Based On Actual Events

This is a list of Black films that are based on actual events.  The terms “Based on Actual Events” and “Based on A True Story” involve a certain degree of dramatic license and as such, not all movies on this list are true to the genuine history of the event or the characters portrayed.  Such movies often add action and drama to enhance substance and increase entertainment.  

This category also includes docudramas which feature dramatized re-enactments of actual events.  The core elements of the story attempts to adhere to verifiable facts, while allowing for a certain degree of poetic license in peripheral details and where there are gaps in the factual record.

10,000 BLACK MEN NAMED GEORGE (2002)
ABDUCTED: THE CARLINA WHITE STORY (2012)
AMISTAD (1997)
ASSAULT AT WEST POINT: THE COURT-MARTIAL OF JOHNSON WHITTAKER (1994)
ATLANTA CHILD MURDERS (1985)
ATTACK ON TERROR:  THE FBI VS. THE KU KLUX KLAN (1975)
BEASTS OF NO NATION (2015)
BLIND SIDE, THE (2009)
BOYCOTT (2001)
CADILLAC RECORDS (2008)
CAPTIVE (2015)
CARTER HIGH (2015)
COLOR OF COURAGE, THE (1999)
CROWN HEIGHTS (2017)
DEACONS FOR DEFENSE (2003)
DEATH OF A PROFIT (1981)
DETROIT (2017)
DITCHDIGGER’S DAUGHTERS, THE (1997)
ECHO OF MURDER (2000)
FIRST TIME FELON (1997)
FLINT (2017)
FOR ONE NIGHT (2006)
FOSTER AND LAURIE (1975)
FREE IN DEED (2015)
FREE STATE OF JONES, THE (2016)
FRUITVALE STATION (2013)
GET ON THE BUS (1996)
GHOSTS OF MISSISSIPPI (1996)
GLORY (1989)
GLORY ROAD (2006)
GRAMBLING’S WHITE TIGER (1981)
GRIDIRON GANG (2006)
GUNSAULUS MYSTERY, THE (1921)
HELP, THE (2011)
HOODLUM (1997)
HOTEL RWANDA (2004)
HOWARD BEACH:  MAKING A CASE FOR MURDER (1989)
IN TOO DEEP (1999)
JASPER, TEXAS (2003)
JIMMY B. AND ANDRE (1980)
JOE AND MAX (2002)
LOVING (2016)
MANDELA AND DE KLERK (1997)
MISS EVERS’ BOYS (1997)
MISSISSIPPI BURNING (1988)
MR. AND MRS. LOVING (1996)
MURDER IN HARLEM (1935)
OFF THE HOOK (1999)
OUR AMERICA (2002)
PAID IN FULL (2002)
PANTHER (1995)
PASSING GLORY (1999)
RACE TO FREEDOM: THE STORY OF THE UNDERGROUND RAILROAD (1994)
ROSEWOOD (1997)
SEPARATE BUT EQUAL (1991)
TUSKEGEE AIRMEN, THE (1995)
WOODLAWN (2015)