Murder in Mississippi (1965)

Starring:

• Lew Stone
• Otis Young
• Sheila Britt 
• Martin St. John 
• Sam Stewart 
• Derek Crane

Storyline
Voter registration leads to Murder in Mississippi when a "cracker" Sheriff arrests white dilettante Carol Byrd and two other "Communist Yankees" for "agitating colored folks." Though her friends are killed, Carol is kept alive as the personal sex slave of two white-trash cretins in this nasty lesson in racial intolerance from the director of Olga's House of Shame. The 1964 murders of three civil-rights workers so appalled the nation that Hollywood waited 24 years before tackling the subject with 1988's Mississippi Burning. Not so with this eager-to-offend exploitation gem, loosely based on the killings and geared for the grindhouse crowd, which remains profoundly disturbing today.

Separate But Equal (1991, TV Movie)

Starring:

• Sidney Poitier 
• Cleavon Little
• Burt Lancaster
• Richard Kiley
• Gloria Foster 

Storyline
The year is 1950...and America is divided between black and white. Schools, restaurants, trains, and buses...even drinking fountains cannot be shared by both races. Although slavery has been outlawed for nearly a century, segregation is legal. But white and Negro facilities are separate and unequal...and the tension had reached a breaking point for the blacks of Clarendon County, South Carolina. When their request for a single school bus is denied by white school officials, a bitter, violent and courageous battle for justice and equality begins...pitting black against white and friend against neighbor all across the country.

The dramatic evens leading from a small rural classroom to the Supreme Court decision that outlawed segregation are powerfully reenacted in this contemporary screen classic, beautifully scripted and superbly portrayed by some of Hollywood's finest actors. Sidney Poitier is Thurgood Marshall, the NAACP lawyer who took the struggle for equal rights to the highest court in the land. Burt Lancaster plays John W. Davis, the opposing counsel, and Richard Kiley is Chief Justice Earl Warren, who rallied the Court to landmark ruling. Together they capture the complex emotional dynamics of one of the country's most significant and inspiring achievements. 

This Man Stands Alone [a.k.a. Lawman Without A Gun] (1978)

Starring:

• Louis Gossett Jr. 
• Clu Gulager 
• Mary Alice 

Storyline
After returning home from Martin Luther King's funeral, Reverend Tom Hayward, [Lou Gossett Jr.] travels to his hometown of Carthage, Alabama. It's got a Black majority population, but it's owned by the white Tayman family.

When a young Black girl is assaulted by a local policeman, Tom leads a group of Blacks to the office of the county prosecutor to protest peacefully. Instead of justice, Tom is severely beaten by Sheriff Johnson; a man who has had a twenty year rule of terror. A Black man is killed during a campaign to get Blacks voters registered and Tom decides he must run for Sheriff, despite threats to his family.

The fight for justice begins, but the difference is the White have guns and have proved they are ready to use them while the Black community will retaliate only with forgiveness...and their votes for Tom!!   
 

Death of a Prophet (1981)

Starring:

• Morgan Freeman 
• Yolanda King
• Mansoor Najee-ullah

Storyline
After breaking ties with the Nation of Islam, Malcolm X became a man marked for death...and it was just a matter of time before his enemies closed in. Despite death threats and intimidation, Malcolm marched on - continuing to spread the word of equality and brotherhood right up until the moment of his brutal and untimely assassination. Highlighted by newsreel footage and interviews, this is the story of the last twenty-four hours of Malcolm X. Featuring the music of jazz percussionist Max Roach.