29 Films for the 29 Days of Black History Month

Fourth annual edition of this Black film celebration!

Black Film Archive is a living register of Black films from 1898 to 1999 (!). This Substack is its blog, thank you for being here. | This email may be too long for your inbox, click the headline to read it in full. | On February 7, I’ll be speaking in Philadelphia, join me?

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To know me is to know I am a student of love above all things. Personifying love allows us to awaken the senses and endlessly discover ourselves, our communities, our beloveds, and our families; it is the building blocks of life. Tenderness—pointed acts of affection, love, and gentleness— is what spurs motion into movement, desire into affirmative risk, improvisation into rhythm. For Black people, I believe, tender gestures give us the will to live, to carry on, to pursue in a world that wants otherwise or life presents other obstacles. Sometimes tenderness is a glimpse from one Black person to another, conveying a lifetime of knowledge or a warning to choose another path. Tenderness can be confronting what is unseen or unspoken within ourselves or it can be a director giving language to the beauty of our world, our pioneers, and our lives.

In building the fourth annual edition of 29 films for the 29 days of Black History Month¹, I present the tenderness edition. For the last two years, I have been studying and building scholarship on tenderness in Black cinema through my residency at the Library of Congress. As I prepare to present my findings on Black Film Archive (later this month!) through an annotated filmography, it felt only natural to offer a primer for Black History Month.

The films on this year's list are in conversation with the desires planted in our lives at birth: to dream of a world of love and care; to give voice to those who have been silenced or torn from the pages of history; to believe in Black futures enough to will the impossible into existence; to not abandon ourselves and others out of fear. May we learn to say things without words, embrace ourselves and others with tenderness, and run to all gentleness that approaches with care and allow cinema to be a guide when we cannot trace the impulses alone.

This guide contains 29 selections from Black Film Archive. They are simply a place to start or rediscover gems, to find yourself in or retreat to. I hope this season greets you with peace, joy, and an abundance of great cinema. You can find the complete list and full descriptions on Black Film Archive here. View the list on Letterboxd here. Please enjoy.

Meeting the Man: James Baldwin in Paris (1970)

Celebrate Baldwin’s centennial² by watching this frustratingly beautiful documentary where he gives us the ultimate lesson: “The world is held together, really held together, by the love and passion of very few people.”

Drylongso (1999)

When we talk about wanting to see a dynamic possibility in black cinema’s past, Cauleen Smith’s masterwork— a tender, genre-bending film about a black art student who begins documenting her community in the wake of violence—is one of the first films that comes to mind.

I Remember Harlem (1981)

William Myles’s epic tender journey spanning centuries firmly places the Harlem neighborhood —and its residents— as the cultural hub and artifact it is.

Frankie & Jocie (1994)

Centering a tender straight brother- queer sister relationship in a moment when conversations like this were breaking taboos, the film zooms out to include the voices of Black lesbians across the spectrum of familial closeness.

Black is… Black Ain’t (1994)

“Work is a living spirit in me — that which wants to connect with other people and pass on something.” May we pass on something through the spirit of the gifts Marlon Riggs has left us.

A Matter of Opportunity (1968)

The Howard medical students grassroots organizing at the heart of this 1968 documentary advocating for betterment of the medical field illustrates

A Litany for Survival: The Life and Work of Audre Lorde 1995

A Litany for Survival asks us to consider the fullness of Audre Lorde the person as she

Sunlight (1957)

Melvin Van Peebles’s early experimental short reflects on romantic love’s long shadow.

Cane River (1982)

This recently discovered tale of forbidden romance, set in Louisiana, sweeps you in quickly and holds you in its loving gaze.

Something Good — Negro Kiss (1898)

This joyous 1898 film is believed to be the earliest cinematic vision of African-American affection.

All By Myself: The Eartha Kitt Story (1982)

A full spectrum showcase of Eartha Kitt’s uncompromising love of self, family, and her community.

For Colored Girls Who Have Considered Suicide / When the Rainbow Is Enuf (1982)

Centering on joy and healing, “For Colored Girls” names the love Black women feel and gesture towards.

Compensation (1999)

Inspired, in part, by a Paul Lawrence Dunbar poem, Zeinabu irene Davis’s masterwork uses innovative film techniques to take an honest look at love.

Love Songs (1999)

With vignettes directed by three powerhouse figures of Black screen — Andre Braugher, Louis Gossett Jr., Robert Townsend— the Philadelphia-set film gives a community-centered vision of love.

For Love of Ivy (1968)

With a romantic and zany story provided by its leading man, Sidney Poitier, this film is the closest this era of Black film got to a ‘will she, won’t she’ sex comedy.

The Duke Is Tops (1938)

Before her MGM glamour persona, Lena Horne starred in this race picture about a starlet who falls in love with a Broadway producer.

A Well Spent Life (1971)

This touching tribute to Mance Lipscomb—a guitarist, husband, community member, and sharecropper—is a sentimental vision of the songster’s open heart.

The Flying Ace (1926)

In this fantastical whodunit of intrigue, a World War I pilot (Laurence Criner) returns home to find romance and mystery.

A Man Called Adam (1966)

In this romantic drama starring Sammy Davis Jr. and Cicely Tyson, they answer the age old question: Can love save someone from destruction?

Wesley Willis: Artist of the Streets (1988)

In a tender portrait of the artistic iconoclast defines himself for himself.

A Fool and His Money (1912)

With the desire to win his well-off beloved on his mind, Sam Jones, a laborer, comes into heaps of cash after finding it by happenstance. T

Langston Hughes: The Dream Keeper (1987)

Defying categorization, this St. Clair Bourne film illustrates the work, community, and impact Hughes left behind.

Ten Minutes to Live (1932)

With Oscar Micheaux’s loving gaze, textures of Black American life are dramatized in this dual narrative feature from 1932.

Anna Lucasta (1958)

“Women just play dumb, men are born that way.” The film features an all-time pairing of Eartha Kitt and Sammy Davis, Jr.

Free, White and 21 (1980)

How do we get to where we belong? In this essential work, Howardena Pindell suggests we go through it.

Jack & the Dentist's Daughter (1985)

Based on Grimm’s tale “The Master Thief,” this folktale gives a Black spin to the ‘boy must raise enough money after he meets girl’ trope.

Just Doin’ It (A Tale of Two Barbershops) (1976)

A portrait of the barber shop as community center, fellowship hall, and brotherhood.

Jason's Lyric (1994)

This gritty slice of life drama follows a man with a troubled past (Allen Payne as Jason) who hopes love can be his salvation (Jada Pinkett Smith as Lyric). 

Color Us Black! (1968)

In the conflict between the students advocating for better living conditions and the traditional administration, the students of Howard University demand to be heard with the belief another future is possible.

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Before we part, I want to wholeheartedly recommend the Palestine Film Index—a ‘growing list of films from and about Palestine and the Palestinian struggle for liberation, made by Palestinians and those in solidarity with them.’

1. The list predates Black Film Archive.

2. his birthday is in August, this is his 100th birth year.