17 Black Women Who Deserve Their Own Biopics 

Heads up! In April BuzzFeed will stop working properly on this computer unless you upgrade your browser

This BuzzFeed homepage is tailored for our readers in the USA. Make it your default. This BuzzFeed homepage is tailored for our readers in the USA. Switch to US Have you seen BuzzFeed English? Come check it out!  

21 Women Explain What Having Your Period Feels Like

A Truly Eye-Opening Photo Of Kim, Kanye And North…

China’s Old Ladies Love To Square Dance A Little…

Fabulous! Don\'t forget to share with your friends on Twitter and Facebook.

Potential Plot: While Alice Walker is certainly excited about the prospect of her book,

The Color Purple, becoming a movie, she can’t help but wonder if it’s the right decision. Will the director stay true to the story, or will her provocative novel be turned into something barely recognizable?

Setting: New York City & Paris / 1970

Potential Plot: Raised in a strict religious home, a young Grace Jones travels to Syracuse, N.Y., to be reunited with her parents. Upon her arrival, she is suddenly swept up in the worlds of theater and fashion, eventually making her way to Paris and becoming one of the hottest models on the catwalk.

Potential Plot: A 40-year-old single mother struggles to write her first novel while raising her two young sons. She is determined to write the story she’s always wanted to read. But will the world respond to her words?

Potential Plot: After the death of her husband, a 20-year-old black woman moves to St. Louis, and makes less than a dollar a day as a washer girl. She goes on to find her fortune as an entrepreneur in hair care products, eventually becoming the country’s first black female millionaire.

Potential Plot: A 15-year-old gospel songstress and mother leaves her two children behind to go on tour with her father’s band. While on the road she has the opportunity to record an album and must quickly decide how to balance motherhood with a dream.

Potential Plot: In 1904, Mary Bethune has one dream: to be a schoolteacher in her very own schoolhouse for black girls. She will have to face government betrayal, nervous civilians, and her own fears in order to make her dream come true.

Stanley Bielecki Movie Collection / Getty Images

Potential Plot: With Blaxploitation films at the height of popularity, a young actress finds herself struggling with her personal politics, directors who can’t keep their hands to themselves, and the overwhelming shadow of Pam Grier.

Tracy A Woodward / The Washington Post via Getty Images

Potential Plot: After winning an Academy Award for her role in

Gone With The Wind, Hattie believes she has made it. But is Hollywood ready to create roles for black women beyond maids and slaves, and will Hattie ever get to be the leading lady?

Potential Plot: Kicked out of her stepfather’s home for being a “half-breed,” Eartha Kitt is determined to prove to her mother and the rest of the world that she’s nobody’s trash to be put out on the street. She’s a star.

Potential Plot: After a full life of adventure and literary pursuits, Hurston finds herself in a mess of failing health, medical bills, and financial insecurity. Over the course of her illness, she begins responding to fan letters, hoping to find a friend for the end of her life.

Potential Plot: After the murder of her friend and leader of the civil rights movement, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., Maya Angelou can hardly bear to leave her room. When her confidant, James Baldwin, comes to coax her out of the darkness, she finds the will to confront the world again, and to write her truth in the process.

Potential Plot: Education is the key to a meaningful life for Shirley Chisholm, but there is more to be done outside the classroom. If she truly wants to change the world, she’ll have to learn to play a dangerous game: politics.

Potential Plot: Can a painfully shy woman with dyslexia save herself with a rich imagination and an idea for a novel that could set the science fiction world on fire?

Potential Plot: After eight years, Underground Railroad conductor Harriet Tubman is proud of the fact that she has never run her train off the tracks, and she has yet to lose a passenger. She is taking one last trip across the Mason-Dixon Line, and this time she’s carrying the most precious cargo of all: her parents.

Potential Plot: In the midst of civil unrest, Angela Davis, a known freedom fighter, finds herself fighting racist institutions on the streets, and misogyny and colorism behind closed doors.

Potential Plot: In the 1920s and ’30s a black woman in androgynous clothing starts doing stand-up comedy. Though sometimes billed as “lesbian comedy,” Jackie Mabley makes people laugh against a background of injustice. What’s it like to be the funniest woman in America, when America doesn’t love you?

Setting: New Jersey / 1973 & Cuba / Present

Potential Plot: Assata Shakur was prepared for death in service to the fight for equality. She was not prepared for exile. What happens to a young woman whose country calls her “terrorist”? This is the story of deception, propaganda, and the fight to bring her home.

Oops! It looks like you\'ve already used that reaction on this post.

Rebuzzed! This post has been added to your Feed

I know, right? And there’s more where that came from.

Broken hearted? Maybe you’ll like something over here instead?

I know, right? Will your friends agree?

http://www.buzzfeed.com/ashleyford/17-black-wom... Not enough roles for black women in Hollywood? Let's make some!

7 Reasons Why “SNL” Has To Hire A Black Woman Yesterday ×

An Impossibly Trashy New Product Called “Liquid Lapdance” Leads The Daily Links ×

16 Black Owned Beauty Brands You Need To Know ×

This Dad Is Photographing His Daughter Dressed As Inspiring Black Women ×

35 Pictures That Prove The World Isn’t Such A Bad…

What Happens If You Text Your Parents Pretending…

Don\'t forget to share! Want to add another one? Go for it!

"I Might Have Some Sensitive Files": The Strange Saga And Dark Secrets Of Matt DeHart

Great! You\'ll get your first email soon.

What’s The Smartest Way You Saved Money On Your Prom?

29 Awesome Books With Strong Female Protagonists

China’s Old Ladies Love To Square Dance A Little Too Much, Government Says

16 German High School Students Thought To Be Among Victims Of Deadly Germanwings Crash

11 Heartwarming World Cup Moments That Prove Cricket Is The Gentleman’s Game

Are you sure you want to remove this item? You can\\'t restore it with "Cancel" button!

Upload an Image Crop Image Are These Thumbnails Okay? ×

Preview Thumbnails Save Thumbnails Choose a new image Save

Oops! We had a problem sending your message. Please try again later.