What role does storytelling play in preserving history?

That was the question I found myself asking after attending the Indiana Black Expo Black Film Festival, part of the organization’s annual Summer Celebration. This year’s theme, Beyond the Frame: Black Voices Amplified, invited audiences to experience Black history and culture through documentary and narrative film.

Over the course of the day, six featured films explored different dimensions of the Black experience, rooted in culture, resilience, creativity, and truth. Each story offered a unique perspective, yet together they demonstrated the power of film to preserve history, amplify voices, and inspire meaningful conversations.

Two documentaries, however, stayed with me long after the festival ended: One Month Isn’t Enough and Getting Wins.

Although different in subject matter, both films challenged me to think differently about historical awareness. One encouraged me to reflect on the stories we remember. The other reminded me that history continues to shape the present.

One Month Isn’t Enough: Expanding the Story of Black Hoosiers

One of the most thought-provoking documentaries of the festival was One Month Isn’t Enough, a powerful exploration of the rich yet often overlooked legacy of Black Hoosiers.

The documentary demonstrates that Black history in Indiana extends far beyond the confines of February. Through the stories of civic leaders, entrepreneurs, artists, and everyday pioneers, it illustrates how African Americans have helped shape Indiana’s identity while revealing a history rooted not only in struggle and resistance, but also in community, innovation, and enduring impact.

Rather than simply presenting historical events, the documentary challenged viewers with three powerful questions:

Where did you come from? What did you accomplish? What contribution did you make to the world?

At first glance, these questions seem deeply personal. Throughout the documentary, however, they became a framework for understanding the legacy of Black Hoosiers whose lives and accomplishments helped shape Indiana’s history.

The film also shines a well-deserved spotlight on Madam C.J. Walker and the rich cultural legacy of Indiana Avenue. Their stories represent entrepreneurship, resilience, innovation, and the determination of a community that flourished despite extraordinary barriers. They deserve to be preserved, celebrated, and shared with future generations.

As I reflected on the documentary, however, I found myself asking a fourth question.

What stories have we not yet told?

Madam C.J. Walker and Indiana Avenue are among the most recognizable chapters of Indiana’s Black history, but they should not become the boundaries of it.

Across Indiana are countless untold stories of educators, veterans, scientists, entrepreneurs, artists, churches, neighborhoods, civic leaders, and everyday citizens whose contributions remain largely unknown.

If there is one lesson I took away from One Month Isn’t Enough, it is that historical awareness requires more than preserving the stories we already know. It also requires the curiosity to uncover the stories we have yet to tell.

Black history is not a finished collection of well-known names and places.

It is an ongoing journey of discovery.

Getting Wins: When History Continues to Move

While One Month Isn’t Enough encouraged me to reflect on the past, Getting Wins reminded me that history is still unfolding.

The documentary follows the work of the Southern Movement Committee, a grassroots organization rooted in Nashville, Tennessee. It explores how Black residents are building collective power through community organizing, co-governance, and civic engagement. From initiatives like the Black Nashville Assembly to efforts focused on youth leadership and community safety, the film highlights how ordinary people are working together to transform their neighborhoods and shape the future of their city.

Following the screening, there was a panel discussion featuring film director Jordan Johnson and Erica Perry, Executive Director of the Southern Movement Committee. Together, they reflected on the documentary and the ongoing work of organizing communities around shared priorities and collective action.

One aspect of the discussion that resonated with me was how the legacy of the Black Panther Party continues to influence present-day organizing. Rather than treating the movement as a completed chapter in history, the conversation demonstrated how its ideas continue to inspire new generations committed to serving their communities.

For me, this documentary represented Black History in Motion.

Too often, we think of history as something confined to museums, archives, monuments, and textbooks. Yet history is also found in community meetings, documentary films, neighborhood organizations, and the people working every day to improve the lives of those around them.

Watching Getting Wins reminded me that today’s organizers are not simply studying history.

They are becoming part of it.

If One Month Isn’t Enough asked us to reflect on the legacies we inherit, Getting Wins challenged us to consider the legacies we are creating.

Beyond the Frame

As I left the film festival, I kept returning to this year’s theme: Beyond the Frame: Black Voices Amplified.

For me, the theme extends beyond filmmaking.

Historical awareness also requires us to look beyond the frame.

Beyond the familiar names.

Beyond the stories we revisit every February.

Beyond the historical markers we’ve already visited.

Beyond the narratives we’ve grown comfortable telling.

The Indiana Black Expo Black Film Festival reminded me that storytelling does more than preserve history. It develops historical awareness by introducing us to voices, communities, and experiences that might otherwise remain unknown. Every documentary has the power to challenge assumptions, recover overlooked narratives, and inspire us to continue asking better questions about the past and the present.

History isn’t only something we inherit.

It’s something we continue to discover, preserve, and share.

How Connected Are You to Black History?

That question inspired me to create the Historical Awareness Profile.

If you’ve ever wondered how connected you are to Black history beyond what you learned in school, I invite you to take the FREE Historical Awareness Profile.

The assessment measures six dimensions of historical awareness:

Historical Exposure

Cultural Connection

Historical Curiosity

Critical Perspective

Historical Engagement

Legacy Awareness

After completing the assessment, you’ll also receive a complimentary copy of Malcolm X Through the C.R.O.W.N. Framework, a collection of reflection cards designed to help you connect historical lessons to your own life.

Take the Historical Awareness Profile today and discover your personalized results.

Because historical awareness isn’t simply about remembering the past.

It’s about recognizing history wherever it exists; it’s about ensuring its stories continue to be told.