Fun fact: every year, the Association for the Study of African American Life and History (ASALH), the official promoter of Black History Month, selects a unique theme to focus on. And the theme for 2023’s Black History Month is “Black Resistance.”
You can embrace this motif without breaking the bank with these worthwhile programs on Sling TV.
Table Of Contents
54th Annual NAACP Image Awards on BET
This award is presented yearly by the NAACP in recognition of “outstanding achievements and performances of people of color across more than 80 competitive categories spanning film, television + streaming, music, literature, and podcasts.” Many of the movies below are past honorees.
The 2023 NAACP Image Awards will be broadcast live from the Pasadena Civic Auditorium in Pasadena, California on February 25 at 8pm Eastern. You can watch it on BET, which is included in any Sling TV base package for just $40.00/mo.
Pioneering Classics
These movies were groundbreaking depictions of people of color that were recognized in their own time and are still relevant today:
- A Raisin in the Sun (1961) on AMC+ or HDNet Movies: Lorraine Hansberry’s landmark play broke both color and gender barriers, and the big-screen version featured mostly the same cast as the stage, including Sydney Poitier, Ruby Dee, Claudia McNeil, and Louis Gossett, Jr.
- The Color Purple (1985) on TNT: Whoopi Goldberg’s Academy Award-nominated breakout performance helps anchor this adaptation of Alice Walker’s powerful story of abuse, forgiveness, redemption, and overcoming traumatic hardship in the turn-of-the-century South.
- Boyz n the Hood (1991) on Starz: John Singleton’s directorial debut was the first of several early-nineties movies depicting life in South Central Los Angeles. It also launched the acting careers of Cuba Gooding, Jr, Morris Chestnut, Nia Long, Ice Cube, Angela Bassett, and Regina King.
TNT comes with either Sling Blue or Sling Orange for $40.00/mo. HDNet Movies is available in the Hollywood Extra for $6 additional per month. AMC+ ($7.99/mo) and Starz ($9/mo) are both à la carte add-ons you can add or remove whenever you like.
Historical Period Pieces
These movies focus on recreating flashpoint times and places:
- Selma on TNT: While certainly not the first or only account of Martin Luther King, Jr’s historic march on Selma, Alabama, the 2014 film is notable for its director, Ava DuVernay, a woman of color. Parallels between the voting rights marches in the 1960s and the protests against police brutality today are not accidental.
- The Help on FXM: It’s easy to take progress for granted. The Help, with its stark contrast between 1960s upper-class white women and their Black servants, helps remind us how far we’ve come, without letting us forget how far we have to go.
- Fruitvale Station on Bounce, Sundance TV, or AMC+: Based on the real-life 2009 shooting death of Oscar Grant III (Michael B. Jordan), a 22-year-old Black man, at the hands of BART police in San Francisco. This movie portrays Grant as a complex, troubled young man who makes many poor life choices – but doesn’t deserve to die for them.
FXM, Bounce, and Sundance TV are all part of the Sling TV Hollywood Extra, an add-on channel bundle that’s just $6/mo additional.
Family-Friendly Options
These are flicks you can take in with your kids, from preschoolers to teens:
- The Princess and the Frog on Freeform: Disney’s twist on The Frog Prince sidesteps issues of race in 1920s New Orleans in favor of issues of class, but it does feature the first African-American Disney Princess, Tiana, and a toe-tapping zydeco-jazz soundtrack.
- The Hate U Give on FXM: Based on Angie Thomas’s young adult novel, this film provides a timely exploration of police brutality for the teen crowd. (Rated PG-13)
- Just Mercy on TNT: The true story of Bryan Stevenson, a civil rights lawyer who struggles to save a man wrongly sentenced to death row. (Rated PG-13)
Freeform is available on Sling TV‘s Orange package ($40.00/mo).
Sling TV
Sling TV is one of the lowest-cost streaming services that gives you access to live TV shows and events. And it is the most customizable. You start with a base $40.00/mo plan (Blue or Orange) or both for $55.00/mo. You get the following channels:
- Shared: A&E, AMC, AXS TV, BBC America, BET, Bloomberg Television, CHARGE, Cartoon Network (Adult Swim), CNN, Comedy Central, Comet, Food Network, Fuse, HGTV, History Channel, IFC, Investigation Discovery, Lifetime, Local Now, MGM+ Drive-In, Nick Jr, TBS, TNT, Travel Channel, Vice.
- Sling Blue: Bravo, Discovery Channel, E, Fox†, Fox Sports 1 (FS1), FX, Fox News, HLN, MSNBC, NBC†, NFL Network, National Geographic, SYFY, TLC, USA Network, and truTV.
- Sling Orange: Disney Channel, ESPN, ESPN2, ESPN3, Freeform, and MotorTrend.
You can combine these with dozens of add-on channels — both individually and as groups. These include Showtime, Starz, and MGM+. The price for these range from $3/mo up to $15/mo if you want the Sports Extra add-on for the Sling Orange & Blue plan.
All plans come with 50 hours of cloud DVR storage. You also get the ability to stream on up to 3 devices at a time with most channels (exceptions include The Disney Channel and the ESPN channels). Subscribers also get access to a large library of on-demand content that is constantly updated.
And you can stream on most devices in use. These include Amazon Fire TV, Apple TV, Chromecast, and Roku streaming devices. Mobile devices based on Android and iOS (eg, iPhone). Smart TVs based on Android TV and units by LG, Samsung, and Vizio. And gaming systems like Oculus and Xbox.
Wrapping Up
Sling TV offers a great low-cost way to experience Black History Month. And you can do for with a 50% discount. Sign up today!
54th Image Awards Graphic taken from NAACA under Fair Use.
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