23 Black History Movies to Stream with Your Kids
These black history movies for kids address important topics like race, civil rights, and segregation.
Get kid-friendly activities sent to you!
Get the Best Family Activities
42: The Jackie Robinson Story
Age: 11+
Rent or purchase on Prime Video; Rent or purchase on iTunes; Watch on DIRECTV
Biopic about the first Black baseball player in the MLB and his achievements despite facing racism throughout his career.
Black History Movies for ages 12+
Selma
Age: 13+
Stream on Hulu Premium; Rent or Purchase on Prime Video
The story of the three months between Martin Luther King Jr. accepting his Nobel Peace Prie and the Selma-to-Montgomery march for voters’ rights in March 1965.
Betty & Coretta
Age: 13+
Purchase on Prime Video ($4.99); Watch on DIRECTV
A docudrama about Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and Malcom X’s widows (Coretta Scott King and Betty Shabazz) raising their children to fight for the causes their father’s fought for.
Pride
Age: 12+
Stream on Prime Video (or rent or purchase); Rent or purchase on iTunes; Stream on Hulu
Set in the 1970’s this movie follows Jim Ellis, the competitive-swimmer-turned-coach, as he turns an unlikely group of teens into a competitive swim team. It displays racism, segregation, and class divide.
The Gabby Douglas Story
Age: 12+
Rent or purchase on Prime Video; Purchase on DIRECTV; Rent or purchase on YouTube
A biopic about the first woman of color to win individual all-around champion at the summer olympics.
The Watsons Go to Birmingham
Age: 12+
Stream on Vudu
Wilona Watson brings her family to Birmingham to get away from bad influences and escape the cold winter in Flint, Michigan. However, Jim Crow laws are still enforced there, schoolchildren are marching, and there are police riots.
Harriet
Age: 13+
Stream on HBO Max; Purchase on Prime Video
The story of abolitionist Harriet Tubman.
I am Not Your Negro
Age: 13+
Stream on Prime Video; Stream on Netflix; Stream on Hulu
This political documentary tells the story of writer-activist James Baldwin’s plans to write Remember This House about Medgar Evers, Malcolm X, and Martin Luther King Jr. (his three friends) and their influence on the state of race in America.
Hoop Dreams
Age: 13+
Stream on Prime Video; Rent or purchase on YouTube; Stream on HBO Max
This documentary tells the story of two young Black basketball standouts and the struggles they faced growing up in an inner city, including potentially fatal temptations, limited opportunities, and poor odds.
Just Mercy
Age: 13+
Purchase on Prime Video; Purchase on iTunes; Stream on HBO Max
A young lawyer devotes himself to helping Death Row inmates in Monroeville Alabama and focuses on the case of Walter “Johnny D.” McMillian, a man accused of killing a teen girl based on the testimony of two unreliable witnesses.
The Killing Floor
Age: 13+
Rent or purchase on Prime Video
The little-known true story of two friends struggling to build an interracial labor union in the Chicago Stockyards.
Malcolm X
Age: 13+
Rent or purchase on Prime Video; Rent or purchase on iTunes; Stream on HBO Max
The life of the visionary leader.
Images: Prime Video