This entirely African American-conceived and produced ensemble drama is the result of a collaboration of a pair of pioneering Black artists: writer Ishmael Reed and filmmaker Bill Gunn, who wrote and directed the underground classic Ganja & Hess and wrote the screenplay for Hal Ashby's The Landlord.  Originally intended to air on public television in 1980, it went unseen for many years; the original tapes have been carefully restored and the film...

While traveling in the deep south, Virgil Tibbs, a black Philadelphia homicide detective, becomes unwittingly embroiled in a murder case when he is first accused of the crime, and then asked to solve it! Finding the killer proves to be difficult, especially when his efforts are constantly thwarted by the ignorant and bigoted town sheriff. But neither man can solve this case alone. Putting aside their differences and prejudices, they join forces in...

Based on the true story of the first black regiment to fight for the North in the Civil War. Robert Gould Shaw and Cabot Forbes are two idealistic young Bostonians that lead the regiment, Sgt. Maj. John Rawlins is the inspiration who unites the troops, and Pvt. Trip is a runaway slave who joins the regiment.

Afro is out on a mission to seek revenge for the wrongful death of his father. A warrior who travels a solitary path encountering a myriad of enemies, friends, and challenges beyond imagination.

The gripping story is told through four generations, from the capture of Kunta Kinte in Africa to his transport to Colonial America in brutal conditions through successive generations fighting to win their freedom in the Civil war. Based on Alex Haley₂s best-selling novel which has resonated with millions of Americans, it reveals powerful, universal truths about the resilience of the human spirit.

Underground tells the story of American heroes and their harrowing journey from slavery to freedom, with the legendary Harriot Tubman blazing the trail.

It is 1943 and the Germans are winning the Second World War as the U.S. suffers huge losses on the ground and in the air. Four newly recruited pilots are united by a desire to serve their country, at a time when black flyers are not welcomed in the Air Force. Now, they must undertake the riskiest mission of their lives to prove to America that courage knows no color.

Ishmael Reed's career as one of our great playwrights has long been eclipsed by his other work. Here published for the first time, Reed's plays follow the ancient tradition of using the theater as a forum in which the official versions of our history can be critiqued. Dealing with subjects that mainstream theatergoers might find disturbing--homelessness, the arbitrary entrapment of a black politician, the excesses of the radical feminist movement,...

August Wilson has already given the American theater such spell-binding plays about the black experience in 20th-century America as Ma Rainey's Black Bottom, Joe Turner's Come and Gone, and the Pulitzer Prize-winning, Fences. In his second Pulitzer Prize-winner, The Piano Lesson, Wilson has fashioned his most haunting and dramatic work yet. At the heart of the play stands the ornately carved upright piano which, as the Charles family's prized, hard-won...

After years of disagreement concerning what true happiness, success, and love really are, Dave and Clarice Johnson have finally reached a breaking point in their marriage. Clarice is hurt in a car accident and the obvious truth is that more than just her injuries need immediate attention. Their odds of making it are worsen as Clarice begins to see a physical therapist. Dave develops a friendship with Julie and her teenage son Bryson. The acceptance...