Black History Month
Organizations and Resources
That Support Black Communities
This month, consider supporting organizations that are working diligently to promote Black community development, celebrate the history and future of Black American art, find simple ways to support your local Black-owned businesses, and celebrate the values of this important month.
Use the links below for a sampling of resources to get started.
This is an evolving list that will be updated periodically. If you have suggestions you would like to see included on the list, please email DEI@essex.com.
| ARTS |
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Artists Amy Sherald Cannaday Chapman Dr. Fahamu Pecou Faith Ringgold Jordan Casteel Kara Walker Kehinde Wiley Kerry James Marshall Liz Montague Loveis Wise Nick Cave Richie Pope Shannon Wright |
| Books |
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“A Promised Land,” by Barack Obama In the first volume of his presidential memoirs, Barack Obama takes readers on a journey from his earlies political aspirations to the pivotal Iowa caucus victory that demonstrated the power of grassroots activism to the watershed night of November 4, 2008, when he was elected 44th president of the United States, becoming the first African American to hold the nation’s highest office. |
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“Black Buck,” by Mateo Askaripour Black Buck takes on start-up culture, White supremacy in the workplace, and capitalism all in a highly readable form. |
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“Black Futures,” by Kimberly Drew and Jenna Wortham An anthology of artistic Black excellence — with photography, poetry, recipes, memes, and more — this collection sets out to answer the question: What does it mean to be Black and alive right now? |
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“Four Hundred Souls,” by Ibram X. Kendi and Keisha N. Blain This in-depth, illuminating tome puts the history in Black History Month — it details the stories of the African community in the States from 1619 to the present day. |
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“Have I Ever Told You Black Lives Matter,” by Shani Mahiri King This celebration of Black excellence — musicians, writers, artists, scientists, journalists, and more is aimed at children, though adults will have much to glean from it as well. |
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“How We Fight for Our Lives,” by Saeed Jones Saeed Jones’s beautiful memoir tells how he — as a young, Black, gay man from the South — had to fight to claim his own identity. Exploring complicated relationships with his family, friends, and lovers, Jones paints a compelling portrait of the beauty of queerness, race, love, and self-actualization. |
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“Just as I Am,” by Cicely Tyson Tyson's text is rich with lived history, as well as historical notes that provide context to past and current unrest and racial strife. |
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“Sing, Unburied, Sing,” by Jesmyn Ward Most of the story takes place on a dangerous road trip through Mississippi, to the notorious maximum-security prison, Parchman. Set in the twenty-first-century rural South, this chilling book shows us that the horrific legacy of racial terror is very much alive today. |
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“The Dead Are Arising,” by Les Payne and Tamara Payne This groundbreaking biography about Malcolm X was started by author Les Payne and finished by his daughter Tamara after his death. They both won the 2020 National Book Award. |
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“The Kindest Lie,” by Nancy Johnson Barack Obama's historic election in 2008 is the impetus for this family saga that explores, among many other things, racial and class politics in rural Indiana. |
| Documentaries |
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Paris is Burning (1990) "Paris Is Burning" is a documentary following the ballroom drag community that came to prominence in New York City during the 1980s. Led by Black and Latino LGBT people, that culture has gradually become a part of the American mainstream, as seen in modern programs like "RuPaul's Drag Race" and "Pose." The film offers an inside look at how the community created its ballroom competitions, and the racism and homophobia that the contestants encounter outside of their growing community. Available on: Kanopy, Criteron Channel |
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The Black Power Mixtape 1967-1975 (2011) This documentary collects footage from a group of Swedish journalists who covered the leading figures of the Black Power Movement from 1967 to 1975. That includes interviews from that period with Black leaders like Angela Davis, Stokely Carmichael, and Black Panther founder Huey P. Newton, as well as modern commentary from prominent Black voices Bobby Seale, Harry Belafonte, Kathleen Cleaver, and Erykah Badu. Available on: Kanopy, AMC+, IFC Films Unlimited |
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20 Feet from Stardom (2013) On just about every popular music album of the past 50 years, you can hear a black woman singing in the background. This doc, which won the Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature, follows the lives of some unsung backup singers, who are always just 20 feet from being the star. The film focuses on the behind-the-scenes experiences of backup singers like Darlene Love, Judith Hill, Merry Clayton, Lisa Fischer, Táta Vega, and Jo Lawry, and many others. Available on: Netflix |
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13th (2016) Ava Duvernay’s 13th takes a closer look at the 13th amendment and how one sentence (a.k.a. loophole) has allowed society to further enslave Black Americans through mass incarceration. With interviews from legacy civil rights activists like Angela Davis and Henry Louis Gates Jr., this documentary is a mandatory homework assignment. Available on: Netflix |
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I Am Not Your Negro (2016) James Baldwin never finished the manuscript for Remember This House when he died, but decades later, it became the inspiration for I Am Not Your Negro, a documentary made by Raoul Peck and narrated by Samuel L. Jackson. The letters that formed the manuscript included correspondence with and chronicles of civil rights leaders who were friends with Baldwin, such as Malcolm X, Medgar Evers, and Martin Luther King, Jr. Available on: Netflix |
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Kiki (2016) Kiki is a contemporary assessment of the drag and ballroom scenes. Co-writing with Twiggy Pucci Garçon, Sara Jordenö filmed for several years, and directed a documentary that was praised for its examination of the scene's queer and transgender people of color as they have become involved with HIV/AIDS activism, the Black Lives Matter movement, and sex work. Available on: Amazon Prime |
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LA 92 (2017) Made 25 years after the 1992 Los Angeles Riots, LA 92 uses archival footage from the 1965 Watts Riots as well as the 1992 L.A. Riots to demonstrate how the city responded to the LAPD beating of Rodney King. Available on: Netflix |
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The Death and Life of Marsha P. Johnson (2017) Marsha P. Johnson, an LGBTQ+-rights activist known for being the leading figure at the Stonewall Riots, was found dead in the Hudson River. Her death was declared a suicide and never investigated by the NYPD. In this film, Victoria Cruz, a trans activist, investigates Johnson's murder on her own and revisits Johnson's historic and important work. Available on: Netflix |
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MLK/FBI (2020) Filmmaker Sam Pollard pored over newly declassified files confirming that the United States government surveilled and harassed Martin Luther King, Jr. at the direction of FBI director J. Edgar Hoover. The result was MLK/FBI, a recently released documentary receiving critical acclaim for its “fair” approach to documenting history. Available on: Amazon Prime Video |
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John Lewis: Good Trouble (2020) Before his death in 2020, U.S. House Representative John Lewis left a legacy of over 60 years of activism. Compiled interviews and archival footage chronicling his life and career comprise this documentary, titled after his famous quote encouraging citizens to “Get in good trouble, necessary trouble” was released just two weeks before Lewis died. Streaming on: HBO Max |
| Films |
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Do the Right Thing (1989) Spike Lee’s Do the Right Thing is eerily as relevant now as it was when it first hit theaters more than 30 years ago. The film focuses on the racial tensions and biases of one Brooklyn neighborhood on the hottest day of the summer, but represents the kind of pervasive racism that exists throughout the United States today. Available on: Showtime, Amazon Prime Video |
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Malcom X (1992) Denzel Washington takes on the larger than life role of Malcolm X in this Spike Lee production that dramatizes the life and work of the civil rights leader. "Malcolm X" provides a window into the African American experience; showcasing his migration from rural Michigan to New York City, his imprisonment, his conversion to Islam, and his controversial opinions on the role of white people in American racism. Available on: HBO Max |
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12 Years A Slave (2013) Solomon Northup, a Black man born free in New York, was kidnapped and sold into slavery in Louisiana in 1841. Northup documented his experience after regaining his freedom, detailing the violent methods slave owners used to strip Black people of their rights and humanity. Available on: Hulu |
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Selma (2015) Yes, the South was desegregated in 1964, but Black people were still seen as less than. Discrimination prevailed across the country, and many Black people were kept from registering to vote. This movie shows the post-Civil Rights Act suffrage efforts led by Dr. King to get the Voting Rights Act of 1965 passed. Available on: Amazon Prime Video |
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Moonlight (2016) In this Academy Award Best Picture winner, a young Black boy living in Miami during the '80s struggles to come to terms with his sexuality while being raised by an abusive mother. Available on: Netflix |
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Hidden Figures (2017) A group of Black women helped cement the United States as a technological superpower during the space race between America and the Soviet Union in the 1960s. Katherine Johnson, Mary Jackson, and Dorothy Vaughan were all members of a segregated NASA research team, labeled as Colored Computers for the expert calculations they executed by hand. The film celebrates the contributions these Black women made to the space program, even as they faced discrimination from white coworkers and doubts about their abilities. The team's work eventually helped astronaut John Glenn become the first American to orbit Earth in 1962, and Langley Research Center eventually named its computational building after Johnson. Available on: Disney+. FuboTV |
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The Hate You Give (2018) Based on Angie Thomas' best-selling novel, The Hate U Give follows the story of Starr Carter, a Black high schooler who straddles the privileged world of her prep school and the poor Black neighborhood she grew up in. But Starr is forced to reckon with both worlds when her friend Khalil is shot by a white police officer, and she's the only witness. Available on: Amazon Prime Video |
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Just Mercy (2019) This legal drama tells the true story of Walter McMillian, an Alabama man who was wrongfully convicted of murder and spent six years on death row before having his conviction overturned in 1993. Michael B. Jordan plays Bryan Stevenson, the young Black lawyer who takes on McMillian's appeal, while Academy Award-winner Jamie Foxx plays McMillian. The film reflects the ways that systemic racism continues to impact the criminal justice system years after the end of the civil rights movement. Available on: Amazon Prime Video, HBO Max, Hulu |
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Small Axe (2020) "Small Axe" is a series of five films based on the lives of real West Indian immigrants living in London between the 1960s and 1980s. The series was created by Steve McQueen, director of "12 Years A Slave," and features Letitia Wright and John Boyega in starring roles. Available on: Amazon Prime Video |
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Judas and the Black Messiah (2020) Fred Hampton was the chairman of Chicago's Black Panther Party when he was shot and killed as he slept during a joint police and FBI raid in 1969. It was later revealed that the FBI had planted an informant within the Black Panther Party to report on Hampton's actions, and the bureau intentionally spread misinformation about Hampton to other Black activist groups. The film tells the story of Hampton's efforts to organize Chicago's activist community at the height of the Black Power Movement, and the FBI's campaign to undermine him. Available on: HBO Max |
| Television/Miniseries |
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Insecure (2016-) The series shows Black millennials as their authentic selves, with a diversity of characters. Molly (Yvonne Orji) is a successful lawyer struggling with romantic relationships, Issa (Issa Rae) is stuck in a low-paying job trying to find her passion in life, Lawrence (Jay Ellis) was living on his girlfriend's couch, unmotivated to do anything, but finally finds success. All of these characters along with the situations they're put in make for relatable Black content. Available on: HBO Max |
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Atlanta (2016-) Based in Atlanta, the show follows Earn and his cousin Alfred as they try to make their way in the world through the rap scene. Along the way they come face to face with social and economic issues touching on race, relationships, poverty, status, and parenthood. Available on: Hulu |
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Dear White People (2017-2021) This Netflix series, based on Justin Simien's movie, follows a group of Black students at a predominantly white university. One of them, Samantha White (Logan Browning), starts a podcast directed at white students and calls them out for their microaggressions and racist behaviors. Although the series is satirical, it provides insight into how, even when Black people "make it," they are still met with harmful reminders that they don't belong or "fit in." It also addresses issues within the Black community like colorism, class and activism. Available on: Netflix |
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Watchmen (2019) “Watchmen” uses the infamous Tulsa race riot of 1921 as a springboard to comment on the infiltration of white supremacy into contemporary policing and other key institutions. The series also examines an alternate reality: one where governments recognize racial atrocities and gives Black people reparations. In contrast to the one we live in now where Black history is nationally acknowledged one month out of the year and the Tulsa race riot is brand-new information to many. Available on: HBO Max |
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When They See Us (2019) The case of the Central Park Five seized national headlines in 1989 as New York City prosecutors sought the conviction of five Black and Latino teenagers for a violent sexual assault on a white woman. Though a lone attacker would eventually confess to the crime in 2002, the Central Park Five were incarcerated for more than six years each. Directed by Ava DuVernay, this series explores how racial bias casts Black people as criminals in the American imagination, and how white supremacy can overcome justice in the legal system. Available on: Netflix |
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Lovecraft Country (2020) “Lovecraft” stars Jonathan Majors (“Da 5 Bloods”) as Atticus “Tic” Freeman, a Korean war vet and bibliophile who heads home to the South Side of Chicago to investigate the disappearance of his estranged father Montrose (Michael Kenneth Williams). Amid all the supernatural ghosts and fictional monsters, the series also shows the horrors of 1950s Jim Crow America. The show makes references to sundown towns and Victor Hugo Green's "Green Book," a guidebook for Black travelers letting them know which cities, restaurants and gas stations welcomed them. Available on: HBO Max |
| BUSINESSES |
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Los Angeles Northern California Orange County Pacific Northwest San Diego Ventura |
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Support Black Owned |
| CHARITIES & NON-PROFITS |
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Black Lives Matter Black Lives Matter was formed in response to the acquittal of George Zimmerman in 2013 and quickly became a national movement to end police brutality. The organization continues to mobilize and amplify national dialogue around state-sanctioned violence. |
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Black Girls Code Black Girls Code is on a mission to increase the number of black women working in computer programming. By hosting after school programs and workshops, the org plans to train one million young black women in the field by the year 2040. |
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Black Organizing for Leadership and Dignity BOLD is a national training intermediary focused on transforming the practice of Black organizers in the US to increase their alignment, impact and sustainability to win progressive change. BOLD carries out its mission through training programs, coaching and technical assistance for BOLD alumni and partners. |
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Black Women's Blueprint Black Women’s Blueprint works to place Black women and girls’ lives, as well as their particular struggles, squarely within the context of the larger racial justice concerns of Black communities. They are committed to building movements where gender matters in broader social justice organizing so that all members of the community gain social, political and economic equity. |
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Black Youth Project BYP studies the attitudes and cultural norms of black millennials in an effort to maximize their life experiences. |
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Color of Change With over a million members, Color of Change works to end racial injustice manifested in the media, economy and criminal justice system. |
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Common Ground Foundation Rapper Common founded this organization in the 1990s to provide greater opportunities for under-serviced children through mentorship, community service and the arts. |
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Incite!: Women of Color Against Violence Incite works to end violence against women of color through organizing events, conferences, circulating newsletters and strategic political initiatives. |
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My Brother's Keeper President Obama launched My Brother’s Keeper in February 2014 to address persistent opportunity gaps facing boys and young men of color and to ensure all youth can reach their full potential. MBK Alliance focuses on building safe and supportive communities for boys and young men of color where they feel valued and have clear pathways to opportunity. |
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NAACP The NAACP is a long-standing civil rights organization that works on a broad scale to achieve racial justice for citizens in urban communities. |
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National Action Network National Action Network is one of the leading civil rights organizations in the Nation with chapters throughout the entire United States. Founded in 1991 by Reverend Al Sharpton, NAN works within the spirit and tradition of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. to promote a modern civil rights agenda that includes the fight for one standard of justice, decency and equal opportunities for all people regardless of race, religion, ethnicity, citizenship, criminal record, economic status, gender, gender expression, or sexuality. |
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National Black Justice Coalition NBJC’s work centers around HIV/AIDS and makes employment and education opportunities more inclusive for black LGBT citizens. |
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National Black Women's Justice Institute NBWJI aims to eliminate racial and gender disparities in the U.S. criminal legal system that are responsible for its disproportionate impact on Black women, girls, and gender nonconforming people. |
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National Urban League Founded in 1910, The National Urban League uses programs, research and advocacy to advance civil rights for people of color. |
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Trans Women of Color Collective TWOCC was created to cultivate economic opportunities and affirming spaces for trans people of color and their families, to foster kinship, build community engage in healing and restorative justice through arts, culture, media, advocacy and activism. |
February 8, 2022