Civil Rights Documentaries
This four-part documentary series weaves together rare and exclusive footage of attorney general, U.S. senator, and presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy in the 1960s.
Filmmakers Ken Burns, Sarah Burns and David McMahon examine a 1989 case of five teenagers who were wrongfully convicted of raping a woman. After they had spent from six to 13 years in prison, a serial rapist confessed to the crime.
Filmmakers re-examine the 1992 death of transgender legend Marsha P. Johnson, who was found floating in the Hudson River. Originally ruled a suicide, many in the community believe she was murdered.
Disclosure is an eye-opening look at transgender depictions in film and television, revealing how Hollywood simultaneously reflects and manufactures our deepest anxieties about gender. Leading trans thinkers and creatives hare their reactions and resistance to some of Hollywood’s most beloved moments.
War reporters, including several Pulitzer prize winners, talk candidly about the traumas they have witnessed, the fear they've experienced, and the losses they can never recover from as they risk their lives to keep the world informed.
An intimate portrait of Matthew Shepard, the gay young man murdered in one of the most notorious hate crimes in U.S. history. Framed through a personal lens, it's the story of loss, love, and courage in the face of unspeakable tragedy.
After rigorous testing in 1961, a small group of skilled female pilots are asked to step aside when only men are selected for spaceflight.
This examination of the duties of the press in an age of inequality delves into the trial between Hulk Hogan and Gawker Media. The duel pitted privacy rights against freedom of the press and raised questions about how big money can silence the media.
The controversial life of Rachel Dolezal, an American woman of Caucasian parentage who identifies as black, and was forced to resign as president of the NAACP chapter in Spokane, Washington when her race and ancestry were exposed.
The shocking murder of Victor Jara at the beginning of Pinochet's regime turned him into a powerful symbol of Chile's struggle. Decades later, a quest for justice unfolds.
After discovering the family of Solomon Linda, the writer of "The Lion Sleeps Tonight," a reporter tries to help them fight for fair compensation.
While Sam Cooke rose to stardom as a soul singer, his outspoken views on civil rights drew attention that may have contributed to his death at age 33.
The violent political suppression of the roots reggae movement in Jamaica told through an investigation into Jamaican politics and the CIA's involvement in the mysterious shooting of Bob Marley.
Filmmakers expose a decades-long political campaign to overturn Roe v. Wade using interviews with abortion rights supporters and opponents.
Rodney King is a 2017 American one-man show directed by Spike Lee and written by and starring Roger Guenveur Smith. The film is a one-man show where Roger Guenveur Smith does a multiplicity of voices, alternately taking and opposing Rodney King's side.
Amid shifting times, two women kept their decades-long love a secret. But coming out later in life comes with its own set of challenges.
When filmmaker Yance Ford investigates the 1992 murder of a young black man, it becomes an achingly personal journey since the victim, 24-year-old William Ford Jr., was the filmmaker's brother.
Entrepreneur Fox Rich spends the last two decades campaigning for the release of her husband, Rob G. Rich, who is serving a 60-year prison sentence for a robbery they both committed in the early 1990s in a moment of desperation.
The criminal justice system tragically failed 16-year-old Kalief Browder, who spent three years in Rikers Island jail awaiting trial - two of those years in solitary confinement - after being arrested for allegedly stealing a backpack.