Black History Book & Movie Pairings

Have you ever read a book and not wanted the story to end? Or you immediately wanted to restart the book over and start again? Here are some books that received the movie treatment, so you can experience the story in a whole new way. These pairings are great for Black History Month but really can be experienced any time of year.

1. Roots came to life because Alex Haley set out to discover the truth behind family stories he grew up hearing. His research took him back to his African ancestor, Kunta Kinte, who was sold into slavery in the late 1700s. The book mostly focuses on Kinte's life but follows Haley's family through the Civil War and beyond. The TV movie version was an immediate hit with audiences, making LeVar Burton an instant star. 

   
2. Everyone remembers the Wizard of Oz right? Dorothy gets dropped in an odd land and makes friends with the locals. Well in 1974, a talented group of folks opened a production of The Wiz in Baltimore. The Wiz follows roughly the same story as L. Frank Baum's book but focuses on aspects of African American culture. The plot covers even more of Baum's world with the inclusion of the Winkies and retaining the difference between the Witch of the North and Glinda the Good, who got combined into one person in the original movie. Musical hits like "Ease on Down the Road" and "Home" played on radio stations at the time, helping to solidify the cultural impact of The Wiz.

3. In 1835, David Wilson published 12 Years a Slave, a slave narrative and memoir told to him by Solomon Northup. The musician was born free in New York where he frequently toured. Northup was kidnapped during a trip to Washington D.C., then sold into slavery in Louisiana. After 12 years, he finally succeeded in getting word to friends back in New York, who were able to secure his freedom. Northup's story detailed the conditions of slavery years before the Civil War, but got lost for a time until two researchers rediscovered it and republished it at the Louisiana State University Press. The film, 12 Years a Slave, came out in 2013 to much fanfare. Starring Chiwetel Ejiofor and Lupita Nyong'o, the movie won many awards including three Oscars. 

   
4. The Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) took the entertainment industry by storm. A truly watershed moment occurred with the 2018 release of the Black Panther movie, turning Chadwick Boseman, Lupita Nyong'o, and Danai Gurira into household names. Like in the comics, Boseman's T'Challa protects the hidden African country of Wakanda through diplomacy as King and through might as the Black Panther. The comic book character starred in The Fantastic Four in the 1960s but would headline his own comics by 1973. Wakanda is part of a literary legacy of Afro-futurism, a popular theme in other books and movies still today.
    
5. Another blockbuster movie, that people might not realize started as a book, is Hidden Figures. The story follows three Black women mathematicians who work for NASA in the 1960s-Katherine Goble Johnson, Dorothy Vaughan, and Mary Jackson. The film orbits around the launch of John Glenn's first space flight and how the women are all instrumental in their own ways. While the film took liberties with the timeline and unnecessarily embellished the roles of some of the white characters, audiences generally view it as a positive entry in the historical film genre. For those who want to explore more from these characters pick up the inspiration, Hidden Figures by Margot Lee Shetterly.  

Image credit: U.S. Army USAGW by Lisa Bishop, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons