Movies like The Heritage of Slavery - Of Black America (1968)
The best movies like The Heritage of Slavery - Of Black America (1968) are The Birth of a Nation (2016), 12 Years a Slave (2013) and The Butler (2013). If The Heritage of Slavery - Of Black America hooked you, these 20 similar films are what to watch next, and every pick says why it matches.

Quick picks
- Highest rated12 Years a Slave (2013)7.9/10 from 12,359 votes
- NewestShirley (2024)Released 2024
The Birth of a Nation (2016)
Nat Turner, a former slave in America, leads a liberation movement in 1831 to free African-Americans in Virginia that results in a violent retaliation from whites.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like this12 Years a Slave (2013)
In the pre-Civil War United States, Solomon Northup, a free black man from upstate New York, is abducted and sold into slavery. Facing cruelty as well as unexpected kindnesses Solomon struggles not only to stay alive, but to retain his dignity. In the twelfth year of his unforgettable odyssey, Solomon’s chance meeting with a Canadian abolitionist will forever alter his life.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Absolute CinemaMovies like thisThe Butler (2013)
Cecil Gaines was a sharecropper's son who grew up in the 1920s as a domestic servant for the white family who casually destroyed his. Eventually striking out on his own, Cecil becomes a hotel valet of such efficiency and discreteness in the 1950s that he becomes a butler in the White House itself. There, Cecil would serve numerous US Presidents over the decades as a passive witness of history with the American Civil Rights Movement gaining momentum even as his family has troubles of its own. As his wife, Gloria, struggles with alcoholism and his defiant eldest son, Louis, strives for a just world, Cecil must decide whether he should take action in his own way.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Worth the HypeMovies like thisThe Great Debaters (2007)
The true story of a brilliant but politically radical debate team coach who uses the power of words to transform a group of underdog African-American college students into a historical powerhouse that took on the Harvard elite.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Worth the HypeMovies like thisDaughters of the Dust (1991)
In 1902, a Gullah family on the Sea Islands off South Carolina decide whether to migrate to the mainland, risking their unique cultural heritage.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisMedium Cool (1969)
John Cassellis is the toughest TV news reporter around. After extensively reporting about violence and racial tensions in poor communities, he discovers that his network is helping the FBI by granting them access to his footage to find suspects.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisFree State of Jones (2016)
In 1863, Mississippi farmer Newt Knight serves as a medic for the Confederate Army. Opposed to slavery, Knight would rather help the wounded than fight the Union. After his nephew dies in battle, Newt returns home to Jones County to safeguard his family but is soon branded an outlaw deserter. Forced to flee, he finds refuge with a group of runaway slaves hiding out in the swamps. Forging an alliance with the slaves and other farmers, Knight leads a rebellion that would forever change history.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisEmancipation (2022)
Inspired by the gripping true story of a man who would do anything for his family—and for freedom. When Peter, an enslaved man, risks his life to escape and return to his family, he embarks on a perilous journey of love and endurance.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Worth the HypeMovies like thisI Am Not Your Negro (2017)
Working from the text of James Baldwin’s unfinished final novel, director Raoul Peck creates a meditation on what it means to be Black in the United States.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Worth the HypeMovies like thisKiller of Sheep (1978)
An African-American man working at a slaughterhouse in the Watts area of Los Angeles leads a dissatisfied and listless existence.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisPretty Baby (1978)
In 1917 New Orleans, a 12-year-old girl is raised in a brothel by her prostitute mother.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Worth the HypeMovies like thisThe Best of Enemies (2019)
Centers on the unlikely relationship between Ann Atwater, an outspoken civil rights activist, and C.P. Ellis, a local Ku Klux Klan leader who reluctantly co-chaired a community summit, battling over the desegregation of schools in Durham, North Carolina during the racially-charged summer of 1971. The incredible events that unfolded would change Durham and the lives of Atwater and Ellis forever.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Worth the HypeMovies like thisLife of a King (2013)
The true story of one man's mission to give inner city kids of Washington DC something he never had - a future. After being incarcerated for eighteen years, Eugene Brown established the Big Chair Chess Club to get kids off the streets and working towards lives they never believed they were capable of. This is his inspirational story.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Worth the HypeMovies like thisBeastie Boys Story (2020)
Here's a little story they're about to tell... Mike Diamond and Adam Horovitz share the story of their band and 40 years of friendship in a live documentary experience directed by friend, collaborator, and their former grandfather, Spike Jonze.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Worth the HypeMovies like thisBelle (2013)
Dido Elizabeth Bell, the illegitimate, mixed-race daughter of a Royal Navy admiral, plays an important role in the campaign to abolish slavery in England.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Worth the HypeMovies like thisBand of Angels (1957)
Living in Kentucky prior to the Civil War, Amantha Starr is a privileged young woman. Her widowed father, a wealthy plantation owner, dotes on her and sends her to the best schools. When he dies suddenly Amantha's world is turned upside down. She learns that her father had been living on borrowed money and that her mother was actually a slave and her father's mistress.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisMandingo (1975)
Warren Maxwell, the owner of a run-down plantation, pressures his son, Hammond, to marry and produce an heir to inherit the plantation. Hammond settles on his own cousin, Blanche, but purchases a sex slave when he returns from the honeymoon. He also buys his father a new Mandingo slave named Mede to breed and train as a prize-fighter.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisSympathy for the Devil (1968)
While The Rolling Stones rehearse "Sympathy for the Devil" in the studio, an alternating narrative reflects on 1968 society, politics and culture through five different vignettes.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisShirley (2024)
Shirley Chisholm makes a trailblazing run for the 1972 Democratic presidential nomination after becoming the first Black woman elected to Congress.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like this13th (2016)
An in-depth look at the prison system in the United States and how it reveals the nation's history of racial inequality.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Worth the HypeMovies like this
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Frequently asked questions
What are the best movies like The Heritage of Slavery - Of Black America?
The closest matches to The Heritage of Slavery - Of Black America are The Birth of a Nation (2016), 12 Years a Slave (2013) and The Butler (2013). Below are 17 more, each with the reason it matches.
What should I watch after The Heritage of Slavery - Of Black America?
Start with The Birth of a Nation (2016), the closest match to The Heritage of Slavery - Of Black America.
What is the highest-rated movie like The Heritage of Slavery - Of Black America?
12 Years a Slave (2013), rated 7.9/10 by 12,359 TMDB users.
What is the newest movie like The Heritage of Slavery - Of Black America?
Shirley (2024) is the most recent release on this list.
Are there English movies like The Heritage of Slavery - Of Black America?
Yes: The Birth of a Nation (2016), 12 Years a Slave (2013) and The Butler (2013).
How are movies similar to The Heritage of Slavery - Of Black America chosen?
First come films that Trakt’s viewers watch alongside The Heritage of Slavery - Of Black America, then TMDB’s recommendations and films it rates as similar in story and genre. Each pick says which signal put it there.



















