The Black American Fight For Freedom To Premiere July 1 On Streaming Service BBC Select
New documentary explores the struggle for a fair system in education, housing, and criminal justice since the Civil Rights Act in America
New York, NY – Announced today, streaming service BBC SELECT will exclusively premiere the all-new documentary The Black American Fight for Freedom on Thursday, July 1. The documentary will also be made available for free for 30 days, in the U.S only, on BBC SELECT through Amazon Prime Video, the Apple TV app, BBCSelect.com and BBC SELECT’s YouTube channel.
The Black American Fight for Freedom includes interviews with Elise Boddie, a nationally-recognized expert in civil rights, award-winning legal scholar and the Rutgers-Newark Director, Institute for the Study of Global Racial Justice; Elizabeth Hinton, an American historian and author of the new book America on Fire: The Untold History of Police Violence and Black Rebellion Since the 1960s; and more.
Synopsis
According to the U.S. Bureau of Justice Statistics (BJS), in America, if you are Black, you are five times more likely to go to prison than if you’re white. And the typical white family has eight times the wealth of the typical Black family. 50 years on from the promise of equality and the Civil Rights Act, The Black American Fight for Freedom examines key moments where America had the chance to become more equal and why that didn’t happen. Through compelling interviews with those who were at the forefront of the struggle for a fair system in three areas – education, housing, and criminal justice – The Black American Fight for Freedom explores the key court cases, Supreme Court rulings, and laws that failed to bridge the gap. This powerful film gives us the shocking context to the anger felt by the millions of people who took to the streets during the Black Lives Matter protests. The movement was not just calling for an end to police brutality, but was asking for something that had been pledged 50 years ago: racial equality.
Producer and director is Des Daniels and executive producer is Sarah Waldron.
The Black American Fight for Freedom joins BBC SELECT’s expanding slate of exclusive all-new and award-winning documentaries and series that cover culture, politics, and ideas. BBC SELECT is available on Amazon Prime Video and the Apple TV app in the U.S. and Canada.
For further information, please contact:
Devin Johnson
BBC Studios
devin.johnson.freelance@bbc.com
+1917 376 4170
Amy Mulcair
BBC Studios
+1646 404 0941
About BBC SELECT
BBC SELECT, launched in February 2021 in the U.S. and Canada, is an ad-free, streaming service offering an antidote to the predictable – all-new, premiere documentaries across culture, politics and ideas – an area of significant expertise for the BBC. Available on Amazon Prime Video Channels and the Apple TV app, BBC SELECT is owned and run by BBC Studios – a global creator, producer and distributor of unparalleled British content globally.
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