Cicely Tyson
3) Sounder
Description
Set in rural Louisiana during the Depression, this heartfelt story tells of a sharecropper family struggling to overcome adversity. After stealing to feed his family, Nathan is sent to a prison camp. In their fight for survival, his determined wife and their eldest son hold the family together. Once the boy becomes an adult, he searches for his father but instead discovers manhood.
Description
Carrie Watts begrudgingly lives with her busy, overprotective son, Ludie, and pretentious daughter-in-law, Jessie Mae. No longer able to drive and forbidden to travel alone, she wishes for freedom from the confines of the house and begs her son to take her on a visit to her hometown of Bountiful. When he refuses, Mrs. Watts is undeterred and makes an escape to the local bus station, where she befriends Thelma, a young woman traveling home.
Description
Adam, a brilliant trumpet player, is burdened with guilt following a car accident in which his wife and child were killed. He finds happiness briefly with another woman but turns to drink and is wrongly convicted as a drug-addict when arrested after a drunken brawl. Desperate for money, his agent books him a series of one-night stands and one night, while playing a farewell number with the band, Adam collapses. The audience believe him to be drunk...
Description
Take an unprecedented look at the intersection of African American women artists, politics and entertainment and hear the story of how six trailblazing performers - Lena Horne, Abbey Lincoln, Diahann Carroll, Nina Simone, Cicely Tyson and Pam Grier - changed American culture through their films, fashion, music, and politics.
Description
How It Feels to Be Free takes an unprecedented look at the intersection of African American women artists, politics and entertainment and tells the story of how six trailblazing performers—Lena Horne, Abbey Lincoln, Diahann Carroll, Nina Simone, Cicely Tyson and Pam Grier— changed American culture through their films, fashion, music and politics.
13) Showing roots
Description
In 1977, as the miniseries "Roots" hits the airwaves, two women are inspired to try and integrate their small Southern town. In a place where there are still "right" and "wrong" sides of the tracks, these two young women - one white, one black - forge an unlikely friendship that sparks a journey of independence and self-discovery, and ultimately results in the creation of the perfect hairdo.
Description
Gathered together in the Bahamas for their annual one-week reunion, four close couples eagerly reconnect, sharing news about their lives and relationships. But their intimate week in paradise is disrupted by the unexpected arrival of Sheila's ex-husband, Mike, who hopes to break up her new marriage with Troy and win her back. With their relationships hanging in the balance when they return home, each couple must choose between blame and forgiveness....
Description
In addition to being saddled with an unruly foster teen, Madea has two troubled nieces to deal with. Lisa is engaged to an abusive and controlling investment banker and Vanessa is finding it difficult to open herself to the affection of a bus driver/artist Frankie because of childhood abuse. Wreaking havoc on both of the girls' lives is their mother Victoria.
Description
Examines the life and legacy of African American poet, memoirist, and civil rights worker Maya Angelou, from her upbringing in the Depression-era South to her work with Malcolm X in Ghana to the recitation of her inaugural poem for President Bill Clinton. Includes Angelou's own words woven together with archival photographs and videos as well as interviews with Angelou's friends and family.
Formats
Description
When deaf-mute John Singer moves to a sleepy Southern town to be near his hospitalized friend, a brain-damaged man-child, Singer's silent kindness draws to him others broken in body and spirit.
"John Singer, who is deaf . . . moves from a small town in order to be close to his institutionalized friend Antonapoulos, who is deaf and mentally impaired. Singer rents a room with a family whose father, Mr. Kelly, is unable to earn a living due to a serious...
20) The help
Description
In 1960s Mississippi, Skeeter, a southern society girl, returns from college determined to become a writer, but turns her friends' lives, and a small Mississippi town, upside down when she decides to interview the black women who have spent their lives taking care of prominent southern families. Aibileen, Skeeter's best friend's housekeeper, is the first to open up, to the dismay of her friends in the tight-knit black community.