Movies like Nightjohn

If you like "Nightjohn" you are looking for sentimental, sincere and uplifting movies about / with racism, slave, slave trade, slavery, illiteracy, american civil war and racial discrimination themes of Drama genre shot in USA.
Find your next favorite and similar movies in two steps: 1. Identify all themes of interest from this film (block below). 2. Look for them in the presented list.
Nightjohn (1996)
 6.8
 473
Nightjohn (1996)
Genre: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 92 min.
Story: Charles Burnett directs this movie about John, a man of many talents, including one forbidden skill: he can read. When he teaches a young slave girl named Sarny to read and write, she learns an unforgettable lesson about the power of words and the true meaning of freedom. A wonderful movie about the power of literacy and the risk it took to educate slaves in the Ante-Bellum South before the heartbreak of the Civil War.
Style: sentimental, sincere, uplifting, touching, serious, emotional, realistic, contemplative, learning
Plot: racism, slave, slave trade, slavery, illiteracy, american civil war, racial discrimination, american history, plantation, black, teaching, civil rights, racial issues, literacy, blaxploitation, human exploitation, black slave, fighting the system, human spirit, life is a bitch, injustice, self discovery, discrimination, society, idealism ...
Time: 19th century
Place: america, american

Movie in categories

Most similar movies to Nightjohn

The list contains related movies ordered by similarity. Recommendation engine sorted out serious, realistic, sincere and emotional films with plots about society, racism, interracial relations, life is a bitch, african american, injustice and black mostly in Drama, History and Adventure genres. Some movies like Nightjohn: A House Divided (2000), The Color Purple (1985), Sudie and Simpson (1990), Selma, Lord, Selma (1999), Ruby Bridges (1998). The matching attributes are highlighted in bold.
A House Divided (2000)
Genre: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 101 min.
Story: In the aftermath of the terrible Civil War which has devastated the South, Amanda America Dixon returns home to find she has become the sole heir to a vast cotton plantation. But the dreadful secret which has blighted her life threatens to deprive ...
Style: suspenseful, touching, sincere, serious, realistic ...
Plot: slavery, white male black female relationship, slave, mixed race child, family relations, family secret, interracial relations, inheritance, racism, social injustice, racial prejudice, secret ...
Time: victorian era, 19th century
Place: georgia
Similarity:
100%
The Color Purple (1985)
Genre: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 154 min.
Story: An epic tale spanning forty years in the life of Celie, an African-American woman living in the South who survives incredible abuse and bigotry. After Celie's abusive father marries her off to the equally debasing "Mister" Albert ...
Style: sentimental, inspirational, touching, sincere, emotional ...
Audience: chick flick, girls' night
Plot: african american, sexual abuse, incest, lgbtq, domestic violence, life is a bitch, rape, racial discrimination, feminism, incest rape, wife abuse, abusive relationship ...
Time: edwardian era, 20th century, 1930s, year 1985, 1920s ...
Place: africa, southern usa, usa, tennessee, georgia
Similarity:
100%
Sudie and Simpson (1990)
Genre: Adventure, Drama, Romance
Country: USA
Duration: 95 min.
Story: A television movie about the friendship that develops between a young white girl and an older black man in a racist, rural Georgia town during the 1940s.
Style: contemplative, uplifting, thought provoking, sentimental, emotional ...
Plot: youth, black, racism, small town, false accusation, friendship, interracial relations, injustice, family relations, friends, social relations, discrimination ...
Time: 1940s
Place: georgia, usa, southern usa
Similarity:
100%
Selma, Lord, Selma (1999)
Genre: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 94 min.
Story: In 1965 Alabama, an 11 year old girl (Jurnee Smollett) is touched by a speech by Martin Luther King, Jr. (Clifton Powell) and becomes a devout follower. But her resolution is tested when she joins others in the famed march from Selma to Montgomery. ...
Style: gothic, realistic, serious, uplifting, captivating ...
Audience: kids
Plot: racism, african american, civil rights, racial issues, racial discrimination, martin luther king, blaxploitation, black, interracial relations, social decay, discrimination, youth ...
Time: 60s, year 1965
Place: alabama, america, usa
Similarity:
37%
Movie in collections
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 1K
Ruby Bridges (1998)
Genre: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 96 min.
Story: The true story of Ruby Bridges, an African-American girl who, in 1960 at age 6, helped to integrate the all-white schools of New Orleans. Although she was the only black girl to come to the school she was sent to, (and since all the white mothers ...
Style: uplifting, political, inspirational, contemplative, serious ...
Audience: family outing, kids
Plot: racism, african american, civil rights, racial discrimination, black, art, blaxploitation, black history, education, school, interracial relations, injustice ...
Time: 60s
Place: america, louisiana, usa, new orleans
Similarity:
32%
A Raisin in the Sun (2008)
Genre: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 131 min.
Story: Dreams can make a life worth living, but they can also be dashed by bad decisions. This is the crossroads whare the Younger family find themselves when their father passes away and leaves them with $10,000 in life insurance money. Should they buy a ...
Style: emotional, sentimental, sincere, serious, touching ...
Plot: racism, racial discrimination, family relations, discrimination, injustice, social differences, parents and children, rich and poor, follow your dream, single parent, couple relations, black ...
Time: 50s
Place: usa, america, chicago
Similarity:
31%
A Gathering of Old Men (1987)
Genre: Drama
Country: USA, West Germany
Duration: 91 min.
Story: A regular day in a Louisiana sugarcane plantation changes course when a local white farmer is shot in self defense. A group of old, black men takes a courageous step by coming forward en masse to take responsibility for the killing of a white ...
Style: contemplative, serious, realistic, thought provoking, touching ...
Plot: old man, black, civil rights, racism, dedicated lawyer, life is a bitch, fighting the system, legal, society, false arrest, false accusation, interracial relations ...
Time: 80s
Place: louisiana, usa, southern usa
Similarity:
30%
 7.3
 919
Freedom Song (2000)
Genre: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 112 min.
Story: Freedom Song (2000) is a made-for-TV film based on true stories of the Civil Rights Movement in Mississippi in the 1960s. It tells the story of the struggle of African Americans to register to vote in the fictional town of Quinlan. In the midst of ...
Style: thought provoking, sincere, captivating, emotional, political ...
Plot: african american, racism, fighting the system, interracial relations, rebellion, life is a bitch, injustice, teenage life, discrimination, parents and children, society, hopes ...
Time: 90s
Place: mississippi, usa
Similarity:
30%
Movie in collections
 7.3
 2K
Conrack (1974)
Genre: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 106 min.
Story: A young, white teacher is assigned to an isolated island off the coast of South Carolina populated mostly by poor black families. He finds that the basically illiterate, neglected children there know so little of the world outside their island.
Style: deep, realistic, serious, uplifting, thought provoking ...
Plot: teacher, racism, school teacher, education, youth, racial discrimination, american south, african american, humanist, teaching, black history, blaxploitation ...
Time: 70s, 20th century, 60s, year 1969
Place: south carolina, america, usa, southern usa
Similarity:
30%
The Sky Is Gray (1980)
Genre: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 46 min.
Story: Drama - From Ernest J. Gaines, author of "The Autobiography of Miss Jane Pittman," comes a deceptively simple, yet emotionally complex tale of a young boy's discovery of what it's like to be black in Louisiana during the ...
Style: thought provoking, uplifting, serious, realistic, touching ...
Plot: racism, african american, racial discrimination, youth, blaxploitation, family relations, injustice, society, life is a bitch, parents and children, interracial relations, bittersweet ...
Time: 1940s
Place: louisiana
Similarity:
30%
A Lesson Before Dying (1999)
Genre: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 105 min.
Story: In the 1940's South, an African-American man is wrongly accused of the killing a a white store owner. In his defense, his white attorney equates him with a lowly hog, to indicate that he didn't have the sense to know what he was doing. ...
Style: powerful, uplifting, thought provoking, serious, realistic ...
Plot: racism, black, politics, passion, aunt, blaxploitation, racial discrimination, stage play, false accusation, interracial relations, urban ghetto life, wrongfully committed ...
Time: 1940s
Place: usa
Similarity:
29%
Race to Freedom: The Underground Railroad (1994)
Genre: Drama, History
Country: Canada
Duration: 91 min.
Story: A number of slaves risk their lives to escape their masters with their only help coming from the famous secret slave escape network.
Style: edutainment, political, captivating, realistic, serious ...
Plot: racism, slavery, african american, slave trade, slave, civil war, american civil war, civil rights, black, blaxploitation, american history, underground railroad ...
Time: 19th century
Place: america, canada, north carolina
Similarity:
29%
Uncle Tom's Cabin (1987)
Genre: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 110 min.
Story: The life of an aging black slave, Tom, and the people he interacts with.
Style: emotional, poignant, historical drama, educational, sentimental ...
Audience: adult
Plot: slavery, black slave, racial injustice, oppression, injustice, suffering, bondage, civil war, african american, family bonds, resilience, plantation ...
Time: 19th century, victorian era
Place: kentucky, new orleans, louisiana
Similarity:
28%
The Autobiography of Miss Jane Pittman (1974)
Genre: Drama, History
Country: USA
Duration: 110 min.
Story: In February, 1962, as the civil rights movement reaches Bayonne, Louisiana, a New York journalist arrives to interview Jane Pittman, who has just turned 110. She tells him her story dating back to her earliest memories before slavery ended. In ...
Style: political, epic, non-linear, thought provoking, captivating ...
Plot: civil rights, african american, racism, slavery, black, plantation, discrimination, journalism, slave trade, blaxploitation, female protagonist, black history ...
Time: 19th century, 20th century, 1860s, 1940s, 1870s ...
Place: america, southern usa, louisiana, usa, ohio ...
Similarity:
28%
 6.4
 1K
Shadrach (1998)
Genre: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 88 min.
Story: In 1935, 99-year-old former slave Shadrach asks to be buried on the soil where he was born to slavery, and that land is owned by the large Dabney family, consisting of Vernon, Trixie and their seven children, and to bury a black man on that land is ...
Style: independent film, touching, emotional, sentimental, sincere ...
Plot: slavery, african american, old man, segregation, slave, social justice, interracial, youth, slave trade, suburbs, interracial relations, family relations ...
Time: 1930s, year 1998
Place: virginia, usa, alabama, california
Similarity:
28%
 5.3
 917
Heart of Dixie (1989)
Genre: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 95 min.
Story: Set at a Southern college during the 1950s, three co-eds (Ally Sheedy, Virginia Madsen and Phoebe Cates) re-assess their values in light of the burgeoning civil rights movement.
Style: independent film, thought provoking, emotional, touching, sincere ...
Audience: girls' night
Plot: campus, fraternity, sorority, coming of age, interracial relations, college, racism, injustice, opposites attract, love and romance, journalism, media ...
Time: year 1989, 50s, 1950s
Place: alabama, usa, southern usa
Similarity:
28%
Blood Done Sign My Name (2010)
Genre: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 128 min.
Story: A drama based on the true story in which a black Vietnam-era veteran is allegedly murdered by a local white businessman who is later exonerated. The plot focuses on the role of a local high school teacher and the civil unrest that followed the ...
Style: thought provoking, disturbing, captivating, realistic, serious ...
Plot: racism, murder, social differences, introspection, life is a bitch, society, discrimination, social decay, injustice, small town life, small town, murderer ...
Time: 70s, 20th century
Place: north carolina, usa
Similarity:
27%
10,000 Black Men Named George (2002)
Genre: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 95 min.
Story: In the 1920s, the rights of American workers to join a labor union was still considered an open question, and African-Americans were routinely denied their civil and economic rights. 10,000 Black Men Named George, the title, refers to the fact ...
Style: thought provoking, captivating, disturbing, tense, contemplative ...
Plot: african american, racism, labor union, interracial relations, injustice, rise to the top, ambition, fighting the system, life is a bitch, rebellion, workplace, dishonesty ...
Time: 1920s, 1930s
Place: america
Similarity:
27%
Movie in collections
 6.5
 7K
Cadence (1990)
Genre: Drama
Country: USA, Canada
Duration: 97 min.
Story: As punishment for drunken, rebellious behavior, a young white soldier is thrown into a stockade populated entirely by black inmates. But instead of falling victim to racial hatred, the soldier joins forces with his fellow prisoners and rises up ...
Style: independent film, inspirational, captivating, realistic, serious ...
Plot: prison, racism, african american, black, time travel, exodus, sergeant, army life, society, hopes, soldier, buddies ...
Time: 60s, 20th century
Similarity:
27%
 7.1
 246
White Water (2015)
Genre: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 84 min.
Story: White Water is the story of a 7 year-old black kid in segregated 1963 Opelika, Alabama who becomes obsessed with the desire to taste the water from the "white's only" drinking fountain and sets out on a quest to do the unthinkable: ...
Style: touching, suspenseful, sentimental, serious, realistic
Plot: young heroes, missing child, discrimination, interracial relations, racism, family relations, parents and children, family problems, obsession, youth, society, life is a bitch ...
Time: 60s, 20th century
Place: alabama, usa
Similarity:
26%
 7.2
 26K
Manderlay (2005)
Genre: Drama
Country: Denmark, Sweden, Netherlands, France, Germany, UK, Italy, USA
Duration: 133 min.
Story: In 1933, after leaving Dogville, Grace Margaret Mulligan sees a slave being punished at a cotton farm called Manderlay. Officially slavery is illegal and Grace stands up against the owners of the farm. She stays with some gangsters in Manderlay and ...
Style: disturbing, bleak, thought provoking, philosophical, art house ...
Audience: adult
Plot: racism, slavery, plantation, gangster, starvation, blacks and whites, fighting the system, flashback, interracial relations, father daughter relationship, class struggle, righting the wronged ...
Time: 1930s, year 2005, year 2006, 20th century
Place: america, usa, southern usa, alabama, africa
Similarity:
26%
Having Our Say: The Delany Sisters' First 100 Years (1999)
Genre: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 100 min.
Story: Tells the story of Sadie and Bessie Delany, two African-American (they preferred "colored") sisters who both lived past the age of 100. They grew up on a North Carolina college campus, the daughters of the first African-American Episcopal ...
Style: realistic, serious, gloomy, emotional
Plot: racism, black, african american, racial discrimination, dentist, interracial relations, discrimination, biopic, family relations, lifestyle, life is a bitch, journalism ...
Time: 1900s, 1910s, 20th century
Place: north carolina, new york
Similarity:
26%
 6.9
 705
Ellen Foster (1997)
Genre: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 94 min.
Story: After her mother's death, a young girl is separated from her abusive father and is sent between her various friends and relatives, always longing to find a place to call home.
Style: contemplative, serious, realistic, uplifting, bleak ...
Plot: adoption, youth, foster child, child abuse, child care, disease, innocence lost, dysfunctional family, abusive father, homeless, society, unfulfillment ...
Time: 90s
Similarity:
26%
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Stories on Human Rights (2008)
Genre: Drama
Country: Russia, Germany, Italy
Duration: 70 min.
Story: 20 short films about human rights.
Style: touching, sentimental, serious, gloomy, contemplative ...
Plot: human spirit, introspection, redemption, youth, life is a bitch, social differences, discrimination, idealism, injustice, hopes, society, human nature ...
Time: 21st century
Place: africa, asia, usa, europe
Similarity:
26%
Always Outnumbered (1998)
Genre: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 104 min.
Story: An ex-con moves to L.A. to find work and creates a disturbance by fighting for a position. More importantly he touches the lives of many of his neighbors including an older man dying of cancer, a young married couple whose husband is too proud to ...
Style: hood, crime drama, realistic, serious, rough
Plot: black, cancer, ex convict, gang, blaxploitation, ghetto, retirement home, terminal illness, couples, friends, family relations, family problems ...
Time: 90s
Place: los angeles
Similarity:
26%
Captive Heart: The James Mink Story (1996)
Genre: Drama
Country: USA, Canada
Duration: 91 min.
Story: James Mink is a black man in Canada who has built a very successful livery business, and enjoys a white wife and a beautiful daughter, Mary. An excellent match is arranged with an American businessman, but when he takes his new wife Mary across the ...
Style: serious, realistic, captivating, uplifting, emotional ...
Plot: slavery, interracial relations, black, slave trade, interracial, racism, family relations, chases and races, rescue, society, human spirit, hidden identity ...
Time: victorian era, 19th century, 1800s, 1850s
Place: virginia, usa, canada
Similarity:
26%
Uncle Tom's Cabin (1965)
Genre: Drama
Country: West Germany, France, Italy, Yugoslavia
Duration: 118 min.
Story: In the pre-Civil War South, a sadistic plantation-owner brutalizes his slaves to the point of them heaving no other choice but to rebel. Always obedient, peaceful and honest old slave Tom plays a central role in this tragedy.
Style: historical drama, period piece, serious, bleak, emotional ...
Plot: slavery, racism, slave, black slave, civil war, oppression, social injustice, interracial relations, plantation, sadism, brutality, violence ...
Time: 19th century
Place: kentucky
Similarity:
26%
The Rising Place (2001)
Genre: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 93 min.
Story: The close friendship of two young women, each of a different race, and their struggle to find purpose in their lives during this time of social injustice and world war.
Style: sincere, sentimental, touching, serious, realistic
Plot: injustice, fall in love, life is a bitch, society, interracial relations, social differences, friendship, working class, parents and children, family life, pregnancy, human nature ...
Time: 1940s
Place: mississippi, usa, virginia
Similarity:
26%
The Secret Life of Bees (2008)
Genre: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 114 min.
Story: Set in South Carolina in 1964, this is the tale of Lily Owens a 14 year-old girl who is haunted by the memory of her late mother. To escape her lonely life and troubled relationship with her father, Lily flees with Rosaleen, her caregiver and only ...
Style: touching, sincere, sentimental, sweet, inspirational ...
Audience: teens, chick flick, girls' night, teen drama, adult
Plot: civil rights, racism, african american, friendship, coming of age, teenage life, racial segregation, children, american south, abuse, interracial relations, haunted by the past ...
Time: year 2008, 20th century, year 1964, 60s
Place: indiana, africa, usa, south carolina
Similarity:
26%
 6.4
 297
The Visit (2000)
Genre: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 107 min.
Story: A young man dying in prison brings his family together for a fateful visit, and proceeds to put his life back together.
Style: touching, emotional, serious, realistic, independent film ...
Plot: prison, prison life, redemption, destiny, society, rehabilitation, life is a bitch, hopes, family life, parents and children, black, blaxploitation ...
Time: 90s
Similarity:
25%