Directing
Stanley Nelson
EN cinema · 53 credits
Born
7 July 1955 (age 71)
Birthplace
New York City, New York, USA
Also known as Stanley Nelson Jr.
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).
Known for
Filmography
American Pachuco: The Legend of Luis Valdez
Executive Producer
The Color of Cola
Director, Executive Producer
Free for All: The Public Library
Executive Producer
We Want the Funk!
Director, Author
Sun Ra: Do the Impossible
Executive Producer
The Inquisitor
Executive Producer
True North: Canadian Myths and Black Power
Executive Producer
Becoming Thurgood: America's Social Architect
Executive Producer
Lani B. Supreme: Legacy
2025
Lani B. Supreme: Legacy
Executive Producer
Sister Úna Lived a Good Death
Executive Producer
Disco's Revenge
Executive Producer
Bulls and Saints
Executive Producer
Birthing a Nation: The Resistance of Mary Gaffney
Executive Producer
Sound of the Police
Director, Producer
Jonathan Thunder: Good Mythology
Executive Producer
Sydney G. James: How We See Us
Executive Producer
Becoming Frederick Douglass
Director, Producer, Executive Producer
Hazing
Executive Producer
After Jackie
Producer
Attica
Director, Writer, Producer
Lynching Postcards: Token of a Great Day
Executive Producer
Vick
Director
Miles Davis: Birth of the Cool
Director, Producer
BOSS: The Black Experience in Business
Producer, Director
Black Memorabilia
Script Supervisor
Tell Them We Are Rising: The Story of Black Colleges and Universities
Director, Screenplay, Producer
Gavin Grimm vs.
Executive Producer
American Carnage
Executive Producer
Picket Line
Executive Producer
Mary Lou Williams: The Lady Who Swings the Band
Executive Producer
The Black Panthers: Vanguard of the Revolution
Director, Writer, Producer
Freedom Summer
Director, Writer
Jesse Owens
Writer, Producer
Freedom Riders
Writer, Director, Producer
Faubourg Tremé: The Untold Story of Black New Orleans
Executive Producer
A Place of Our Own
as Self - Narrator (voice), Director, Writer, Producer
The Black Press: Soldiers Without Swords
Producer, Director, Writer
Two Dollars and A Dream: The Story of Madame C.J. Walker
Director, Producer, Editor, Researcher
Frederick Douglass: An American Life
Sound Recordist
Just Doin’ It (A Tale of Two Barbershops)
Assistant Editor, Sound