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A period of history · Movement

Films & Shows Set during the American Civil Rights Movement

Runs from1954196814 years wide

Shelfmark Liber LXVIII

Contemporary Era

The massive, largely non-violent effort to dismantle systems of legalized discrimination and secure civil rights for minorities in the United States during the latter half of the 20th century. Black people in particular had historically been disenfranchised, subject to discriminatory legislation such as the American South's "Jim Crow" laws, and faced immense legal repression. Through legal channels such as the NAACP's challenges to the courts, civil disobedience, and tireless effort, the movement secured its major victory with the passing of the Civil Rights and Voting Rights Acts of 1964 and 1968.

3
titles
3 films
3.9/5
average rating
across 3 rated titles
16%
of the span is tagged
3 of 19 titles set inside it

See the American Civil Rights Movement on the timelineEvery year from 1954 to 1968 the archive holds, and what is set in them

Compare the titles of the American Civil Rights Movement in the CanonsWhat every title on it shares, what two or three share, and what is proper to one

The Chronicle

The events and themes the archive follows through the American Civil Rights Movement, in the order they happened, each with the titles that depict it. Press a name to read about it in the threads below.

  1. 1877–1965
    Jim Crow LawsSocial
  2. 1958–1963
    Project MercuryExploration

    The first crewed spaceflight program of the United States.

  3. 1969–1970
    Rainbow CoalitionSocial

Cinematic Introduction

Every title set during the American Civil Rights Movement, by the decade it came out. A series is placed on the chart by its first season and counts as one title entity.

First on screen
Hidden Figures2016
Most recent
Judas and the Black Messiah2021

FilmsSerieseach bar is the titles released that decade

Cast of Characters

The historical people the archive’s titles put on screen in this period, grouped by what they are known for. The number is how many titles set here they appear in.

Science and Technology3

Social2

Arts1

Exploration1

Institution1

Political1

Private individual1

Historical Threads

A thread follows one event or historical theme across the archive, wherever and whenever it appears. Pick a tab to read one; they are in the order they are filed on the timeline. Pulling a thread opens up a narrowed timeline view filtered to every year that thread touches.

Project Mercurypull it on the timeline

Project

The first crewed spaceflight program of the United States. With the Soviet Union already ahead in the Space Race with the deployment of Sputnik 1 as the world's first artificial satellite, Project Mercury's goal was to successfully perform a crewed orbit of the Earth before the Soviets. However, this record would also go to the Soviets with the flight of Yuri Gagarin in 1961.

filed under 1958

Also runs throughSpace Race2Cold War

Places Connected to this Period

Every place the archive’s titles set in this period name, with each one nested under the larger place it sits inside where that place is here too. The number is how many titles set here name it.

Saltiness Across the Period

No title set here has been given a saltiness score yet. That is unrated, which is not the same as accurate.

Archive Density

16%3 of the 19 titles the archive sets between 1954 and 1968 carry the American Civil Rights Movement tag.

This measure can help illustrate cinematic hotspots within a time period by comparing which years of the overarching, actual historical time period are backed up by a cinematic release.

  1. 19540 of 4
  2. 19550 of 3
  3. 19560 of 3
  4. 19570 of 2
  5. 1958nothing set here
  6. 19590 of 2
  7. 19600 of 2
  8. 19611 of 3
  9. 19622 of 3
  10. 19630 of 1
  11. 19640 of 1
  12. 19650 of 3
  13. 19660 of 1
  14. 19670 of 3
  15. 19681 of 2

15 years on the timeline fall inside the boundaries, 1 of them with nothing set there yet. The filled part of each bar is the share carrying this period.

Share of the 7 genre taggings across 3 titles set in this period. A title filed under three genres is in three of these slices, so this is a share of taggings rather than of titles.

Credits

Directors

1Peter Farrelly1 title3.9/5unsalted2Shaka King1 title4.0/5unsalted3Theodore Melfi1 title3.8/5unsalted

Films only. Co-directors are counted individually, so a director’s solo work and their collaborations are grouped together. Average saltiness ignores any title still unsalted.

Also on the Timeline

Periods overlap freely so concurrent means the two spans share years, and the shared stretch is named. Bounded means it lies wholly inside this one, beginning and ending more than 10 years within its boundaries. Before and after are the nearest periods lying outside this one, with the gap in years shown instead. A shared thread is what the two have in common besides the calendar, and a period lying wholly outside this one can still share one.

RelationPeriodRunsShared yearsShared threadsTitles
BeforeFrench Indochina War1946–19541954none shared2
ConcurrentAlgerian War1954–19621954–1962none shared2
ConcurrentApartheid1948–19941954–1968none shared1
ConcurrentCold War1946–19911954–1968Project Mercury32
ConcurrentInformation Age1947–present1954–1968none shared1
ConcurrentSpace Race1955–19751955–1968Jim Crow LawsProject Mercury4
ConcurrentVietnam War1955–19751955–1968none shared6
AfterYears of Lead1968–19741968none shared1