Name	Known for
Alvin Ailey Self (archive footage) Self (archive footage) See fewer	The Turning Point (1977)
Muhammad Ali Self (archive footage) Self (archive footage) See fewer	The Greatest (1977)
Maya Angelou Self (archive footage) Self (archive footage) See fewer	Poetic Justice (1993)
Ashford & Simpson Themselves Themselves See fewer	The 40-Year-Old Virgin (2005)
Obba Babatundé Self Self See fewer	Life (I) (1999)
James Baldwin Self (archive footage) Self (archive footage) See fewer	I Am Not Your Negro (2016)
Stuart Bascombe Self Self See fewer	Soul! (1968)
Harry Belafonte Self Self See fewer	Bobby (I) (2006)
Leroy Burgess Self Self See fewer	Monster (V) (2014)
Diahann Carroll Self (archive footage) Self (archive footage) See fewer	Julia (1968)
Kathleen Cleaver Self Self See fewer	Zabriskie Point (1970)
Carmen De Lavallade Self Self See fewer	Odds Against Tomorrow (1959)
Earth Wind & Fire Themselves (archive footage) Themselves (archive footage) See fewer	Ready Player One (2018)
George Faison Self Self See fewer	The Cotton Club (1984)
Nikki Giovanni Self Self See fewer	Going to Mars: The Nikki Giovanni Project (2023)
Al Green Self (archive footage) Self (archive footage) See fewer	Scrooged (1988)
Ellis Haizlip Self (archive footage) Self (archive footage) See fewer	Watch Your Mouth (1978)
Arsenio Hall Self (archive footage) Self (archive footage) See fewer	Coming to America (1988)
Thomas Allen Harris Self Self See fewer	That's My Face (2001)
Anna Maria Horsford Self (archive footage) Self (archive footage) See fewer	Minority Report (2002)
B.B. King Self (archive footage) Self (archive footage) See fewer	Blues Brothers 2000 (1998)
Gladys Knight Self (archive footage) Self (archive footage) See fewer	Hollywood Homicide (2003)
Patti LaBelle Self (archive footage) Self (archive footage) See fewer	Miami Vice (2006)
Stan Lathan Self Self See fewer	Real Husbands of Hollywood (2013)
Sarah Lewis Self Self See fewer	Mr. Soul! (2018)
Loretta Long Self Self See fewer	Follow That Bird (1985)
Felipe Luciano Self Self See fewer	It Could Happen to You (1994)
Christopher Lukas Self Self See fewer	The Antibody (2012)
Malcolm X Self (archive footage) Self (archive footage) See fewer	Malcolm X (1992)
Louis J. Massiah Self Self See fewer	Eyes on the Prize (1987)
Russell Patterson Self Self See fewer	Mr. Soul! (2018)
Sidney Poitier Self (archive footage) Self (archive footage) See fewer	In the Heat of the Night (1967)
Questlove Self Self See fewer	Summer of Soul (...Or, When the Revolution Could Not Be Televised) (2021)
Sonia Sanchez Self Self See fewer	Lovecraft Country (2020)
Greg Tate Self Self See fewer	Wayne Shorter: Zero Gravity (2023)
Robert J. Thompson Self Self See fewer	Up Front Tonight (1998)
Blair Underwood Narration (voice) Narration (voice) See fewer	Deep Impact (1998)
Bill Withers Self (archive footage) Self (archive footage) See fewer	The Bodyguard (1992)
Stevie Wonder Self (archive footage) Self (archive footage) See fewer	Wild Wild West (1999)