A work in constant progress (and occasional regress).
Alias:
Stanley Nelson Jr.
Birthplace:
New York City, New York, USA
Born:
July 7, 1955
Stanley Earl Nelson Jr. (born June 7, 1951) is an American documentary filmmaker and a MacArthur Fellow known as a director, writer and producer of documentaries examining African-American history and experiences. He is a recipient of the 2013 National Humanities Medal from President Obama. He has won three Primetime Emmy Awards. Among his notable films are Freedom Riders (2010), Wounded Knee (2009), Jonestown: The Life & Death of People's Temple (2006), Sweet Honey in the Rock: Raise Your Voice (2005), A Place of Our Own (2004), The Murder of Emmett Till (2003), and The Black Press: Soldiers without Swords (1998).
Assistant Editor:
1976 Just Doin’ It (A Tale of Two Barbershops)
Director:
1976 Just Doin’ It (A Tale of Two Barbershops)
1987 Two Dollars and A Dream: The Story of Madame C.J. Walker
1999 The Black Press: Soldiers Without Swords
2001 Marcus Garvey: Look for Me in the Whirlwind
2003 The Murder of Emmett Till
2004 A Place of Our Own
2004 Beyond Brown: Pursuing the Promise
2006 Jonestown: The Life and Death of Peoples Temple
2010 Freedom Riders
2012 Focus Forward: Short Films, Big Ideas
2014 Freedom Summer
2015 The Black Panthers: Vanguard of the Revolution
2017 Tell Them We Are Rising: The Story of Black Colleges and Universities
2018 The Story of Access
2019 BOSS: The Black Experience in Business
2019 Miles Davis: Birth of the Cool
2020 Vick
2021 Attica
2021 Crack: Cocaine, Corruption & Conspiracy
2021 Harriet Tubman: Visions of Freedom
2021 Tulsa Burning: The 1921 Race Massacre
2022 Becoming Frederick Douglass
2023 Sound of the Police
2024 San Juan Hill: Manhattan’s Lost Neighborhood
2025 Critical Condition: Health in Black America
2025 We Want the Funk!
Editor:
1976 Just Doin’ It (A Tale of Two Barbershops)
1987 Two Dollars and A Dream: The Story of Madame C.J. Walker
1999 The Black Press: Soldiers Without Swords
2001 Marcus Garvey: Look for Me in the Whirlwind
2003 The Murder of Emmett Till
2004 A Place of Our Own
2004 Beyond Brown: Pursuing the Promise
2006 Jonestown: The Life and Death of Peoples Temple
2010 Freedom Riders
2012 Focus Forward: Short Films, Big Ideas
2014 Freedom Summer
2015 The Black Panthers: Vanguard of the Revolution
2017 Tell Them We Are Rising: The Story of Black Colleges and Universities
2018 The Story of Access
2019 BOSS: The Black Experience in Business
2019 Miles Davis: Birth of the Cool
2020 Vick
2021 Attica
2021 Crack: Cocaine, Corruption & Conspiracy
2021 Harriet Tubman: Visions of Freedom
2021 Tulsa Burning: The 1921 Race Massacre
2022 Becoming Frederick Douglass
2023 Sound of the Police
2024 San Juan Hill: Manhattan’s Lost Neighborhood
2025 Critical Condition: Health in Black America
2025 We Want the Funk!
Executive Producer:
1976 Just Doin’ It (A Tale of Two Barbershops)
1987 Two Dollars and A Dream: The Story of Madame C.J. Walker
1999 The Black Press: Soldiers Without Swords
2001 Marcus Garvey: Look for Me in the Whirlwind
2003 The Murder of Emmett Till
2004 A Place of Our Own
2004 Beyond Brown: Pursuing the Promise
2006 Jonestown: The Life and Death of Peoples Temple
2008 Faubourg Tremé: The Untold Story of Black New Orleans
2010 Freedom Riders
2012 Focus Forward: Short Films, Big Ideas
2014 Freedom Summer
2015 Mary Lou Williams: The Lady Who Swings the Band
2015 The Black Panthers: Vanguard of the Revolution
2017 American Carnage
2017 Gavin Grimm vs.
2017 Picket Line
2017 Tell Them We Are Rising: The Story of Black Colleges and Universities
2018 The Story of Access
2019 BOSS: The Black Experience in Business
2019 Miles Davis: Birth of the Cool
2020 Vick
2021 Attica
2021 Crack: Cocaine, Corruption & Conspiracy
2021 Harriet Tubman: Visions of Freedom
2021 Lynching Postcards: Token of a Great Day
2021 Tulsa Burning: The 1921 Race Massacre
2022 Becoming Frederick Douglass
2022 Hazing
2023 Birthing a Nation: The Resistance of Mary Gaffney
2023 Bulls and Saints
2023 Jonathan Thunder: Good Mythology
2023 Sound of the Police
2023 Sydney G. James: How We See Us
2024 San Juan Hill: Manhattan’s Lost Neighborhood
2024 Sister Úna Lived a Good Death
2025 Critical Condition: Health in Black America
2025 Free for All: The Public Library
2025 Sun Ra: Do the Impossible
2025 The Inquisitor
2025 We Want the Funk!
Producer:
1976 Just Doin’ It (A Tale of Two Barbershops)
1987 Two Dollars and A Dream: The Story of Madame C.J. Walker
1999 The Black Press: Soldiers Without Swords
2001 Marcus Garvey: Look for Me in the Whirlwind
2003 The Murder of Emmett Till
2004 A Place of Our Own
2004 Beyond Brown: Pursuing the Promise
2006 Jonestown: The Life and Death of Peoples Temple
2008 Faubourg Tremé: The Untold Story of Black New Orleans
2010 Freedom Riders
2012 Focus Forward: Short Films, Big Ideas
2012 Jesse Owens
2014 Freedom Summer
2015 Mary Lou Williams: The Lady Who Swings the Band
2015 The Black Panthers: Vanguard of the Revolution
2017 American Carnage
2017 Gavin Grimm vs.
2017 Picket Line
2017 Tell Them We Are Rising: The Story of Black Colleges and Universities
2018 The Story of Access
2019 BOSS: The Black Experience in Business
2019 Miles Davis: Birth of the Cool
2020 Vick
2021 Attica
2021 Crack: Cocaine, Corruption & Conspiracy
2021 Harriet Tubman: Visions of Freedom
2021 Lynching Postcards: Token of a Great Day
2021 Tulsa Burning: The 1921 Race Massacre
2022 After Jackie
2022 Becoming Frederick Douglass
2022 Hazing
2023 Birthing a Nation: The Resistance of Mary Gaffney
2023 Bulls and Saints
2023 Jonathan Thunder: Good Mythology
2023 Sound of the Police
2023 Sydney G. James: How We See Us
2024 San Juan Hill: Manhattan’s Lost Neighborhood
2024 Sister Úna Lived a Good Death
2025 Critical Condition: Health in Black America
2025 Free for All: The Public Library
2025 Sun Ra: Do the Impossible
2025 The Inquisitor
2025 We Want the Funk!
Researcher:
1976 Just Doin’ It (A Tale of Two Barbershops)
1987 Two Dollars and A Dream: The Story of Madame C.J. Walker
1999 The Black Press: Soldiers Without Swords
2001 Marcus Garvey: Look for Me in the Whirlwind
2003 The Murder of Emmett Till
2004 A Place of Our Own
2004 Beyond Brown: Pursuing the Promise
2006 Jonestown: The Life and Death of Peoples Temple
2008 Faubourg Tremé: The Untold Story of Black New Orleans
2010 Freedom Riders
2012 Focus Forward: Short Films, Big Ideas
2012 Jesse Owens
2014 Freedom Summer
2015 Mary Lou Williams: The Lady Who Swings the Band
2015 The Black Panthers: Vanguard of the Revolution
2017 American Carnage
2017 Gavin Grimm vs.
2017 Picket Line
2017 Tell Them We Are Rising: The Story of Black Colleges and Universities
2018 The Story of Access
2019 BOSS: The Black Experience in Business
2019 Miles Davis: Birth of the Cool
2020 Vick
2021 Attica
2021 Crack: Cocaine, Corruption & Conspiracy
2021 Harriet Tubman: Visions of Freedom
2021 Lynching Postcards: Token of a Great Day
2021 Tulsa Burning: The 1921 Race Massacre
2022 After Jackie
2022 Becoming Frederick Douglass
2022 Hazing
2023 Birthing a Nation: The Resistance of Mary Gaffney
2023 Bulls and Saints
2023 Jonathan Thunder: Good Mythology
2023 Sound of the Police
2023 Sydney G. James: How We See Us
2024 San Juan Hill: Manhattan’s Lost Neighborhood
2024 Sister Úna Lived a Good Death
2025 Critical Condition: Health in Black America
2025 Free for All: The Public Library
2025 Sun Ra: Do the Impossible
2025 The Inquisitor
2025 We Want the Funk!
Screenplay:
1976 Just Doin’ It (A Tale of Two Barbershops)
1987 Two Dollars and A Dream: The Story of Madame C.J. Walker
1999 The Black Press: Soldiers Without Swords
2001 Marcus Garvey: Look for Me in the Whirlwind
2003 The Murder of Emmett Till
2004 A Place of Our Own
2004 Beyond Brown: Pursuing the Promise
2006 Jonestown: The Life and Death of Peoples Temple
2008 Faubourg Tremé: The Untold Story of Black New Orleans
2010 Freedom Riders
2012 Focus Forward: Short Films, Big Ideas
2012 Jesse Owens
2014 Freedom Summer
2015 Mary Lou Williams: The Lady Who Swings the Band
2015 The Black Panthers: Vanguard of the Revolution
2017 American Carnage
2017 Gavin Grimm vs.
2017 Picket Line
2017 Tell Them We Are Rising: The Story of Black Colleges and Universities
2018 The Story of Access
2019 BOSS: The Black Experience in Business
2019 Miles Davis: Birth of the Cool
2020 Vick
2021 Attica
2021 Crack: Cocaine, Corruption & Conspiracy
2021 Harriet Tubman: Visions of Freedom
2021 Lynching Postcards: Token of a Great Day
2021 Tulsa Burning: The 1921 Race Massacre
2022 After Jackie
2022 Becoming Frederick Douglass
2022 Hazing
2023 Birthing a Nation: The Resistance of Mary Gaffney
2023 Bulls and Saints
2023 Jonathan Thunder: Good Mythology
2023 Sound of the Police
2023 Sydney G. James: How We See Us
2024 San Juan Hill: Manhattan’s Lost Neighborhood
2024 Sister Úna Lived a Good Death
2025 Critical Condition: Health in Black America
2025 Free for All: The Public Library
2025 Sun Ra: Do the Impossible
2025 The Inquisitor
2025 We Want the Funk!
Script Supervisor:
1976 Just Doin’ It (A Tale of Two Barbershops)
1987 Two Dollars and A Dream: The Story of Madame C.J. Walker
1999 The Black Press: Soldiers Without Swords
2001 Marcus Garvey: Look for Me in the Whirlwind
2003 The Murder of Emmett Till
2004 A Place of Our Own
2004 Beyond Brown: Pursuing the Promise
2006 Jonestown: The Life and Death of Peoples Temple
2008 Faubourg Tremé: The Untold Story of Black New Orleans
2010 Freedom Riders
2012 Focus Forward: Short Films, Big Ideas
2012 Jesse Owens
2014 Freedom Summer
2015 Mary Lou Williams: The Lady Who Swings the Band
2015 The Black Panthers: Vanguard of the Revolution
2017 American Carnage
2017 Gavin Grimm vs.
2017 Picket Line
2017 Tell Them We Are Rising: The Story of Black Colleges and Universities
2018 Black Memorabilia
2018 The Story of Access
2019 BOSS: The Black Experience in Business
2019 Miles Davis: Birth of the Cool
2020 Vick
2021 Attica
2021 Crack: Cocaine, Corruption & Conspiracy
2021 Harriet Tubman: Visions of Freedom
2021 Lynching Postcards: Token of a Great Day
2021 Tulsa Burning: The 1921 Race Massacre
2022 After Jackie
2022 Becoming Frederick Douglass
2022 Hazing
2023 Birthing a Nation: The Resistance of Mary Gaffney
2023 Bulls and Saints
2023 Jonathan Thunder: Good Mythology
2023 Sound of the Police
2023 Sydney G. James: How We See Us
2024 San Juan Hill: Manhattan’s Lost Neighborhood
2024 Sister Úna Lived a Good Death
2025 Critical Condition: Health in Black America
2025 Free for All: The Public Library
2025 Sun Ra: Do the Impossible
2025 The Inquisitor
2025 We Want the Funk!
Sound:
1976 Just Doin’ It (A Tale of Two Barbershops)
1987 Two Dollars and A Dream: The Story of Madame C.J. Walker
1999 The Black Press: Soldiers Without Swords
2001 Marcus Garvey: Look for Me in the Whirlwind
2003 The Murder of Emmett Till
2004 A Place of Our Own
2004 Beyond Brown: Pursuing the Promise
2006 Jonestown: The Life and Death of Peoples Temple
2008 Faubourg Tremé: The Untold Story of Black New Orleans
2010 Freedom Riders
2012 Focus Forward: Short Films, Big Ideas
2012 Jesse Owens
2014 Freedom Summer
2015 Mary Lou Williams: The Lady Who Swings the Band
2015 The Black Panthers: Vanguard of the Revolution
2017 American Carnage
2017 Gavin Grimm vs.
2017 Picket Line
2017 Tell Them We Are Rising: The Story of Black Colleges and Universities
2018 Black Memorabilia
2018 The Story of Access
2019 BOSS: The Black Experience in Business
2019 Miles Davis: Birth of the Cool
2020 Vick
2021 Attica
2021 Crack: Cocaine, Corruption & Conspiracy
2021 Harriet Tubman: Visions of Freedom
2021 Lynching Postcards: Token of a Great Day
2021 Tulsa Burning: The 1921 Race Massacre
2022 After Jackie
2022 Becoming Frederick Douglass
2022 Hazing
2023 Birthing a Nation: The Resistance of Mary Gaffney
2023 Bulls and Saints
2023 Jonathan Thunder: Good Mythology
2023 Sound of the Police
2023 Sydney G. James: How We See Us
2024 San Juan Hill: Manhattan’s Lost Neighborhood
2024 Sister Úna Lived a Good Death
2025 Critical Condition: Health in Black America
2025 Free for All: The Public Library
2025 Sun Ra: Do the Impossible
2025 The Inquisitor
2025 We Want the Funk!
Sound Recordist:
1976 Just Doin’ It (A Tale of Two Barbershops)
1985 Frederick Douglass: An American Life
1987 Two Dollars and A Dream: The Story of Madame C.J. Walker
1999 The Black Press: Soldiers Without Swords
2001 Marcus Garvey: Look for Me in the Whirlwind
2003 The Murder of Emmett Till
2004 A Place of Our Own
2004 Beyond Brown: Pursuing the Promise
2006 Jonestown: The Life and Death of Peoples Temple
2008 Faubourg Tremé: The Untold Story of Black New Orleans
2010 Freedom Riders
2012 Focus Forward: Short Films, Big Ideas
2012 Jesse Owens
2014 Freedom Summer
2015 Mary Lou Williams: The Lady Who Swings the Band
2015 The Black Panthers: Vanguard of the Revolution
2017 American Carnage
2017 Gavin Grimm vs.
2017 Picket Line
2017 Tell Them We Are Rising: The Story of Black Colleges and Universities
2018 Black Memorabilia
2018 The Story of Access
2019 BOSS: The Black Experience in Business
2019 Miles Davis: Birth of the Cool
2020 Vick
2021 Attica
2021 Crack: Cocaine, Corruption & Conspiracy
2021 Harriet Tubman: Visions of Freedom
2021 Lynching Postcards: Token of a Great Day
2021 Tulsa Burning: The 1921 Race Massacre
2022 After Jackie
2022 Becoming Frederick Douglass
2022 Hazing
2023 Birthing a Nation: The Resistance of Mary Gaffney
2023 Bulls and Saints
2023 Jonathan Thunder: Good Mythology
2023 Sound of the Police
2023 Sydney G. James: How We See Us
2024 San Juan Hill: Manhattan’s Lost Neighborhood
2024 Sister Úna Lived a Good Death
2025 Critical Condition: Health in Black America
2025 Free for All: The Public Library
2025 Sun Ra: Do the Impossible
2025 The Inquisitor
2025 We Want the Funk!
Writer:
1976 Just Doin’ It (A Tale of Two Barbershops)
1981 Puerto Rico: Our Right to Decide
1985 Frederick Douglass: An American Life
1987 Two Dollars and A Dream: The Story of Madame C.J. Walker
1999 The Black Press: Soldiers Without Swords
2001 Marcus Garvey: Look for Me in the Whirlwind
2003 The Murder of Emmett Till
2004 A Place of Our Own
2004 Beyond Brown: Pursuing the Promise
2006 Jonestown: The Life and Death of Peoples Temple
2008 Faubourg Tremé: The Untold Story of Black New Orleans
2010 Freedom Riders
2012 Focus Forward: Short Films, Big Ideas
2012 Jesse Owens
2014 Freedom Summer
2015 Mary Lou Williams: The Lady Who Swings the Band
2015 The Black Panthers: Vanguard of the Revolution
2017 American Carnage
2017 Gavin Grimm vs.
2017 Picket Line
2017 Tell Them We Are Rising: The Story of Black Colleges and Universities
2018 Black Memorabilia
2018 The Story of Access
2019 BOSS: The Black Experience in Business
2019 Miles Davis: Birth of the Cool
2020 Vick
2021 Attica
2021 Crack: Cocaine, Corruption & Conspiracy
2021 Harriet Tubman: Visions of Freedom
2021 Lynching Postcards: Token of a Great Day
2021 Tulsa Burning: The 1921 Race Massacre
2022 After Jackie
2022 Becoming Frederick Douglass
2022 Hazing
2023 Birthing a Nation: The Resistance of Mary Gaffney
2023 Bulls and Saints
2023 Jonathan Thunder: Good Mythology
2023 Sound of the Police
2023 Sydney G. James: How We See Us
2024 San Juan Hill: Manhattan’s Lost Neighborhood
2024 Sister Úna Lived a Good Death
2025 Critical Condition: Health in Black America
2025 Free for All: The Public Library
2025 Sun Ra: Do the Impossible
2025 The Inquisitor
2025 We Want the Funk!
Director:
2009 30 for 30
2009 We Shall Remain
2020 Black Panthers
Producer:
1988 American Experience
2009 30 for 30
2009 We Shall Remain
2020 Black Panthers
Writer:
1988 American Experience
2009 30 for 30
2009 We Shall Remain
2020 Black Panthers
Most data and links to images for the Movies section come from TheMovieDB (TMDB).
Additional data for Film Titles come from The Open Movie Database (OMDb).
At least one plug-in comes from IMDb.
Data are -- hey, it's a plural -- subject to the limitations of their sources. (For example, TMDB search results currently max out at 20.) I am limiting myself to free data sources for now. (No, a "free trial" is not free.)
While much of the above data are retrieved directly from outside APIs and other such sources, data from American Film Institute (AFI) and British Film Institute (BFI) were manually entered the old fashioned way into a MySQL database. Re BFI I took the following liberties:
Regarding profile removals and data corrections:
Filtering is applied here to film projects flagged as "adult" by TheMovieDB. Pending "popular demand" I am contemplating a login and profile system with preferences (such as whether to allow adult images to appear) and permissions (such as data entry).
Whereas the overall purpose of this website is to serve as a personal demo/portfolio/workshop of web and data skills, this Movies section is not meant to compete with or substitute for far more definitive movie websites.
Whether or not he still clings to an award which he won in 1986 as a film critic for his college's newspaper, Jeffrey Hartmann is not responsible for the texts of overviews and biographies supplied by external data sources.