
Maya Angelou
Actor · 1928 – 2014 · St. Louis, Missouri, USA
Maya Angelou (April 4, 1928 – May 28, 2014) was an American poet, memoirist, and civil rights activist. She published seven autobiographies, three books of essays, several books of poetry, and is credited with a list of plays, movies, and television shows spanning over 50 years. She received dozens of awards and more than 50 honorary degrees.
Movies24
Movie6.4DramaRomanceSoon-to-be-wed graduate student Finn Dodd develops cold feet when she suspects her fiancé is cheating on her. In order to clear her head, Finn visits her grandmother, Hy, and great aunt, Glady Joe Cleary, in Grasse, Calif. There, Finn learns that Hy and Glady Joe are members of a group of passionate quilters, and over the course of her visit she is regaled with tales of love and life by women who have collected rich experiences and much wisdom.
How to Make an American Quilt
1995 · 202 votes
Movie6.7DramaRomanceStill grieving after the murder of her boyfriend, hairdresser Justice writes poetry to deal with the pain of her loss. Unable to get to Oakland to attend a convention because of her broken-down car, Justice gets a lift with her friend, Iesha, and Iesha's postal worker boyfriend, Chicago. Along for the ride is Chicago's co-worker, Lucky, to whom Justice grows close after some initial problems. But is she ready to open her heart again?
Poetic Justice
1993 · 298 votes
Movie6.4DramaComedySouthern matriarch Madea has a lot on her plate. Her nieces, Vanessa and Lisa, have relationship troubles - Vanessa moves into Madea's house with her 2 young children and Lisa is engaged to a controlling man that her mother set her up with. In addition, Madea has just been court-ordered to become the guardian of Nikki, a rebellious runaway teenager. Madea must keep the peace and her family together while simultaneously planning her clan's reunion.
Madea's Family Reunion
2006 · 225 votes
Movie7.0FamilyMusicSesame Street's 25th Birthday: A Musical Celebration is a special produced for the beloved series' 25th anniversary. Released in a slightly different form on video in October 1993, the special was shelved for its broadcast premiere on PBS until 1994, during pledge drive season, and in many markets, aired as part of a marathon block with three show episodes.
Sesame Street's 25th Birthday: A Musical Celebration
1993 · 4 votes
Movie6.4HistoryAdventureFifteen Black men gather in South Central LA to take a cross-country bus trip to attend the Million Man March in Washington, DC in October 1995. Among the attendees are an eclectic set of characters, including a laid-off aircraft worker, a man whose at-risk son is handcuffed to him, a Black Republican, a former gangsta, a Hollywood actor, a cop of mixed racial background, and a white bus driver. All make the trek discussing issues surrounding the March, including manhood, religion, politics, sexuality, and race.
Get on the Bus
1996 · 81 votes
Movie7.2DocumentaryGeorge Orwell was one of the most visionary authors of the 20th century, whose novels 1984 and Animal Farm foretold a chilling, authoritarian future. Acclaimed director Raoul Peck interweaves clips, readings from Orwell's diary, cinematic references, and modern-day footage to craft not only a portrait of the writer, but a fresh take on how prophetic his work has become.
Orwell: 2+2=5
2025 · 48 votes
Movie6.5DocumentaryComedyAn exposé of comic proportions that only Chris Rock could pull off, GOOD HAIR visits beauty salons and hairstyling battles, scientific laboratories and Indian temples to explore the way hairstyles impact the activities, pocketbooks, sexual relationships, and self-esteem of the black community.
Good Hair
2009 · 109 votes
Movie7.0FamilyTV MovieSesame Street All-Star 25th Birthday: Stars and Street Forever! was a 1994 TV special that aired on ABC to celebrate Sesame Street's 25th anniversary. It was originally broadcast on May 18, 1994. The show featured Joe Pesci (as Ronald Grump), Corbin Bernsen (as real estate attorney, Arnie), Danny DeVito and Rhea Perlman (as a Worm TV hosts), John Goodman (as Tough Guy Helpline operator), Charles Grodin (as Chaz), Julia Louis-Dreyfus (as reporter Kathie Lee Kathie), Rosie O'Donnell (as the Good Hope Fairy), Susan Sarandon (as Bitsy), Barbara Walters (reporting for 25/25), and Regis Philbin and Kathie Lee Gifford (as themselves).
Movie7.1MusicDocumentaryPaul Simon returns to South Africa to explore the incredible journey of his historic Graceland album, including the political backlash he received for allegedly breaking the UN cultural boycott of South Africa designed to end the Apartheid regime. On the 25th anniversary of Paul Simon's GRACELAND, acclaimed documentary filmmaker Joe Berlinger offers a glimpse at the controversy surrounding the decision to record the album in South Africa despite a UN boycott of the nation, which was aimed at ending apartheid. In the run-up to an eagerly anticipated reunion concert, Simon, Quincy Jones, Peter Gabriel, David Byrne, Harry Belafonte, Paul McCartney and others reflect on the decision to record with local artists in South Africa, and the cultural impact of the album that delivered such hits as "I Know What I Know" and "You Can Call Me Al."
Paul Simon: Under African Skies
2012 · 16 votes
Movie6.3DocumentaryThe story of the Harlem Rens: the greatest basketball team you never heard of.
On the Shoulders of Giants
2011 · 3 votes
MovieComedyFamilyCome one, come all for Sesame Street's 35th anniversary musical gathering! Is there one song the whole world can sing together? Find out when Super Grover embarks on an outrageous mission. There's musical mayhem when Oscar the Grouch gets a song stuck in Big Bird's head and our yellow-feathered friend begins his own search for someone to help him name that tune.
Movie6.0FamilyMusicCan there be such a thing as too much Christmas? Find out... when a magical Christmas wish is granted and Elmo gets to see what the world would be like if every day were Christmas! You'll enjoy lots of songs and holiday cheer with Elmo and his new friend Lightning, the reindeer, and discover for yourself why Christmas is best kept to one day a year!
Sesame Street: Elmo Saves Christmas
1996 · 12 votes
Movie8.0DocumentaryA celebration of Dr. Maya Angelou by weaving her words with rare and intimate archival photographs and videos, which paint hidden moments of her exuberant life during some of America’s most defining civil rights moments. From her upbringing in the Depression-era South to her swinging soirees with Malcolm X in Ghana to her inaugural speech for President Bill Clinton, we are given special access to interviews with Dr. Angelou whose indelible charm and quick wit make it easy to love her.
Maya Angelou: And Still I Rise
2016 · 16 votes
Movie6.3DocumentaryOn the evening of Sept. 7, 1996, Mike Tyson, the WBC heavyweight champion, attempted to take Bruce Seldon’s WBA title at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas. At this point in his career, Tyson’s fights had become somewhat of a cultural phenomenon, where the ever present hype of the professional boxing scene would come face to face with the worlds of big business, Hollywood, and hip hop. Sitting ringside was controversial rapper Tupac Shakur. Shakur and Tyson were friends, a feeling of kinship linked them as each rose to stardom from poverty only to be thrown in prison. Following Tyson’s victory, Shakur and “Iron Mike” were to celebrate at an after party, but the rap star never arrived. Shakur was brutally gunned down later that night, and the scene in Las Vegas quickly turned from would-be celebratory revelry to ill fated and inopportune tragedy.
One Night in Vegas
2010 · 10 votes
MovieDocumentaryFamilyI HOPE YOU DANCE: the power and spirit of song is the first full length documentary film to explore how one extraordinary song has transformed people's lives in profound, meaningful and sometimes startling ways. It is a film about hope, faith, optimism and the power of music to inspire and heal. The film highlights true stories of Love, Inspiration, Second Chances, Forgiveness and Miracles: A father who honors his daughter's memory by saving four lives through organ donation; a homeless shelter that teaches ballroom dancing, literally getting people back on their feet; a woman who miraculously recovers from a devastating spinal cord injury that should have killed her instantly; a couple who overcome the pain of their respective pasts to find love and redemption; two Nashville songwriters whose life experiences combine to create breathtaking piece of music for the ages.
Movie6.3MusicDramaIn the early 1900s, the fictional Catfish Row section of Charleston, South Carolina serves as home to a black fishing community. Crippled beggar Porgy, who travels about in a goat-drawn cart, loves the drug-addicted Bess, who lives with stevedore Crown, the local bully.
Porgy and Bess
1959 · 27 votes
MovieDocumentaryMusicThe composer-arranger-producer is honored in a tribute taped in 1997.
Movie7.2ComedyTV MovieRichard Pryor wanders around the NBC Studio, encountering various eccentrics. Meanwhile, the Reverend James L. White, the Ugandan dictator Idi Amin Dada and others are taping their own segments.
The Richard Pryor Special?
1977 · 6 votes
Movie8.0DocumentaryCBS News looks at Malcolm X, focusing on his public life from 1959 to his assassination in 1965, suggesting that his death was a great loss to the nation. The film intercuts archival footage of Malcolm and interviews with family, friends, colleagues, scholars, and writers. CBS documents Malcolm's move from being Elijah Muhammad's deputy in the Nation of Islam to his embrace of Islam: his new links with the civil rights movement posed a real threat to the powers that be. CBS details his death after secret FBI acts to increase the rift between Muhammad and Malcolm. Maya Angelou, Dick Gregory, and Andrew Young offer trenchant comments. "He was our manhood," eulogized Ossie Davis.
The Real Malcolm X
1992 · 1 votes
Movie7.0DocumentaryComedyOn the heels of the Civil Rights Movement, one fearless black pioneer reconceived a Harlem Renaissance for a new era, ushering giants and rising stars of black American culture onto the national television stage. He was hip. He was smart. He was innovative, political, and gay. In his personal fight for social equality, this man ensured the Revolution would be televised. The man was Ellis Haizlip. The Revolution was soul!
Mr. SOUL!
2018 · 3 votes
MovieDocumentarySong for Cesar is a documentary film with a unique view of the life and legacy of Cesar Chavez and the farmworker movement. The film tells a previously untold story about the musicians and artists who dedicated their time, creativity and even reputations to peacefully advance Cesar Chavez's movement to gain equality and justice for America's suffering farmworkers.
Movie7.2TV MovieAt the birth of two boys, one white and one black, a mysterious and powerful Conjure Woman (Maya Angelou) prophesies that they will start the change. Growing up as best friends in rural Georgia in the 1940s, the boys make a discovery that leads the town's new sheriff, Frank Richards (Dean Cain), to reopen the investigation of the unsolved murders of three black men. While the town would prefer that the truth remain hidden, the sheriff pursues the case, determined to see justice prevail. The Runaway is a stirring story of how friendship, determination and conviction can generate racial change in one heart or an entire town.
The Runaway
2000 · 6 votes
MovieDocumentaryIn this documentary profile, Bill Moyers travels with Maya Angelou to Stamps, Arkansas, the segregated Southern town where she grew up. Revisiting the landscapes and memories of her youth, Angelou reflects on race, memory, and the experiences that shaped her voice as one of America’s most celebrated writers. (Note: Originally produced as an episode of the PBS series "Creativity with Bill Moyers" (1982), this program has circulated independently under the title Portrait of Maya Angelou through library and educational distribution, justifying its treatment as a standalone documentary listing.)
Movie7.0DramaTV MovieThe devastating story of brothers Lafayette and Pharoah Rivers, children of the Chicago ghetto, is powerfully told here by a Wall Street Journal reporter who first met the boys in 1985 when they were 10 and 7, respectively. Their family includes a mother, a frequently absent father, an older brother, and younger triplets. We witness the horrors of growing up in an ill-maintained housing project tyrannized by drug gangs and where murders and shootings frequently occur.
There Are No Children Here
1993 · 3 votes
Series18
TV7.2Sci-Fi & FantasyDramaMonica, an angel, is tasked with bringing guidance and messages from God to various people who are at a crossroads in their lives.
Touched by an Angel
1994 · 188 votes
TV6.1ComedyDocumentaryThe best in the performing arts from across America and around the world including a diverse programming portfolio of classical music, opera, popular song, musical theater, dance, drama, and performance documentaries.
Great Performances
1971 · 25 votes
TV6.5DocumentaryTV's most-watched history series brings to life the compelling stories from our past that inform our understanding of the world today.
American Experience
1988 · 48 votes
TV4.5DocumentaryIntimate Portrait is a biographical television series on the Lifetime Television cable network focusing on different celebrities, which includes interviews with each subject. Among the people profiled were Grace Kelly, Natalie Wood, Carly Simon, Jackie Kennedy, Katharine Hepburn, Carol Burnett, Tanya Tucker, and Marla Maples.
Intimate Portrait
1993 · 5 votes
TV6.9ComedyFamilyThe everyday life of Moesha Mitchell, a vivacious young woman juggling romance, school, ever-changing family dynamics, and friendships.
Moesha
1996 · 50 votes
TV7.0DocumentaryAmerican Masters is a PBS television series which produces biographies on enduring writers, musicians, visual and performing artists, dramatists, filmmakers, and others who have left an indelible impression on the cultural landscape of the United States.
American Masters
1986 · 25 votes
TV6.3AnimationHappily Ever After: Fairy Tales for Every Child is an American anthology animated television series.
Happily Ever After: Fairy Tales for Every Child
1995 · 11 votes
TV8.7Talk ShowIn-depth interviews with hard-hitting questions and sensitive topics being covered as famous personalities from all walks of life talk about the highs and lows in their lives.
HARDtalk
1997 · 3 votes
TV6.2NewsThe Early Show is an American morning television show which was broadcast by CBS from New York City from 1999 to 2012. The program aired live from 7 to 9 a.m. Eastern Time Monday through Friday in the Eastern time zone; most affiliates in the Central, Mountain, and Pacific time zones aired the show on tape-delay from 7 to 9 a.m. local time. The Saturday edition aired live from 7 to 9 a.m. Eastern Time as well, but a number of affiliates did not carry it or aired it later on tape-delay. It premiered on November 1, 1999, and was the newest of the major networks' morning shows, although CBS has made several attempts to program in the morning slot since 1954. The show aired as a division of CBS News. The Early Show, like many of its predecessors, traditionally ran last in the ratings to its rivals, NBC's Today and ABC's Good Morning America. Much like NBC's The Today Show and The Tonight Show, the title The Early Show was analogous to that of CBS's late-night talk show, The Late Show.
The Early Show
1999 · 10 votes
TV7.4DramaThe epic tale of celebrated Pulitzer-prize winning author Alex Haley's ancestors as portrayed in the acclaimed twelve hour mini-series Roots, was first told in his 1976 bestseller Roots: The Saga of an American Family. The docu-drama covers a period of history that begins in mid-1700s Gambia, West Africa and concludes during post-Civil War United States, over 100 years later. This 1977 miniseries eventually won 9 Emmy awards, a Golden Globe award, and a Peabody award, and still stands as the most watched miniseries in U.S. history.
Roots
1977 · 252 votes
TV4.1Talk ShowFamilyThe Rosie O'Donnell Show was an American daytime television talk show hosted and produced by actress and comedian Rosie O'Donnell. It aired for six seasons from 1996 to 2002. Topics often discussed on the show include Broadway, children, extended families and charitable works, people and organizations. The show was based out of Studio 8G at NBC's Rockefeller Center studios in New York City, NY, USA and was produced and syndicated by KidRo Productions, Telepictures Productions and Warner Bros. Television.
The Rosie O'Donnell Show
1996 · 19 votes
TV6.9DocumentaryHit rewind and explore the most iconic moments and influential people of The Nineties, the decade that gave us the Internet, DVDs, and other cultural and political milestones.
The Nineties
2017 · 23 votes
- TV10.0Comedy
The Gregory Hines Show is an American television sitcom that aired on CBS. The series premiered on Monday, September 15, 1997 before airing on September 19, 1997 as a part of the network's Block Party Friday night lineup. It ended its run on February 27, 1998 with 15 episodes aired, out of the 22 that were produced. It was the only show on the Block Party lineup that was not produced by Miller-Boyett Productions.
The Gregory Hines Show
1997 · 1 votes
TV8.8DramaLong-running anthology program sponsored by Hallmark Cards. Beginning in 1951 and continuing into 2019, the series received 80 Emmy Awards, 24 Christopher Awards, 11 Peabody Awards, 9 Golden Globes, and 4 Humanitas Prizes. Early seasons were a weekly live drama, eventually transitioning to videotaped and then filmed productions broadcast as occasional specials.
Hallmark Hall of Fame
1951 · 8 votes
TV7.5DocumentaryIn this Sundance Channel original series, leading innovators and creative visionaries come together to discuss their passions and creative processes to provide viewers with an inside glimpse into the inspiration and motivation that made these Iconoclasts who they are today. World leaders and entrepreneurs, actors and artists, athletes and musicians all appear to help make the series a cult favorite for a full six seasons, in partnership with Grey Goose Entertainment.
Iconoclasts
2005 · 2 votes
TV6.4ComedyThe Richard Pryor Show is an American comedy variety series starring Richard Pryor. It premiered on NBC on Tuesday, September 13, 1977 at 8 p.m. opposite ABC's popular television shows Laverne & Shirley and Happy Days. The show was produced by Rocco Urbisci for Burt Sugarman Productions. It was conceived out of a special that Pryor did for NBC in May 1977. Because the special was a major hit, both critically and commercially, Pryor was given a chance to host and star in his own television show. TV Guide included the series in their 2013 list of 60 shows that were "Cancelled Too Soon".
The Richard Pryor Show
1977 · 15 votes
TV7.5DocumentaryHenry Louis Gates Jr., Harvard's chair of Afro-American Studies, travels the length and breadth of the United States to take the temperature of black America at the start of the new century. He explores this rich and diverse landscape, social as well as geographic, and meets the people who are defining black America, from the most famous and influential to those at the grassroots.
America Beyond the Color Line
2004 · 2 votes
- TVDocumentary
A weekly series with alternating interviewer: Harvard psycho-historian Doris Kerns; poet, playwright and author Maya Angelou; syndicated columnist George Will and populist chronicler Studs Terkel. Each program featured one of the four in a 30-minute film or videotape report on someone who contributed to the ideas and issues of America.