Lackawanna Blues (2005, TV Movie)

Starring:

• S. Epatha Merkerson
• Marcus Carl Franklin
• Yasiin Bey
• Carmen Ejogo
• Bill Simms Jr.
• Louis Gossett Jr.
• Macy Gray
• Terrence Howard
• Ernie Hudson
• Delroy Lindo
• Rosie Perez
• Ruben Santiago-Hudson
• Liev Schreiber
• Jimmy Smits
• Patricia Wettig
• Jeffrey Wright
• Barry Shabaka Henley

Storyline
In the 1950s and '60s, young Ruben Santiago Jr. (Marcus Franklin) lives in a lively boardinghouse in the blue-collar town of Lackawanna, New York, with his father (Jimmy Smits) after his parents separated. Run by the motherly Nanny Crosby (S. Epatha Merkerson) and her taciturn husband (Terrance Dashon Howard), the boardinghouse residents, including The Bandleader (Mos Def), singer Pauline (Macy Gray), and cabaret owner Dick Barrymore (Ernie Hudson), teach the young boy about life and art.

The Courage to Love (2000, TV Movie)

Starring:

• Vanessa Williams
• Diahann Carroll
• Gil Bellows
• Karen Williams
• Lisa Bronwyn Moore
• David La Haye
• Cynda Williams
• Stacy Keach
• Eddie Bo Smith Jr.
• Graeme Somerville
• Kevin Jubinville
• Susannah Hoffmann
• Jean-Louis Roux
• Lise Roy
• Raven Dauda

Storyline

In pre-Civil War New Orleans, Vanessa Williams portrays the beautiful African-American daughter of a wealthy white plantation owner and his kept mistress. Fighting her family's wishes, society's rules, and rampant racism, she rejects the traditions of an arranged marriage and sets out on a journey fraught with danger and forbidden desires.