The first woman of color to direct a Hollywood movie was Tressie Sounders, an African American woman who directed A Woman in Error way back in 1926.

Okay, so who was the SECOND woman of color to direct a Hollywood movie?

That would be Madeline Anderson, who directed I Am Somebody in 1970. In other words, it took nearly a half century for the second African American woman to get hold of the directorial reins to a Hollywood movie. So, yeah, there haven’t been a lot over the long history of the movies. And that’s certainly worth shaking your head about. But that’s not to say there aren’t any. In fact, there is an increasing library of them. Here are a batch of films by women of color I recommend for your queue.