Black History Month: '80s Black Cinema

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  • Do The Right Thing
  • The Color Purple
  • Coming to America
  • Purple Rain, Prince
  • Lean on Me
  • Hollywood Shuffle
  • I'm Gonna Git You Sucka
  • The Last Dragon
  • Harlem Nights
  • Krush Groove

Do the Right Thing (1989)

For this Black History Month, here's a look at groundbreaking and classic Black films of the 1980s.

Let's start with Do the Right Thing, where Spike Lee tackled the sensitive issue of racial violence in New York City. Lee played man-child pizza delivery guy Mookie, whose Brooklyn neighborhood explodes into a race riot on the hottest day of the summer. Film critics swore the flick would set off urban uprisings. Fortunately, it sparked something better: a national dialogue on racism. Lee even garnered an Oscar nomination for Best Director.

(Photo: Universal/Courtesy Everett Collection)

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