DuVernay was commissioned by the Smithsonian 's National Museum of African American History and Culture to create a film about African-American history . Her '' August 28 : A Day in the Life of a People '' explores six significant events that happened on the same date , August 28 ; it debuted at the museum 's opening on September 24 , 2016 . The 22-minute film stars Lupita Nyong ' o , Don Cheadle , Regina King , David Oyelowo , Angela Bassett , Michael Ealy , Gugu Mbatha-Raw , André Holland and Glynn Turman . Events depicted include William IV 's royal assent to the UK Slavery Abolition Act in 1833 , the 1955 lynching of 14-year-old Emmett Till in Mississippi , the release of Motown 's first number-one song , " Please Mr. Postman " by The Marvellettes , Rev. Martin Luther King , Jr. 's 1963 " I Have a Dream " speech , the landfall of Hurricane Katrina in 2005 , and the night Senator Barack Obama accepted the Democratic nomination for president at the 2008 Democratic National Convention
2008 Democratic National Convention
2008 Democratic National Convention
Ava DuVernay