Top Billed Cast

Stevie Wonder
Self
Lin-Manuel Miranda
Self - Artist
Chris Rock
Self - Artist
Tony Lawrence
Self - Harlem Cultural Festival Producer & Host (archive footage)
Nina Simone
Self (archive footage)
B.B. King
Self (archive footage)
Abbey Lincoln
Self (archive footage)
Mavis Staples
Self - Singer (archive footage) (voice)
Mahalia Jackson
Self (archive footage)
David Ruffin
Self
Sly Stone
Self - Performer (archive footage)
Hugh Masekela
Self (archive footage)
John V. Lindsay
Self (archive footage)
Ray Barretto
Self - Performer (archive footage)
Herbie Mann
Self (archive footage)
Mongo Santamaría
Self - Performer (archive footage)
Questlove
Self (uncredited)
Luis A. Miranda Jr.
Self - Civic Leader
Walter Cronkite
Self - Host, CBS Evening News with Walter Cronkite (archive footage)
Malcolm X
Self - Activist (archive footage)
Martin Luther King Jr.
Self - Activist (archive footage)
Robert F. Kennedy
Self - Presidential Candidate (archive footage)
Richard Nixon
Self - 37th President of the United States (archive footage)
John F. Kennedy
Self - 35th President of the United States (archive footage)
Jesse Jackson
Self
Moms Mabley
Self (archive footage)
Max Roach
Self (archive footage)
Fidel Castro
Self (archive footage)
Redd Foxx
Self - Comedian & Actor (archive footage)
Dorinda Drake
Self - Festival Attendee
Barbara Bland-Acosta
Self - Festival Attendee
Darryl Lewis
Self - Festival Attendee
Gladys Knight
Self - Musician
Dinah Shore
Self (archive footage)
Buzz Aldrin
Self (archive sound)
Al Sharpton
Self - Minister & Activist
Marilyn McCoo
Self - The 5th Dimension
Sheila E.
Self - Musician
Berry Gordy
Self - Founder of Motown Records (archive footage)
Neil Armstrong
Self (archive sound)
George Kirby
Self (archive footage)
Willie Tyler
Self - Ventriloquist (archive footage)
Billy Davis Jr.
Self - The 5th Dimension
John Chancellor
Self (archive footage)
Dewey 'Pigmeat' Markham
Self (archive footage)
Adam Clayton Powell Jr.
Self - Performer (archive footage)
Roebuck 'Pops' Staples
Self - Performer (archive footage)
Harry Reasoner
Self (archive footage)
Selema Masekela
Self - Son of Hugh Masekela
Edwin Hawkins
Self - Performer (archive footage)
Kwame Ture
Self - Activist (archive footage)
Bones Howe
Self - Music Producer (archive footage)
Greg Errico
Self - Drummer, Sly & the Family Stone
Roy Ayers
Self
Musa Jackson
Self - Festival Attendee
Charlayne Hunter-Gault
Self - Former Reporter, The New York Times
Cholly Atkins
Self - Choreographer for Motown (archive footage)

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A review by Louisa Moore - Screen Zealots

Written by Louisa Moore - Screen Zealots on Tue Mar 09 2021

The times, they were a’changin’ in the summer of 1969, with many turning to music as a vehicle to help them express their feelings on important social and political issues. The most famous music festival of all time, Woodstock, has seen its concert footage shown the world over. That same year in New York, over 300,000 people attended the predominantly African-American concert series known as the Harlem Cultural Festival. The filmed performances of some of the most important artists in black music history sat in a basement for five decades, only to finally be seen in “Summer Of Soul (…Or, Whe...