I Am Not Your Negro is a journey into black history that connects the past of the Civil Rights movement to the present of #BlackLivesMatter. It is a film that questions black representation in Hollywood and beyond. And, ultimately, by confronting the deeper connections between the lives and assassination of these three leaders, Baldwin and Peck have produced a work that challenges the very definition of what America stands for.
The work is based off of Baldwin’s last piece that was in the wood works before his death which was entitled “Remember This House”. The book was to be a revolutionary, personal account of the lives and successive assassinations of three of his close friends—Medgar Evers, Malcolm X and Martin Luther King, Jr. At the time of Baldwin’s death in 1987, he left behind only thirty completed pages of his manuscript. Fast forward to February of 2017, the project “I Am Not Your Negro ” has won numerous of critically acclaimed awards as it was named Best Documentary at the Gotham Awards, Los Angeles Film Critics Association, and Best Writing at the IDA Creative Recognition Award . Directed by Raoul Peck and casted by the legendary Samuel L. Jackson, the film is now up for an Oscar. Check out a clip of why it is being highly raved.
