30 Classic Black Movies From the '90s

While Black people have a long history of shining on film—even in the midst of racism and bigotry—the 1990s were a special time for Black actors and directors. From action films and thrillers to comedies to dramas, Black media in the 1990s grew to levels that hadn't been seen before.

In 1991, The New York Times Magazine reported that by the end of that year, several studios including Warner Brothers, Columbia, Goldwyn, New Line and Island World, would have released 19 films predominately featuring Black actors and/or directors, which was more than what was released in the previous decade.

And while the '90s boom led to a drought in the 2000's, many of these '90s directors recently spoke with The New York Times to explain that they think the coming years will be different. "I would also add that there are a lot of African-Americans who are in power positions right now, even on the financing level. That didn’t really exist in the ’90s," Matty Rich, director of 1991's Straight Out of Brooklyn, explained. "People like Byron Allen — an African-American who is the head of a film distributor and a financier."

However, we can't look forward without looking back, and the movies below are the some of the best released in the '90s, and each film uniquely centers on the Black experience in its own way. So without further ado, here are the 30 best Black movies of the 1990s.