolent approach of other civil rights leaders, the Panthers fully embraced their Second Amendment rights. Panthers led literacy and political education classes and organized other efforts to promote Black self-sufficiency. What separated the Black Panthers from other civil rights groups was its emphasis on Black power. By 1970 the party was organized in 68 cities, including Chicago, where this film takes place. Lowndes County had a long history of white violence against its Black population, so when a group of militant civil rights activists, led by John Hulett and Stokely Carmichael, formed a political organization, they chose the fierce black panther as their emblem. Though largely associated with Oakland, California, where it had a large and enduring presence, the Black Panther Party was actually started in Lowndes County, Alabama, during a voter registration drive in 1965. NOTE: Spoilers follow, so if you don’t know who Fred Hampton is or what happened to him, you may want to watch the film first. As with these other films, it helps to know the history. Written by brothers Kenny and Keith Lucas and debuting in theaters and on HBO Max February 12, Judas and the Black Messiah tells the story of one of the most disturbing chapters of American state-sponsored terrorism against its own people. Like most of the others, it’s a slice of history that was hiding in plain sight, a story of Black struggle and progress happening parallel to - but largely excluded from - white American history. Judas and the Black Messiah now joins that impressive list. ![]() Billie Holliday on Hulu, and All In, Time and One Night in Miamion Amazon Prime. And in a year when “the movies” meant whatever screen you could get your hands on, it’s fitting that the most important Black films were all funded by streaming TV channels: Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom and Da 5 Bloods on Netflix, The Banker on Apple TV+, Soul on Disney+, The United States Vs. It’s been a helluva year for America, but it’s also been a hella great year for Black American cinema. ![]()
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