Netflix’s ‘Amend’ explores how Fourteenth Amendment impacts racial equality and LGBTQ rights

Actor and producer Will Smith is set to host Amend: The Fight for America, a Netflix documentary series that explores the Fourteenth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution and the significance it holds to American democracy. 

Laverne Cox, Mahershala Ali, Samira Wiley, Samuel L. Jackson, Randall Park, Diane Lane, and more will be featured as the show explores how the Amendment has impacted voting rights, desegregation and marriage equality in the United States. 

Created by Robe Imbriano and Tom Yellin with Smith and Larry Wilmore serving as executive producers, Amend: The Fight for America explores the Fourteenth Amendment of the U.S. Constitution, which was ratified in 1868 and promised liberty and equal protection for all persons. As it stands today, the Amendment is America’s longest-lasting example of true Democracy and freedom. 

But what does this mean in today’s political climate? What does it mean to be an American? The series asks these questions and many more. 

The six-hour docuseries will feature the aforementioned performers helping to bring life to the writings and speeches of those who advocated most for the Fourteenth Amendment, including Frederick Douglass, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and Ruth Bader Ginsburg. The series will also offer insights from a diverse lineup of contemporary leaders, intellectuals and experts.

“I am honored to present Amend: The Fight for America,” stated Smith in the press release. 

He adds: “We are living in unprecedented days as a society, as a country, and as a human family. I believe that the cultivation of personal and historical understanding is the imperative spark igniting the flames of desperately needed compassion and healing. As Americans, we endeavor to form a more perfect union that truly establishes justice and equality for all. I believe a deeper understanding of the Fourteenth Amendment is a critical jumping-off point. Our hope with this series is to illuminate the beauty that is the promise of America and to share a message of connection and shared humanity so that we will be able to better understand and celebrate our different experiences as Americans and promote progress toward the true equality promised to all persons under the Fourteenth Amendment. I’m grateful to Netflix and the phenomenal group of people who came together both in front of and behind the camera to help us tell this story.”

Co-executive producer Larry Wilmore also commented on his initial thoughts when Smith pitched the series to him, stating, “I loved that it would focus on the Fourteenth Amendment and that he didn’t want to do something that felt partisan; rather, something that was about America for Americans, while also being very truthful about the history.”

He adds: “I hope families can watch Amend together and have the series be a compelling conversation starter. Everything we’ve seen happen in America in the last few years is about what Black people and other marginalized groups have always wanted: to make sure that we are really part of America and have everything that’s been promised to us by the Constitution. I think it’d be really fantastic if Amend helped people to better understand how special the bond can be between each of us and our country.”

The first episode of the series will focus on the origins of the amendment, followed by later episodes which will deal with Black Americans’ fight for civil rights in the 1950s and ’60s, women’s struggle for equal rights, immigrants’ rights, and LGBTQ+ rights, including the fight for marriage equality. 

Amend will be available on Netflix February 17. 

Watch the trailer below!