Amandla Stenberg Stars in Adaptation of Searing, Inner City Saga

16 year-old Starr Carter (Amandla Stenberg) straddles two different worlds which never intersect, one, black and poor, the other, white and privileged. That's because she lives in the ghetto in Garden Heights, but her parents (Regina Hall and Russell Hornsby) have sent her to Williamson, an exclusive prep school located on the other side of the tracks.

They know that Williamson gives her a better chance of making it out of the 'hood than the local public high school which is only good for girls who want to get “high, pregnant or killed.” Consequently, Starr uses slang when hanging out with her friends on the block, although she always talks properly around her classmates.

Heir Takes Fiancee' Home to Meet Picky Mom in Delightful Romantic Dramedy

Even though Nick (Henry Golding) and Rachel (Constance Wu) have been dating for a few years, they don't know much about each other's background. That's because they live in New York City where he's never bothered to reveal that he's from one the wealthiest families in Singapore, and she's never talked about her humble roots, having been raised by a single-mom immigrant (Kheng Hua Tan) to the U.S. from China.

The difference in social status never affected their relationship, since Nick's so unassuming, and ambitious Rachel beat the odds by getting a great education en route to becoming an economics professor at NYU. In fact, they've gotten along so well that he's seriously considering proposing. He's even picked out a diamond ring.

Wonder released last year became a blockbuster. The movie raised more than $300 million worldwide and Oscar winner Julia Roberts is one of the main actresses. The story (based on the best-selling novel of the same title by R.J. Palacio) is about August Pullman, a young boy played by the amazing Canadian actor Jacob Tremblay. Pullman was raised in upper Manhattan, New York. He has a rare medical facial disease called Treacher Collins syndrome. 

Claustrophobic Docudrama Revisits '67 Riots through the Prism of Infamous Interrogation at Algiers Hotel

Detroit's '67 riots broke out in the wee hours of July 23rd, in the wake of a police raid on an unlicensed bar where folks had been toasting a couple of vets who'd recently returned from Vietnam. Word spread like wildfire through the Black community that the cops had arrested all 82 people they found inside, and it wasn't long before mobs began looting and firebombing stores all around the 'hood.

The rebellion would last five days and result in over 1,000 injuries and 7,000 arrests, while also claiming 43 lives. In terms of property damage, about 2,500 businesses were destroyed and hundreds of families were left homeless.

The insurrection was quelled by the Motor City's police force in conjunction with the state of Michigan's National Guard as well as federal troops from the 82nd and 101st Airborne divisions. While the arrests at the speakeasy ostensibly served as the flashpoint for the civil unrest, the revolt was really the result of long-simmering frustrations with the poor quality of housing, employment and education in the ghetto.

Jean-Michel Basquiat (1960-1988) was born in Brooklyn to a Puerto Rican mother and a father of Haitian extraction. Blessed with a rebellious nature, he ran away from home a lot during adolescence, finally leaving for good at 17. Moving to Manhattan, he dropped out of school to fritter away his days spray-painting his alias, "Samo," all over the place, because as he put it, "The whole object of doing graffiti is fame."

Fortunately, some well-connected folks in the high-priced art world recognized that Jean-Michel Basquiat actually had some talent and convinced the kid to go legit. He agreed to give it a try, and watched with amazement as his paintings rapidly escalated in price from $200 to $30,000 a piece. It wasn't long before he found himself rubbing elbows with celebrated icons like Andy Warhol and Julian Schnabel.