The Movies, Race, and Ethnicity: African Americans: Videotapes in the Media Resources Center, UC Berkeley

Representations of African Americans in Mainstream and Independent Hollywood

Representations of African Americans in Animated Cartoons

Race Movies/Black Cast Films (independently-produced African American films 1930-1950)

Blaxploitation Films

Recent Films by African American Filmmakers

Television programs

Interracial buddy movies

Interracial Marriage & Relationships

African Americans in Film and Television

Representations of African Americans in Mainstream and Independent Hollywood

The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn (1939)

Performers: Mickey Rooney, Walter Connolly, William Frawley. Clarence Muse plays Jim" as what Donald Bogel has characterized as the "archtypical tom." (Bogle, Donald. Toms, Coons, Mulattoes, Mammies, and Bucks: An Interpretive History of Blacks in American Films / Donald Bogle. New expanded ed. New York: Continuum, 1989) 89 min. 999:90

The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn (1985)

Performers: Patrick Day, Sada Thompson, Samm-Art Williams, Frederick Forrest, Lillian Gish, Bernard Hughes. 121 min. Video/C 1069

African Americans in Cinema: The First Half Century

Contains a rich body of primary and secondary source material, critical essays by prominent film scholars, biographies, film reviews and clips, tracing the history of African Americans in film and black films from 1894 to 1950. Includes an interactive searchable database that contains more than 3,300 movies emphasizing the contributions of African Americans to cinema. Compu/D 564

African American Soldiers & Japanese Internment During WWII

Contents: Challenge to democracy / U.S. Office of War Information, Domestic Branch, Bureau of Motion Pictures (1944, 17 min.) -- Close harmony / sponsored by General Motors (1942, 11 min.) -- Farmer Henry Browne / U.S. Dept of Agriculture (1942, 11 min.) -- Japanese relocation / U.S. Office of War Information, Domestic Branch, Bureau of Motion Pictures (1943, 9 min.) -- Negro colleges in wartime / U.S. Office of War Information, Domestic Branch, Bureau of Motion Pictures (1943, 9 min.).

Challenge to democracy: The Internment of Japanese-Americans during World War II is here explained according to the Government's point of view. Close harmony: Attempts to show the need for good labor/management relations in the U.S. arms industry, resorting to the "step 'n fetch it" stereotype of Black Americans. Farmer Henry Browne: Shows how a black Georgian farmer does his part for the war, with his farm, his family and the service of his Tuskegee fighter pilot eldest son. Japanese relocation: A propaganda film designed to show the co-operation and satisfaction of the Japanese American internees in terms of being relocated, re-employed, re-educated and interned. Negro colleges in wartime: An exposition of the teaching and training of Black Americans for war, science, industry, agriculture, husbandry, meteorology, medicine, engineering and technical trades at black colleges. 57 min. DVD 2253

Ali (2001)

Directed by Michael Mann. Cast: Will Smith, Jamie Foxx, Jon Voight, Mario Van Peebles, Ron Silver, Jeffrey Wright, Mykelti Williamson, Jada Pinkett Smith, Nona M. Gaye, Michael Michele, Joe Morton. Dramatic biography of boxing great Muhammad Ali, which focuses on the ten-year period of 1964-1974. In that time, the brash, motor-mouthed athlete quickly dominates his sport, meets and marries his first wife, converts to Islam (changing his name from Cassius Clay), and defies the United States government by refusing to submit to military conscription for duty in Vietnam. His world heavyweight championship title thus stripped from him entirely for political reasons, the champ sets about to win back his crown, culminating in a legendary unification bout against George Foreman in Zaire, dubbed the "Rumble in the Jungle." 157 min. DVD 1231

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Amazing Grace (UK / USA, 2006)

Directed by Michael Apted. Cast: Ioan Gruffudd, Rufus Sewell, Michael Gambon, Albert Finney, Youssou N'Dour, Ciaran Hinds. A dramatization of the life of the human rights activist, cultural reformer and member of Parliament, William Wilberforce who sustained a twenty-year fight in 19th century England, endeavoring to end the British transatlantic slave trade. Wilberforce encountered intense opposition from members of Parliament but his minister John Newton, a reformed slave ship captain who penned the hymn "Amazing Grace" urged him to see the cause through. 118 min. DVD 8799

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Amazing Grace (1974)

Directed by Stan Lathan. Cast: Moms Mabley, Slappy White, Moses Gunn, James Karen, George Lee Miles, Gary Bolling, Dolph Sweet, Jon Richards, Stepin Fetchit, Butterfly McQueen. A black pious church-going widow and grandmother takes over the political campaign of a neighbor running for mayor of Baltimore, transforming him from a white man's pawn into a serious challenger of Baltimore's blue-blood establishment. 97 min. DVD 3499

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Amistad (1998)

Directed by Steven Spielberg. Chronicles the 1839 revolt on board a slave ship bound for America. Much of the story involves the court-room drama about the slave who led the revolt. 155 min. DVD 956; vhs 999:1997

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Amos n' Andy

Amos n' Andy on radio
Check and Double Check (feature film)

Description of series from the Encyclopedia of Television

Ely, Melvin Patrick. The Adventures of Amos 'n' Andy: A Social History of an American Phenomenon / Melvin Patrick Ely. New York: Free Press; Toronto : Maxwell Macmillan Canada; New York: Maxwell Macmillan International, c1991. (UCB Main PN1991.77.A6 E49 1991; UCB Moffitt PN1991.77.A6 E49 1991)

Cripps, Thomas. "The Films of Spencer Williams." Black American Literature Forum, Vol. 12, No. 4. (Winter, 1978), pp. 128-134.

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The Amos 'n' Andy Show: Discs 1-2 (TV, 1950's)

Selected episodes from the 1950's television sit com which relates the comic adventures of Amos Jones and Andrew H. Brown (Amos n' Andy), two black men trying to make it in Harlem whose lives are complicated by the schemes of the Kingfish. Written variously by Bob Ross, Dave Schwartz, Joe Connelly, Bob Mosher, Paul West, and Jay Sommers. Alvin Childress (Amos) ; Spencer Williams, Jr. (Andy) ; Tim Moore (Kingfish) ; Ernestine Wade (Sapphire) ; Amanda Randolph (Mama) ; Johnny Lee (Calhoun). Contents: Disc 1: Getting momma married, Parts 1 & 2 -- Andy buys a house -- The happy Stevens -- Arabia -- Disc 2. Andy plays Santa Claus -- The broken clock -- The Winslow woman -- Call Lehigh 4-9000 -- Leroy lends a hand. DVD 7387

The Amos 'n' Andy Show: Discs 3-4 (TV, 1950's)

Selected episodes from the 1950's television sit com which relates the comic adventures of Amos Jones and Andrew H. Brown (Amos n' Andy), two black men trying to make it in Harlem whose lives are complicated by the schemes of the Kingfish. Written variously by Bob Ross, Dave Schwartz, Joe Connelly, Bob Mosher, Paul West, and Jay Sommers. Alvin Childress (Amos) ; Spencer Williams, Jr. (Andy) ; Tim Moore (Kingfish) ; Ernestine Wade (Sapphire) ; Amanda Randolph (Mama) ; Johnny Lee (Calhoun). Contents: Disc 3: Birthday card -- Relatives -- Kingfish's last friend-- Quo vadis -- Andy falls in love with an actress -- Disc 4. Sapphire disappears -- The gun-- The turkey dinner -- Superfine brush-- Cousin Effie's will. DVD 7388

The Amos 'n' Andy Show: Discs 5-6 (TV, 1950's)

Selected episodes from the 1950's television sit com which relates the comic adventures of Amos Jones and Andrew H. Brown (Amos n' Andy), two black men trying to make it in Harlem whose lives are complicated by the schemes of the Kingfish. Written variously by Bob Ross, Dave Schwartz, Joe Connelly, Bob Mosher, Paul West, and Jay Sommers. Alvin Childress (Amos) ; Spencer Williams, Jr. (Andy) ; Tim Moore (Kingfish) ; Ernestine Wade (Sapphire) ; Amanda Randolph (Mama) ; Johnny Lee (Calhoun). Contents: Disc 5: Hospitalization -- The antique shop -- Rare coin (also on vhs Video/C 9639) -- Young girl's mother -- The girl upstairs -- Disc 6. Amos helps out -- The ballet tickets -- The diner -- The engagement ring -- Andy gets a telegram. DVD 7389

The Amos 'n' Andy Show: Discs 7-8 (TV, 1950's)

Selected episodes from the 1950's television sit com which relates the comic adventures of Amos Jones and Andrew H. Brown (Amos n' Andy), two black men trying to make it in Harlem whose lives are complicated by the schemes of the Kingfish. Written variously by Bob Ross, Dave Schwartz, Joe Connelly, Bob Mosher, Paul West, and Jay Sommers. Alvin Childress (Amos) ; Spencer Williams, Jr. (Andy) ; Tim Moore (Kingfish) ; Ernestine Wade (Sapphire) ; Amanda Randolph (Mama) ; Johnny Lee (Calhoun). Contents: Disc 7: The adoption -- Leroy's suits-- The convention -- Ready made family -- Kingfish gets drafted -- Disc 8. Traffic violations -- The society party -- Kingfish's secretary-- The new neighbors -- Vacation. DVD 7390

The Amos 'n' Andy Show: Discs 9 (TV, 1950's)

Selected episodes from the 1950's television sit com which relates the comic adventures of Amos Jones and Andrew H. Brown (Amos n' Andy), two black men trying to make it in Harlem whose lives are complicated by the schemes of the Kingfish. Written variously by Bob Ross, Dave Schwartz, Joe Connelly, Bob Mosher, Paul West, and Jay Sommers. Alvin Childress (Amos) ; Spencer Williams, Jr. (Andy) ; Tim Moore (Kingfish) ; Ernestine Wade (Sapphire) ; Amanda Randolph (Mama) ; Johnny Lee (Calhoun). Contents: Eyeglasses -- Seeing is believing -- Viva la France -- The boarder . DVD 7391

Amos'n Andy.(TV, 1951)

Cast: Alvin Childress, Spencer Williams, Jr., Tim Moore, Ernestine Wade, Amanda Randolph, Johnny Lee, and Horace Stewart.

Amos n' Andy: Introduction of actors to studio audience by producers (6 min.) -- Amos n' Andy: The rare coin (27 min.) -- Amos n' Andy: Kingfish enlists (25 min.) Video/C 4761

Vol. 4: Antique shop: Kingfish becomes an agent to get the commission from the sale of an antique shop. Kingfish teaches Andy to fly: Kingfish talks Andy into flying lessons so he can impress the ladies. 999:729:4

Vol. 6: The rare coin (27 min.) -- The Christmas story (27 min.) Video/C 9639

Vol. 7: Second honeymoon (27 min.) -- Andy buys a house (27 min.) Video/C 9640

Vol. 8: Andy's vacation; Happy Stevenses 999:728

Vol. Vol. 8a: Kingfish's secretary; The Society 999:728

Vol. Vol. 10: Cousin Effie's will; The adoption 999:729:10

Vol. 11: Eye glasses (27 min.) -- Superfine Brush Company (aka Superfine brushes) (27 min.) Video/C 9641

Vol. 11a: The Kingfish gets drafted; Kingfish's secretary 999:729:11

Vol. 13: Getting momma married 999:729:13

Vol. 14: Young girls mom ; Broken clock 999:729:14

Vol. 15: The Kingfish's last friend ; The society party 999:729:15

Vol. 16: Christmas show ; Relatives 999:729:16

Vol. 18: Amos helps out ; Sapphire disappears 999:729:18

Vol. 19: Counterfeiters in the basement ; Turkey dinner 999:729:19

Vol. 20: Superfine brushes; Traffic violations 999:729:20

Amos 'n Andy. The Trouble with Father. Jack Benny Program.(TV)

Contents: Amos n' Andy: Introduction of actors to studio audience by producers (6 min.) -- Amos n' Andy: The Rare Coin (27 min.) -- Amos n' Andy: Kingfish Enlists (25 min.) -- Trouble with Father: A Skeleton at the Party (27 min.) -- Jack Benny Program: Benny in the Lineup (25 min.). 199?. 110 min. Video/C 4761

Amos and Andy: Anatomy of a Controversy

Takes a fond look at the controversial radio and television show and attempts to determine if the series was a positive first step for Blacks into the world of entertainment or not and examines the events that led to the show's expulsion from the airwaves in 1966 after complaints from civil rights activists. Highlighted with rare clips of radio show creators Freeman Gosden and Charles Correll, and hilarious clips from the Amos n' Andy TV series. Commentary by Alvin Childress, Ernestine Wade, Reverend Jesse Jackson, Redd Foxx, Marla Gibbs, and Henry Lee Moon. 1983. 60 min. Video/C MM1157

Band of Angels (1957)

Directed by Raoul Walsh. Cast: Clark Gable, Yvonne DeCarlo, Sidney Poitier, Efram Zimbalist, Jr., Rex Reason, Carolle Drake, Juanita Moore. The story of privileged society of the Old South centering around Amish Bond, a plantation owner with a secret past of slave trading, a freedom-yearning slave Bond has raised as a son, and the fiery belle, well educated and born into a good family who goes on the auction block when her part-African heritage is revealed. Based on the novel by Robert Penn Warren. 128 min. 999:2231

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Barriers (1998)

Directed by Alan Baxter. Cast: Jamaul Roots, Geoffrey Garcy, Sedley Bloomfield, Derrick Robberts, Quentin Crisp, Annie Golden. A drama about an unlikely friendship between two black youths in New York City, one rich and one poor, and the barriers of race and class that threaten to drive them apart. Tori, a lonely affluent teen befriends a streetwise, tough named Snake from Harlem, but when Tori's father's credit card turns up missing, Snake is blamed. Upset, Tori's pursuit of Snake leads the pair into a deadly showdown that not only tests the limits of their friendship, but forces those around them to reevaluate their own notions of race, class and loyalty. 90 min. 999:3051

Bataan (1943)

Directed by Directed by Tay Garnett. Cast: Robert Taylor, George Murphy, Thomas Mitchell, Lloyd Nolan. WWII movie featuring what Donald Bogle has called the movies' representation of "New Negro" in the military (an increasingly sympathetic image in the war and post-war years). Bataan features Kenneth Spencer as a black demolitions expert who figures prominantly and heroically in the action of the movie. 115 min. 999:1258

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Beloved (1998)

Directed by Jonathan Demme. Cast: Oprah Winfrey, Danny Glover, Thandie Newton, Kimberly Elise, Beah Richards, Lisa Gay Hamilton, Albert Hall. After Paul D. finds his old slave friend Sethe in Ohio and moves in with her and her daughter Denver, a strange girl comes along by the name of "Beloved." Sethe and Denver take her in and help her to finally rediscover who she is and regain her lost sense of hope. 1998. 172 min. DVD 8328; vhs 999:2288

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Beverly Hills Cop (1984)

Directed by Martin Brest. Cast: Eddie Murphy, Lisa Eilbacher, Steven Berkoff, Judge Reinhold, Ronny Cox. Axel Foley is a brash, street smart Detroit detective who follows the trail of a friend's murderer to the posh surroundings of Beverly Hills. And before Axel gets his man, he gets up to his neck in an international network of smugglers and drug peddlers. 105 min. 999:3181

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Fuchs, Cynthia J."The Buddy Politic." In: Screening the male : exploring masculinities in Hollywood cinema / edited by Steven Cohan and Ina Rae Hark. London ; New York : Routledge, c1993. (Main Stack PN1995.9.M46.S36 1993; Moffitt PN1995.9.M46.S36 1993)

Guerrero, Ed. "The Black Image in Protective Custody: Hollywood's Biracial Buddy Films of the Eighties." InBlack American cinema / edited by Manthia Diawara. New York : Routledge,1993. (Main Stack PN1995.9.N4.B45 1993; Moffitt PN1995.9.N4.B45 1993)

Big Momma's House (2000)

Directed by Raja Gosnell. Cast: Martin Lawrence, Nia Long, Paul Giamatti, Jascha Washington, Terrence Dashon Howard, Anthony Anderson, Ella Mitchell, Carl Wright, Phyllis Applegate. A tough-talking FBI agent is sent to Georgia to protect a single mom and her son from an escaped convict. He goes incognito by disguising himself as the woman's grandma. 98 min. DVD 5550

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Hollings, K. "Big Momma's house." Sight & Sound v. ns10 no. 8 (August 2000) p. 39-40

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The Bingo Long Traveling All-Stars & Motor Kings (1976)

Directed by John Badham. Cast: Billy Dee Williams, James Earl Jones, Richard Pryor, Rico Dawson. The adventures of an outlaw barnstorming black baseball team in 1939, who take on their own League's unfair rules as they steal cars, food and home base -- anything to keep their pitching and catching the best and boldest. 111 min. 999:2776

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Bird (1988)

Directed by Clint Eastwood. Cast: Forest Whitaker, Diane Venora, Michael Zelniker, Sam Wright, Keith David. A gripping drama of the life of legendary jazz saxophonist Charlie "Yardbird" Parker. Past and future overlap as the movie explores Bird's relationship with his steadfast wife Chan Parker, his soaring skill and destructive excesses with alcohol and drugs. Film uses actual recordings by Parker skillfully blending his solo recordings with modern musicians attuned to the Yardbird's improvisations. 160 min. DVD 625

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Birth of a Nation (1915)

Directed by D.W. Griffith. Cast: Lillian Gish, Mae Marsh, Henry Walthall, Miriam Cooper, Mary Alden, Ralph Lewis, George Seigmann, Walter Long. Adapted from Thomas Dixon's novel, The Clansman. A Civil War spectacular, Portraying "life in the South" during and after the Civil War as revealed in a story depicting the war itself, the conflict between the defeated Southerners and emancipated renegade Negroes, the despoiling of the South during the carpetbagger period, and the revival of the Southern white man's honor through the efforts of the Ku Klux Klan. 124 min. DVD 3012; DVD 29; VHS 999:1685 (187 min.), 999:1686 213 min.)

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Birth of a Race (Excerpt) (1915)

Directed by John W. Noble. Cast: Louis Dean, Harry Dumont, Carter B. Harkness, Doris Doscher, Charles Graham, Ben Hendricks, Alice Gale, John Reinhardt, Gertrude Braun. After a biblical and historical prologue detailing the evolution of the idea of democracy through the creation, flood, the crucifixion of Christ, the discovery of America, the signing of the Declaration of Independenc and the Civil War, the present-day threat to this idea by autocratic powers is dramatized. 10 min. DVD 3012; DVD 2912

Black & White (1991)

Written and directed by Boris Frumin. Cast: Elena Shevchenko, Gilbert Giles, Patrick Godfrey, Gina Delio, Hayward Boling, Debra Jo Jackson, Stephen Parris. The story of Lisa, a young Soviet emigre studying medicine in Manhattan and Roy, an African American building superintendent on New York's Lower East Side. Edgy and emotionally complex, this nocturnal love story is suffused with the melancholy and anxiety of not belonging, and full of the sad understanding of what it means to be a stranger. 96 min. 999:2253

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Black Hollywood: The Way It Was (Library of Black History)

An extensive exploration of the "Hollywood treatment" given to blacks by the film moguls since the beginning of the film industry. Through interviews with film historians and generous film clips examines how and why stereotypes were created and used by the movie industry. It also explains the economics of the film business and probes the impact of racism, the Depression, and World War II on film production and distribution. Contents: Film excerpts: Birth of a nation -- Scar of shame -- By right of birth -- Black king -- Emperor Jones -- So red the rose -- Broken strings -- Blood of Jesus -- Sports cavalcade -- Cabin in the sky. Originally shown on the television program: Tony Brown's journal. c1986. 104 min. Video/C 8261

Black Legion (1936)

Directed by Archie L. Mayo. Cast: Humphrey Bogart, Dick Foran, Erin O'Brien-Moore, Ann Sheridan. In this first leading role in a major movie for Humphrey Bogart, he plays a factory worker, disappointed at not being promoted, who joins a Ku Klux Klan-like group. Threats surrounded the making of the movie, but the studio persisted, creating a bold, torn-from-the-headlines expose of the organization fueled by fear, ignorance and hate -- a nation of "free, white, 100% Americans." 83 min. 999:3162

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"Black legion."Commonweal v. 25 (January 22 1937) p. 360

"Black legion."Literary Digest v. 123 (January 16 1937) p. 23

"Black legion." The Nation v. 144 (January 30 1937) p. 137

"Black legion." The New Republic v. 90 (February 17 1937) p. 47-8

"Black legion." Time v. 29 (January 25 1937) p. 46

Black Like Me (1964)

Directed by Carl Lerner. Cast: James Whitmore, Will Geer, Roscoe Lee Browne. A dramatization of the true story of a white writer in the early 1960's who chemically changed the color of his skin in order to experience life as a black man in the South. Based on the book by John Howard Griffin (Moffitt E185.61.G8; Main Stack E185.61.G75). 107 min. 999:2729

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Booty Call (1997)

Directed by Jeff Pollack. Cast: Jamie Foxx, Tommy Davidson, Vivica A. Fox, Tamala Jones. After weeks of dating, Rushon and Nikki think they might be in love. And they know they're in lust. There's just one little problem--Nikki insists on double-dating with her best friend Lysterine on the night Rushon has reserved for romance. 79 min. DVD 2936

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Borderline (UK, 1930)

Directed by Kenneth MacPherson. Cast: Paul Robeson, Eslanda Robeson, Helga Doorn, Gavin Arthur, Charlotte Arthur, Blanche Lewin. This experimental silent film, made in Switzerland by an independent British film company, is chiefly remembered as Paul Robeson's first film. Boldly blending Eisensteinian montage and domestic melodrama, the film features Robeson and his wife, Eslanda, as lovers caught up in a tangled web of interracial affairs. 63 min. DVD 7281

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Bring It On (2000)

Directed by Peyton Reed. Cast: Kirsten Dunst, Eliza Dushku, Jesse Bradford, Gabrielle Union. The Toro cheerleading squad has spirit, spunk, sass and a killer routine that's sure to land them the national championship torphy for the sixth year in a row. But for newly-elected team captain, Torrance, the Toros' road to cheer glory stumbles when she discovers their perfectly choreographed routines were stolen from a hot hip-hop squad across town. Now the squad must scramble to find a new routine to compete in this year's competition. 99 min. DVD 1359

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Brother From Another Planet (1987)

Directed by John Sayles. A sci-fantasy adventure about a black visitor from outer space. Fleeing earth to escape slavery on a distant world, he spashes down in New York harbor and makes his way to Harlem, where he's accepted by the regulars at a local bar, and persued by two alien bounty hunters. 109 min. DVD 1820; vhs 999:1470

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Brother to Brother (2004)

Directed by Rodney Evans. Cast: Anthony Mackie, Larry Gilliard Jr., Duane Boutte, Daniel Sunjata, Alex Burns. Critically acclaimed drama that invokes the glory days of the Harlem Renaissance. As an elderly man, poet Bruce Nugent meets a young, black, gay artist struggling to find his voice, and together they embark on a journey through his inspiring past. 90 min. DVD 3997

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Bulworth (1998)

Directed by Warren Beatty. Cast: Warren Beatty, Halle Berry, Oliver Platt, Paul Sorvino, Jack Warden, Isaiah Washington. Believing his career is over, California Senator Jay Bulworth takes out an enormous insurance policy and a contract on his own life. His impending death fills him with an outrageous desire to break the rules and tell it like it is. 108 min. 999:2411

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Cabin in the Sky (1943)

Directed by Vincente Minnelli. Cast: Ethel Waters, Eddie Anderson, Lena Horne. Petunia Jackson, a poor but devout woman, is burdened with a shiftless husband called Little Joe. When Little Joe is seriously wounded in a fight and seems about to die, the forces of heaven and hell begin a battle for his soul. 99 min. DVD 5684999:357

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Car Wash(1976)

Director Michael Schultz. Cast: George Carlin, Richard Pryor, Franklyn Ajaye, Professor Irwin Corey, Ivan Dixon, Antonio Fargas, Jack Kehoe, Clarence Muse, Lorraine Gary, the Pointer Sisters. An irreverent but affectionate look at a typical day in a Los Angeles car wash. But what a day! There's a would-be robbery and an assembly line of the weirdest, baddest characters you've ever met and lots of booty-bumping music to pass the hours. 97 min. DVD 2573

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Carmen Jones (1954)

Directed by Otto Preminger. Cast: Harry Belafonte, Dorthy Dandridge, Pearl Bailey, Olga James, Joe Adams, Diahann Carroll. Bizet's opera Carmen staged with an all black cast. DVD 3429; vhs 999:1169

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Bibliography on Dorothy Dandridge

Smith, Jeff. "Black faces, white voices: the politics of dubbing in Carmen Jones." Velvet Light Trap (Spring 2003): p29(14). (9214 words)

Catfish in Black Bean Sauce (2000)

Directed by Chi Muoi Lo. Cast: Paul Winfield, Mary Alice, Chi Muoi Lo, Kieu Chinh, Lauren Tom, Sanaa Lathan, Tyler Christopher, George Wallace. Mai and her brother Dwayne were Vietnamese orphans in a refugee camp when an African-American couple adopted them 22 years ago. As an adult, Mai tracks down her mother and brings her to America for the first time. Now, after an emotional reunion, Dwayne and Mai face conflicting feelings over their identities and loyalites in this touching and funny look at what it means to be family. 119 min. DVD 1799

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Charleston Parade (Sur un air de Charleston) (1926)

Directed by Jean Renoir. Cast: Catherine Hessling, Johnny Huggins, (and playing the role of angels) Pierre Braunberger, Andre Cerf, Pierre Lestringuez, Jean Renoir. Shows the journey of a man in blackface to a post-Apocalyptic Paris, where he meets a girl who teachers him the Charleston, and they leave together in his spaceship. 20 min. DVD 7586; also on vhs Video/C 999:649;

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Check and Double Check (1930)

Directed by Melville W. Brown. Cast: Freeman Gosden, Charles J. Correll, Sue Carol, Irene Rich. Cab drivers Amos 'n' Andy (characters from the radio show Amos 'n' Andy) contract to transport Duke Ellington and his band out to Blair estate, where they meet Richard Williams who is in love with Jean Blair. Richard must find the deed to his family property before he can marry Jean. Meanwhile, Amos 'n' Andy, after spending the night in a haunted house, find the deed. Notable as the only motion picture produced staring the radio comedy team, Amos n' Andy. 85 min. 999:793

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Clara's Heart (1988)

Directed by Robert Mulligan. Cast: Whoopi Goldberg, Michael Ontkean, Kathleen Quinlan, Spalding Gray, Beverly Todd, Neil Patrick Harris. Clara Mayfield, a Jamaican housekeeper, enters the Harts' luxurious suburban Baltimore home as an interloper, but her unshakable dignity and bounteous humor act like sunshine on the tight bud of David's soul. He flowers under her care and even fashions his speech after hers. 108 min. 999:3710

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Classified X (1997)

A film by Melvin Van Peebles. Examines the treatment of black characters throughout the history of American cinema, using examples from classic films beginning with footage by Thomas Edison in 1903 to the present, tracing how Hollywood has aided and abetted the public perception of the African-American. From its earliest days, Hollywood reflected society's fear of blacks and countered with wish-fulfilling images of African-Americans as servile, ignorant, superstitious, or untrustworthy. 50 min. Video/C 5588

Claudine (1985)

Directed by John Berry. Cast: James Earl Jones, Diahann Carroll, David Kruger. While struggling to support herself and her six children in Harlem by working as a maid for a wealthy family, Claudine meets a charming garbage man, Roop. But although Roop is smitten with the lovely single mother, his own life trials make him slow to respond to her invitation to a lifetime of love. 92 min. DVD 3709

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Collateral (2004)

Directed by Michael Mann. Cast: Tom Cruise, Jamie Foxx, Jada Pinkett Smith, Mark Ruffalo, Peter Berg, Bruce McGill, Irma P. Hall, Barry Shabaka Henley. Vincent is a cool, calculating contract killer at the top of his game. Max is a cabbie with big dreams looking for his next fare. This fateful night, Max becomes Vincent's collateral, and will transport him on his next mission - one night, five stops, five hits and then a perfect getaway. Together, Vincent and Max find themselves in a non-stop race against time. With the LAPD and the FBI after them, they each become dependent on the other to survive. 119 min. DVD 3780

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The Color Purple (1985)

Steven Spielberg's movie adaptation of Alice Walker's novel. Cast: Whoopi Goldberg, Danny Glover, Adolph Caesar, Margaret Avery, Rae Dawn Chong, Oprah Winfrey. A young uneducated woman living in the rural South is raped by her father who then forces her to marry a man who beats her. Her life is transformed by the friendship of two women who help her find self-respect and the courage to change her life. Based on the novel by Alice Walker: (Bancroft BANC MSS 92/109 z (typescript) Non-circulating; may be used only in The Bancroft Library; Circulating copies: Moffitt PS3573.A425.C6 1985; Main Stack PS3573.A425.C6 1992) 154 min. DVD 28; vhs 999:228

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Coming to America (1988)

Directed by John Landis. Cast: Eddie Murphy, Arsenio Hall, James Earl Jones, John Amos, Madge Sinclair, Shari Headley. Murphy plays a very wealthy and pampered African prince who comes to America in search of a bride. Accompanied by his closest companion, Murphy quickly finds a job, new friends, new digs, new enemies--and lots of trouble. 116 min. DVD 7106; vhs 999:2123

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Olaniyan, Tejumola. "'Uplift the Race!' Coming to America, Do the Right Thing, and the Poetics of 'Othering'." Cultural-Critique, 1996 Fall, 34, 91-113.

The Cotton Club (1984)

Directed by Francis Ford Coppola. Cast: Richard Gere, Gregory Hines, Diane Lane, Lonette McKee, Bob Hoskins, Nicolas Cage, Fred Gwynne. In 1928 New York, spirits are high and jazz, dancing and gangsters rule supreme. Harlem's Cotton Club is in the center of it all, where rich upper-eastsiders mix with dressed-up mobsters. On stage is gifted coronet player Dixie Dwyer, who dreams of the big time, and tap sensation Sandman Williams who can't touch his girl, the lovely singer Lila Rose Oliver, because of strict club rules. As tension rises, so do tempers, and the nightclub becomes a pressure-cooker of jilted loves and mob jobs. 129 min. DVD 788; VHS 999:2852

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Crash (2004)

Directed by Paul Haggis. Cast: Sandra Bullock, Don Cheadle, Matt Dillon, Jennifer Esposito, William Fichtner, Brendan Fraser, Terrence Howard, Chris "Ludacris" Bridges, Thandie Newton, Ryan Phillippe, Larenz Tate. A car accident brings together a group of strangers in Los Angeles in this provocative, unflinching look at the complexities of racial tolerance in contemporary America. 113 min. DVD 4298

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Crown Heights (TV, 2004)

Directed by Jeremy Kagan. Cast: Mario Van Peebles, Howie Mandel, Jeremy Blackman, Dequan Henderson, Jason Blicker. In August of 1991, an African American boy (Gavin Cato) was accidentally killed by a car driven by a Hasidic Jewish man in the Crown Heights section of Brooklyn. Four hours later Yankel Rosenbaum was murdered in retaliation. For the following three days, the Heights experienced riots and racial tensions. The efforts of an African American youth leader and a Hasidic rabbi bring the polarized communities together. During this time, two teens, Yudi Simon and T.J. Moses forge a friendship based on a mutual love of rap music and dance. Two groups that have suffered persecution throughout the centuries embrace tolerance and discover that progress is possible. 88 min. DVD 8284

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The Defiant Ones (1958)

Directed by Stanley Kramer. Cast: Tony Curtis and Sidney Poitier star in Stanley Kramer's groundbreaking film that tears into the problem of racial hatred. The plot centers on these two convicts fleeing a chain gang in the deep South. 1 hour 37 min. DVD 4533; vhs 999:972

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Kelley, Samuel L. The evolution of character portrayals in the films of Sidney Poitier, 1950-1978 (NEWS: MICROFICHE.6030.Unit 98)

Keyser, Lester J. The cinema of Sidney Poitier : the black man's changing role on the American screen. San Diego, [Calif. : A. S. Barnes, c1980 (MAIN: PN2287.P57 .K4)

Marill, Alvin H. The films of Sidney Poitier Secaucus, N.J. : Citadel Press, c1978. (MAIN: PN2287 .P57M3)

Dirty Dozen (1967)

Directed by Robert Aldrich. Cast: Lee Marvin, Ernest Borgnine, Charles Bronson, Jim Brown, John Cassavetes, Richard Jaeckel, George Kennedy, Trini Lopez, Ralph Meeker, Robert Ryan, Telly Savalas, Clint Walker, Robert Webber. A World War II drama in which an army major selects 12 men convicted for crimes of violence and offers them their freedom if they will complete a dangerous mission behind Nazi lines. Features Ex-football champ Jim Brown in one of his typically "mean MF" roles. 150 min. 999:783

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Harris, Keith M. "Super bad: Jim Brown, blaxploitation, and the coming of boyz." In: Boys, boyz, bois : an ethics of Black masculinity in film and popular media New York : Routledge, 2006 (Main Stack PN1995.9.N4.H37 2006)

Dreamgirls (2006)

Directed by Bill Condon. Cast: Jamie Foxx, Beyonce Knowles, Eddie Murphy, Danny Glover, Anika Noni Rose, Keith Robinson, Sharon Leal, Hinton Battle, Jennifer Hudson. Deena Jones, Effie White, and Lorrell Robinson, three young African-American women in 1960s Detroit, dream of becoming pop stars. They get their wish after a local talent show when they are picked to be backup singers for the legendary James "Thunder" Early. As they become more successful over time, each of the girls discovers the costs and compromises exacted by their desire to be in the music business. Special features (Disc 1): 12 never-before-seen extended musical numbers; Listen (Beyonce music video). (Disc 2). Building the dream (behind-the-scenes full-length documentary); original auditions and screen tests; previsualization sequences; image gallery; additional featurettes. 130 min. DVD 7816

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Driving Miss Daisy (1989)

Directed by Bruce Beresford. Cast: Morgan Freeman, Jessica Tandy, Dan Aykroyd, Patti Lupone, Esther Rolle. Set in Atlanta in the 1950's, a textile factory owner insists on hiring an ever-patient chauffeur for his aging head-strong mother. The Jewish woman and her African American driver eventually build a relationship over many years. 99 min. DVD 5147

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Tha Eastsidaz (2000)

Director, Michael Martin. Cast: Snoop Dogg, Tray Deee, Goldie Loc, Darryl Brunson, Xzibit, Warren G., RBS, Jayo Felony, Tash. A gang kingpin is looking to get out of the game after one final deal, only to have his trusted lieutenant betray him. Aided by friends outside prison, Killa Pop plans an ingenious escape and a brutal payback. Features a who's who of the West Coasts's top rap artists. 90 min. 999:2811

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Emperor Jones (1933)

Directed by Dudley Murphy, with screenplay adapted by DuBose Heyward from the drama by Eugene O'Neill. Cast: Paul Robeson, Dudley Digges, Frank Wilson, Fredi Washington, Ruby Elzy. 101 min. Video 999:200

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Far From Heaven (2002)

Directed by Todd Haynes. Cast: Julianne Moore, Dennis Quaid, Dennis Haysbert, Patricia Clarkson, Viola Davis, James Rebhorn. Cathy is the perfect 50s housewife, living the perfect 50s life: healthy kids, successful husband, social prominence. Then one night she surprises her husband Frank having sex with another man, and her tidy world starts spinning out of control. In her confusion and grief, she finds consolation in the friendship of their African-American gardener, Raymond--a socially taboo relationship that leads to the further disintegration of life as she knew it. 107 min. DVD 1713

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Fear of a Black Hat (1992)

Directed by Rusty Cundieff. Cast: Rusty Cundieff, Larry B. Scott, Mark Christopher Lawrence, Kasi Lemmons. A filmmaker infiltrates rap band NWH in this satire of gangsta rappers, which focuses on the hip hop trio Tasty-Taste, Ice Cold, and Tone Def. The movie irreverently pokes fun at white rappers, the L.A. riots, as well as violence in rap. 95 min. 999:3220

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For Love of Ivy (1968)

Directed by Daniel Mann. Cast: Sidney Poitier, Abbey Lincoln, Beau Bridges, Nan Martin, Lauri Peters, Carroll O'Connor, Leon Bibb. A wealthy family, afraid of losing their housekeeper to a secretarial career, fix her up with a man-about-town, who is secretly involved in illegal gambling. 101 min. DVD 4565

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Freedom Song (2000)

Directed by Phil Alden Robinson. Cast: Danny Glover, Vondie Curtis Hall, Vicellous Reon Shannon, Loretta Devine, Glynn Turman. A stirring dramatization of unsung small-town citizens during the civil rights struggle in the early 1960s who risked their lives to bring change to the grassroots level. Based on first-hand recollections of veteran activists, burning with realism, commitment, and the urgency of lives in crisis. 117 min. DVD 5126

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Freedom Writers (2007)

Director, Richard LaGravenese. Cast: Hilary Swank, Patrick Dempsey, Scott Glenn, Imelda Staunton, April Lee Hernandez, Mario, Kristin Herrera, Jacklyn Ngan, Sergio Montalvo, Jason Finn, Deance Wyatt, Vanetta Smith, Gabriel Chavarria, Hunter Parrish. Dramatization of a true story about a teacher in a racially divided school who gives her students what they've always needed, a voice. Erin Gruwell comes to a southern California high school bubbling over with naive optimism. She quickly discovers that her unruly classroom is not easily won over by her good intentions. After a few floundering attempts to connect with her students, Gruwell gives them the assignment of keeping journals about their own lives. This assignment is something that the class can bite into with relish. This eventually bonds them together and pushes racial rivalries aside. Draws heavily from the published journals of the real students themselves. Special features: Feature-length commentary by director Richard LaGravenese and actor Hilary Swank; deleted scenes; featurettes; theatrical trailer; photo gallery. Based on the book "The Freedom Writers diary: how a teacher and 150 teens used writing to change themselves and the world around them" by the Freedom Writers and Erin Gruwell (MOFF: HQ796 .F76355 1999). 122 min. DVD 7635

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The French Way (Fausse Alerte) (1940)

Director, Jacques de Baroncelli. Cast: Josephine Baker, Micheline Presle, George Marchal, Raymond Aimos, Jean Tissier, Gabrielle Dorziat, Saturnin Fabre, Marguerite Perry, Lucien Baroux. A rare wartime musical comedy featuring Josephine Baker as a Parisian cabaret singer who assists two lovers in the face of their parents' disapproval while trying to re-open her nightclub. Includes Baker and chorus girls in cabaret rehearsals and performances. 74 min. 999:3496

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Ghosts of Mississippi (1996)

Directed by Rob Reiner. Cast: Alec Baldwin, Whoopi Goldberg, James Woods, Craig T. Nelson. For three decades Myrlie Evers waited and worked for the conviction of the white supremacist who murdered her husband, civil rights leader Medgar Evers. Yet after two hung juries justice had not come. This film follows the final trial, carefully recreating the details of a relentless quest for justice. Film features special appearances by three children of Medgar Evers, plus Yoland King, the daughter of Martin Luther King, Jr. 131 min. DVD 8979; vhs 999:1824

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Glory (1989)

Directed by Edward Zwick. Cast: Matthew Broderick, Denzel Washington, Cary Elwes, and Morgan Freeman. Two idealistic young Bostonians lead the 54th Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry, America's first Black regiment in the Civil War. Based on the letters by Robert Gould Shaw ; based on the book "Lay this laurel" by Lincoln Kirstein ; based on the book "One gallant rush" by Peter Burchard. Special features: Disc 1: Director's audio commentary; picture-in-picture video commentary featuring Ed Zwick, Morgan Freeman & Matthew Broderick ; Disc 2: Documentary "The true story of 'Glory' continues" narrated by Morgan Freeman; "Voices of 'Glory'" featurette; original featurette; deleted scenes; bonus previews; talent files. 122 min. DVD 6920; vhs 999:403

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Gone With the Wind (1939)

Directed by Victor Fleming, et al. Cast: Clark Gable, Vivien Leigh, Leslie Howard, Olivia de Havilland, Thomas Mitchell, Barbara O'Neill, Evelyn Keyes, Ann Rutherford, Hattie McDaniel, Butterfly McQueen, Carroll Nye, Laura Hope Crews, Ona Munson. As the South finally crumbles down around her, Scarlett devises a way to overcome starvation in order save herself and her family during the war and the following years of reconstruction. Cast: Clark Gable, Vivien Leigh, Leslie Howard, Olivia de Havilland, Thomas Mitchell, Barbara O'Neill, Evelyn Keyes, Ann Rutherford, Hattie McDaniel, Butterfly McQueen, Carroll Nye, Laura Hope Crews, Ona Munson. DVD 3133 special features: (Disc 4: about the cast) "Melanie remembers: reflections by Olivia de Havilland" exclusive 2004 documentary ; two insightful profiles "Gable: the king remembered" and "Vivien Leigh: Scarlett and beyond" ; the supporting players: cameo portraits of an unforgettable ensemble.Discs 1-2: Feature film -- Disc 3: About the movie -- Disc 4: About the cast. Based on the novel by Margaret Mitchell.DVD 3133; DVD 100; VHS 999:142

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The Great White Hope (1970)

Directed by Martin Ritt. Cast: James Earl Jones, Jane Alexander, Lou Gilbert, Joel Fluellen, Chester Morris. Based on the life of African American boxer Jack Johnson, this fictional account of his rise to fame chronicles the battles that the flamboyant champion fought in and out of the ring. Refusing to live within the boundaries deemed acceptable by society, this renowned hero and the woman he loved chose to live their lives the way they wanted-- something which evoked great fury from a narrow-minded world. 102 min. DVD 8059

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Green Pastures (1936)

Directed by Marc Connelly and William Keighley. Cast: Rex Ingram, Eddie Anderson, Oscar Polk, Frank Wilson, Hall Johnson Choir. All-back cast in Marc Connelly fable portrays the story of God in His heaven and his people on earth as told to a group of Sunday school children. Special DVD features: Commentary by actor LeVar Burton and Black Cultural scholars Herb Boyd and Ed Guerrera; 2 vingage musical shorts: "Rufus Jones for president", featuring Ethel Waters and 7-year-old Sammy Davis Jr.; "An all-colored vaudeville show", featuring Adelaide Hall and the Nicholas Brothers; theatrical trailer. 90 min. DVD 5066; vhs 999:725

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Winokur, Mark. "The Green Pastures as an allegory of Accommodation: Christ, Race, and the All-Black Musical." Film & History 1995 25(1-2): 6-16.

Guess Who (2005)

Directed by Kevin Rodney Sullivan. Cast: Bernie Mac, Ashton Kutcher, Zoe Saldana, Judith Scott, Hal Williams, Kellee Stewart, Robert Curtis Brown. Percy Jones is the understandably proud father of Theresa. She is a beautiful and intelligent young woman living in New York City. When Percy learns that his daughter is seriously dating a young man, he decides to do some research, and learns that her beau is a solid businessman. Percy arranges to meet Theresa's boyfriend and is a bit taken aback when he meets Simon. Percy never guessed that his daughter was involved in an interracial relationship. When it becomes clear that Simon and Theresa's relationship is likely to be altar-bound, Percy finds himself suddenly full of misgivings about the young man. 105 min. DVD 4177

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Guess Who's Coming to Dinner (1967)

Directed by Stanley Kramer. Cast: Spencer Tracy, Sidney Poitier, Katharine Hepburn, Katharine Houghton. Joanna, the caucasian daughter of a publisher, Matthew Drayton, and his patrician wife, Christina, returns home with her new fiance, John, a distinguished black doctor. Christina's mother accepts her daughter's decision to marry John, but Matthew is shocked by this interracial union, and the doctor's parents are equally dismayed. In this film both families are forced to examine their respective levels of racial intolerance. 108 min. DVD 2318; vhs 999:718

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Kelley, Samuel L. The evolution of character portrayals in the films of Sidney Poitier, 1950-1978 (NEWS: MICROFICHE.6030.Unit 98)

Keyser, Lester J. The cinema of Sidney Poitier : the black man's changing role on the American screen. San Diego, [Calif. : A. S. Barnes, c1980 (MAIN: PN2287.P57 .K4)

Levine, Andrea. "Sidney Poitier's Civil Rights: Rewriting the Mystique of White Womanhood in Guess Who's Coming to Dinner and In the Heat of the Night." American Literature: A Journal of Literary History, Criticism, and Bibliography, vol. 73, no. 2, pp. 365-86, June 2001.

Marill, Alvin H. The films of Sidney PoitierSecaucus, N.J. : Citadel Press, c1978. (MAIN: PN2287 .P57M3)

Hallelujah (1929)

Directed by King. Vidor. Cast: Daniels L. Haynes, Nina Mae McKinney, William Fountaine, Harry Gray, Fanny Belle DeKnight, Everett McGarrity, Victoria Spivey, Dixie Jubilee Singers. An all-Black cast film which depicts the life of a rural southern Black family written according to racist stereotypes prevalent in 1929. Themes show illiterate Black plantation life, singing, dancing and gambling, religious beliefs and practices, including a special baptism sequence, and the relationships between men and women in a "sinful environment". "Made when screen musicals were mainly backstage stories or all-star revues, "Hallelujah!" broke the mold. Director King Vidor, given the go-ahead only after pledging his salary to offset production costs, combines melodrama with work songs and spirituals...a sincere and sympathetic treatment of rural black life." 90 min. DVD 4965; vhs 999:1432

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Howard, Jessica H. "Hallelujah!: Transformation in Film." African American Review, vol. 30 no. 3. 1996 Fall. pp: 441-51.

Maurice, Alice. "Cinema at Its Source': Synchronizing Race and Sound in the Early Talkies." Camera Obscura49: 31-72. 2002 Jan.

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The Hurricane(1999)

Directed by Norman Jewison. Cast: Denzel Washington, John Hannah, Deborah Kara Unger, Liev Schreiber, Vicellous Reon Shannon, David Paymer, Dan Hedaya, Harris Yulin, Rod Seiger. Based upon true events, this is the story of Rubin "Hurricane" Carter, an African American boxer who was wrongfully convicted of murder. Sentenced to life in prison, Carter's published memoir, The sixteenth round, inspired a teenager from Brooklyn and three Canadian activists who believed in the truth, to join forces with Carter to prove his innocence. 166 min. 999:2827

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Hustle & Flow (2005)

Directed by Craig Brewer. Cast: Terrence Howard, Anthony Anderson, Taryn Manning, Taraji P. Henson, Paula Jai Parker, Isaac Hayes, D.J. Qualls, Ludacris. Rapper DJay, who dreams of becoming the next big rap superstar, works all the angles to get his first record made. He even has help from assorted people in his Memphis 'hood. When he hears that rap superstar Skinny Black is heading to his area, DJay decides to throw together a supreme hustle to grab Skinny's attention. 116 min. DVD 4985

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I Spy (1965-1968)

The first television series to feature a white and a black protagonist working as colleagues and equals. Starring Robert Culp and Bill Cosby. For holdings SEE TV videography

Imitation of Life (1934)

Directed by John M. Stahl. Cast: Claudette Colbert (Beatrice "Bea" Pullman), Warren William (Stephen Archer), Ned Sparks (Elmer Smith, Louise Beavers (Aunt Delilah). The story of two widows and their troubled daughters. In the search for success as an actress, Lora neglects her daughter. Lora's black housekeeper's daughter repudiates her mother by trying to pass for white. As the years pass, each of the four women realizes that she has been living out an emotionally fruitless existence. 106 min. DVD 5246

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Imitation of Life (1959)

Based on Fannie Hurst's novel. Directed by Douglas Sirk. Cast: Lana Turner (Lora Meredith), John Gavin (Steve Archer). Draws the audience into an underworld of backstairs and neon gutters with the story of an exploited black maid (played by a white actress) and her daughter trying to pass for white. 124 min. DVD 5246; DVD 1737

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In the Heat of the Night (1967)

Directed by Norman Jewison. Cast: Sidney Poitier, Rod Steiger, Warren Oates, Lee Grant. A small town Southern sheriff finds himself in an uneasy alliance with a big-city black homicide detective (Virgil Tibbs) as they investigate a murder. Starring Sidney Poitier and Rod Steiger. Music by Quincy Jones, title song sung by Ray Charles. 110 min. DVD 4561; vhs 999:421

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Intruder in the Dust (1949)

Directed by Clarence Brown. Cast: David Brian, Claude Jarman, Jr., Juano Hernandez, Porter Hall, Elizabeth Patterson, Charles Kemper, Will Geer. This film is considered one of the most outstanding films about racial tension. It tells the story of a black man in a small Mississippi town who is accused of murdering a white man known to be his adversary. He makes no attempt to defend himself to avoid being lyunched, until a young white boy persuades his lawyer uncle to help find the real killer. Based on the novel by William Faulkner. 87 min. 999:2278

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Degenfelder, E. Pauline. "The Film Adaptation of Faulkner's Intruder in the Dust." Literature/Film Quarterly, vol. 1. 1973. pp: 138-48.

Hannon, Charles. "Race Fantasies: The Filming of Intruder in the Dust." In: Faulkner in cultural context : Faulkner and Yoknapatawpha, 1995 / edited by Donald M. Kartiganer and Ann J. Abadie. pp: 263-83. Jackson : University Press of Mississippi, c1997. Faulkner and Yoknapatawpha. (Main Stack PS3511.A86.Z78321185 1997)

Heller, Terry L. "Intruders in the Dust: The Representation of Racial Problems in Faulkner's Novel and in the MGM Film Adaptation." Coe Review 8:79-90. 1977

Li, Stephanie. "Intruder in the Dust from Novel to Movie: The Development of Chick Mallison." The Faulkner Journal. 16(1-2):105-18. 2000 Fall-2001 Spring

The Jazz Singer (1927)

Directed by Alan Crosland. Cast: Al Jolson, May McAvoy, Warner Oland, William Demarest, Eugenie Besserer, Otto Lederer, Josef Rosenblatt. A melodramatic story of a Jewish cantor's son (Al Jolson) who aspires to be a jazz singer despite his father's objection and religious tradition. In motion picture history, this marks the first feature film to utilize synchronous sound. Jolson's songs include "Toot, toot, tootsie", "Blue skies", and "Mammy". 89 min. DVD 8594; vhs 999:790

"Since its premiere in 1927, many jazz critcs have overlooked The Jazz Singer, America's pioneer talking picture, in the history of American jazz film. Despite its title, the talkie's account of Old World vs. New World tension and Jewish assimilation has little to do with the jazz sound made famous by such artists as Louis Armstrong and Jelly Roll Morton. Yet as crtic Krin Gabbard argues, the film's appropriation of the title jazz reflects the cultural understanding of "jazz" during the American Jazz Age. In the 1920s, jazz, referring in general to up-tempo music, represented the emotional release and freedom of a generation striving to break established social conventions. While African American contributions to jazz were largely overlooked in the rise of Paul Whiteman and Al jolson's fame, blackface minstrelsy of the age represented white Americans attempt to ventriloquize blacks associated with supposed freedom of Negro primitivisim. Using jazz to represent Raboniwitz's break from Old World tradition and featuring a finale in blackface minstrelsy, The Jazz Singer (as Gabbard argues) lays the foundation for cultural representations of jazz in American cinema." [http://xroads.virginia.edu/~ASI/musi212/brandi/jazz.html]

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Jerico (UK, 1937)

Directed by Thornton Freeland. Cast: Paul Robeson, Henry Wilcoxon, Wallace Ford. Paul Robeson is in fine voice in this musical drama about a GI who, after he accidentally kills a man, escapes into the desert where he joins an African tribe to avoid punishment. 75 min. DVD 7282

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Kansas City (1995)

Directed by Robert Altman. Cast: Jennifer Jason Leigh, Miranda Richardson, Harry Belafonte, Michael Murphy, Dermot Mulroney, Steve Buscemi, Brooke Smith. Set in 1934 Kansas City, a telegraph operator named Blondie kidnaps Carolyn Stilton, wife of a powerful businessman who commutes to Washington to advise President Roosevelt. Blondie figures she can use Carolyn to gain safe passage for her husband Johnny who is in the grip of the city's top gangster, a club owner named Seldom Seen. The movie unfolds in the dark streets of the downtown Kansas City night. 116 min. 999:2090

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Lady Sings the Blues (1972)

Director, Sidney J. Furie. Cast: Diana Ross, Billy Dee Williams, Richard Pryor, Paul Hampton. Presents a film biography of the life of Billie Holliday, the performer known as "Lady Day", one of America's most loved and memorable blues singers. 144 min. DVD 4819; vhs 999:3103

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Lilies of the Field (1963)

Directed by Ralph Nelson. Cast: Sidney Poitier, Lilia Skala, Stanley Adams. A free-spirited ex-G.I. stumbles upon five German refugee nuns in Arizona and stops to fix their farmhouse roof. Homer discovers that not only will the Mother Superior not pay him for the job, but she also expects him to build their chapel -- for free! 95 min. DVD 4564

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Littlest Rebel (1937)

Starring Shirley Temple, John Boles, Bill Robinson, Steppin Fetchit. Civil War saga set in the Old South. A case study in 30's and 40's Hollywoods fondness for mammies, Toms, and happy, childlike colored folk. DVD 6038; vhs 999:1359

The Long Walk Home (1991)

Directed by Richard Pearce. Cast: Sissy Spacek, Whoopi Goldberg, Dwight Schultz. When Odessa Cotter, a quietly dignified woman, honors the 1955 Montgomery, Alabama, bus boycott by walking an exhausting nine miles to and from work, Miriam, her employer, offers her a ride. Defying both Miriam's racist husband and the powerful White Citizen's Council, Miriam and Odessa put their lives in danger for civil rights. Their shared experiences draw them closer as a deep respect and lasting friendship forms. Together, in a difficult world of black versus white, they manage to discover a common ground. 98 min. DVD 8667; vhs 999:940

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Lost Boundaries (1949)

Director, Alfred L. Werker. Cast: Beatrice Pearson, Mel Ferrer, Susan Douglas, Canada Lee, Richard Hylton. Based on true events surrounding a light-skinned black family who pass for white in a New Hampshire town. Dr. Scott Carter is unable to secure a job as a physician because of his race so he decides "For one year of his life" to pass as a white man, but the one year becomes twenty. Eventually he and his family must confront the racism of the idyllic New Hampshire town he's served for decades. Based on the book by William Lindsay White. 99 min. 999:1769

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Love Jones (1997)

Director, Theodore Witcher. Cast: Larenz Tate, Nia Long, Isaiah Washington, Lisa Nicole Carson, Bill Bellamy, Khalil Kain. She's a beautiful photographer, he's a sweet-talking writer. When they get together in this modern day romance, these two confused love birds discover that you can never underestimate the power of love. 110 min. DVD 932

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Manderlay (Denmark / Sweden / Netherlands / France / Germany / UK, 2005)

Directed by Lars Von Trier. Cast: JBryce Dallas Howard, Isaach De Bankhole, Danny Glover, Willem Dafoe, Lauren Bacall, Chloe Sevigny. A young girl traveling across 1930's America with her father, discovers a plantation that doesn't know that slavery has been abolished. Can this well-meaning girl and her lawyer father change the minds and hearts of the plantation owners? 139 min. DVD 7479

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Mandingo (1975)

Directed by Richard Fleischer. Cast: James Mason, Susan George, Perry King, Richard Ward, Brenda Sykes, Ken Norton. Based on a best-selling novel, this film moves beyond the sentimentalized South of other films with uncompromising honesty and realism to show the brutalizing nature of slavery, which made victims of both owner and slave. The story centers on a slave owner who buys a new slave at auction hoping to bring in money by training him to fight his other slaves. His wife, jealous over her husband's affair with the slave Helen, seduces the new man to get revenge on her husband and eventually gives birth to a black baby. 121 min. 999:3479

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Member of the Wedding (1953)

Directed by Fred Zinnemann. Cast: Ethel Waters, Julie Harris, Brandon De Wilde, Arthur Franz, Nancy Gates. A 12-year-old girl learns something about life when her sister gets married a Based on a story by Carson McCullers. Ethel Waters plays a kind of "nouveau mammy" to Julie Harris' anguished white girl on the verge of adulthood. The first instance of a black actress being used to carry a major-studio production. 91 min. 999:380

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Mississippi Burning (1988)

Directed by Alan Parker. Cast: Gene Hackman and Willem Defoe. Set in Mississippi in 1964, this is a fictionalized version of the case of the murder of three young civil rights workers, the FBI's attempts to find the missing boys and the clash between the authorities and the locals in a Klan-dominated town. 127 min. DVD 4902; vhs 999:374

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The Road to Mississippi: Reclaiming Our History.
Video/C 2580

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Mississippi Masala. (1991)

Directed by Mira Nair. Cast: Denzel Washington, Sarita Choudhury, Roshan Seth, Sharmila Tagore, Charles S. Dutton, Joe Seneca, Ranjit Chowdhry. In this interracial love story, an African American businessman falls for a beautiful Indian immigrant who's family was expelled from Uganda under the reign of dictator, Idi Amin. As their love grows they must deal with shock and outrage from both families. 118 min. DVD 2107; vhs 999:1201

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Monster's Ball (2001)

Directed by Marc Forster. Cast: Billy Bob Thornton, Heath Ledger, Halle Berry, Sean Combs, Mos Def, Will Rokos, Milo Addica, Coronji Calhoun, Peter Boyle. Hank and Leticia inhabit stark, queasy realities of the contemporary South, he as a death row corrections officer and she as the soon-to-be widow of an inmate whose execution Hank helps conduct. In the aftermath of the execution, both lose their children to tragic deaths and they form an unlikely bond. 112 min. DVD 1218

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Murder on the Bayou: A Gathering of Old Men (1987)

Director, Volker Schlondorff. Cast: Louis Gossett, Jr., Richard Widmark, Holly Hunter, Joe Seneca, Rosanna Carter, Tiger Haynes. A shotgun kills a white man in a black man's yard. A suspect, a plantation owner, and a gathering of desperate men each "confess" to the killing. Even as a truckload of vengeful kinfolk arrive, they stand resolute against decades of injustice. 91 min. 999:3603

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Native Son (USA / Argentina, 1951)

Director, Pierre Chenal. Cast: Richard Wright, Jean Wallace, Gloria Madison, Nicholas Joy, Willa Pearl Curtiss, Charles Cane. Adaptation of the classic novel by Richard Wright. Set in Chicago, Native son tells the story of Bigger Thomas, a young black man who accidentally murders his employer's daughter while performing his duties as chauffeur. The combined forces of institutional racism and condescending white liberalism pursue Thomas to an unhappy end. The author plays the leading role in this film version. 90 min. 999:3808

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The Negro Soldier (1943)

Produced by the U.S. War Department/Special Service Division, Army Service Forces, with the cooperation of the Signal Corps; directed by Frank Capra. Traces the role of the Negro soldier in American history from 1776 to 1944, and shows the accomplishments of Negro troops. 1943. 49 min. Video/C-2176

Cripps, Thomas. "The Negro Soldier (1944): Film Propaganda in Black and White." In: Hollywood as Historian: American Film in a Cultural Context edited by Peter C. Rollins. Lexington, Ky.: University Press of Kentucky, c1983. pp: 109-133. (UCB Main PN1995.9.H5.H64 1983; Moffitt PN1995.9.H5.H64 1983)

New Orleans (1947)

Directed by Arthur Lubin. Cast: Arturo de Cordova, Dorothy Patrick, Louis Armstrong and his band, Billie Holiday, Woody Herman and his orchestra, Original New Orleans Ragtime Band (Louis Armstrong, Zutty Singleton, Barney Bigard, Kid Ory, Bud Scott, Red Callendar, Charlie Beal and Meade Lux Lewis). Nick, the proprietor of a Bourbon Street gambling joint, an artistic haven for African-American musicans who gather and jam from dusk til dawn, falls in love with an opera-singing socialite. After losing his nightclub Nick tries over the course of many years to get jazz the respect and audience it deserves. 110 min. DVD 1094

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No Way Out (1950)

Directed by Joseph L. Mankiewicz. Cast: Richard Widmark, Linda Darnell, Stephen McNally, Sidney Poitier. When a young African-American doctor operates on two white brothers brought in for gunshot wounds, it sets off a chain of violent confrontations between a vicious psychopath, his gang and the black community. 106 min. 999:2450

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Nothing But a Man (1964)

Directed by Michael Roemer. Cast: Ivan Dixon, Abbey Lincoln, Julius Harris, Gloria Foster. Duff, a railroad section hand is forced to confront prejudice and self-denial when he falls in love with Josie, an educated preacher's daughter. Story centers around the young black couple as they struggle to live with dignity in a Southern community. The husband is unable to play the subservient role expected of him by both whites and blacks, and is branded as a troublemaker when he tries to maintain his self-respect. 92 min. Video 999:1080

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Odds Against Tomorrow (1959)

Directed by Robert Wise. Cast: Harry Belafonte, Robert Ryan, Shelley Winters, Ed Begley, Gloria Grahame. One hundred and fifty thousand dollars, ready for the taking. It's too much to resist for Earl Slater, a bigoted ex-con slumming through life with a patronizing girlfriend and zero expectations. He agrees to be part of a bank job planned by former cop Burke. Until, that is, he finds out one of his partners will be a black man. Earl's desperate need for cash, however, leads him to reconsider. For this job only, he'll put his racism aside ... until moments away from the score, hatred erupts. In this film to obtain the edgy look desired by the director a rare filming technique was used: infrared photography. DVD 2229; vhs 999:1843

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A Patch of Blue (1965)

Directed by Guy Green. Cast: Sidney Poitier, Shelley Winters, Elizabeth Hartman, Wallace Ford. Accidentally blinded as a child, 18-year-old Selina D'Arcey falls in love with a gentle and charming man, Gordon Ralfe, whom she meets in a rare visit to a park. Her racist mother declares that because Gordon is black, their relationship cannot continue, forcing Selina to choose between her family and her heart. Based on "Be ready with bells and drums" by Elizabeth Kata. 105 min. DVD 4535

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Kelley, Samuel L. The evolution of character portrayals in the films of Sidney Poitier, 1950-1978 (NEWS: MICROFICHE.6030.Unit 98)

Keyser, Lester J. The cinema of Sidney Poitier : the black man's changing role on the American screen. San Diego, [Calif. : A. S. Barnes, c1980 (MAIN: PN2287.P57 .K4)

Marill, Alvin H. The films of Sidney PoitierSecaucus, N.J. : Citadel Press, c1978. (MAIN: PN2287 .P57M3)

The Pawnbroker (1965)

Directed by Sidney Lumet. Cast: Rod Steiger, Brock Peters, Jaime Sanchez, Geraldine Fitzgerald, Raymond St. Jacques. Sol Nazerman is a WWII Nazi deathcamp survivor. Now, he runs a pawnshop in Harlem and takes refuge in misery and a bitter condemnation of humanity. When his assistant sacrifices his own life for the pawnbroker during a robbery, Sol is finally confronted with the inherent goodness of the human spirit. 120 min. 999:819

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Cunningham, Frank R. "The Insistence of Memory: The Opening Sequences of Lumet's Pawnbroker." (film maker, Sidney Lumet) Literature-Film Quarterly v17, n1 (Jan, 1989):39 (5 pages).

Gittleman S. "Witnessing The Holocaust In American Literature, A Note To Bonnie Lyons." (Wallant "The Pawnbroker" And Bellow "Mr. Sammlers Planet") Yiddish, 1990, V7 N4:36-38.

Persuit of Happyness (2006)

Directed by Gabriele Muccino. Cast: Will Smith, Jaden Christopher Syre Smith, Thandie Newton, Brian Howe, James Karen, Dan Castellaneta, Kurt Fuller, Takayo Fischer. In 1981, Chris Gardner was a struggling salesman. His wife worked double shifts to support the family including their young son, Christopher. In the face of this difficult life, Chris has the desperate inspiration to try for a stockbroker internship where one in twenty has a chance of a lucrative full time career. Even when his wife leaves him because of this choice, Chris clings to this dream. The odds become more daunting by the day. Together, father and son struggle through homelessness, jail time, tax seizure and the overall punishing despair in a quest that would make Gardner a respected millionaire. Based on a true story, the special features include an interview with the real Chris Gardner. Based on the autiobiography by Chris Gardner. Special features: Making pursuit: an Italian take on the American dream; Father and son: on screen and off; The man behind the movie: a conversation with Chris Gardner; Inside the Rubik's Cube; "I can" song; director's commentary. 149 min. DVD 7355

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Pinky (1949)

Directed by Elia Kazan. Cast: Jeanne Crain, Ethel Barrymore, Ethel Waters, William Lundigan. Pinky, a black woman who works as a nurse in Boston, finds that she is able to pass for white. Afraid her true heritage will be discovered, she leaves her white fiancee and returns home to Mississippi where she helps her grandmother care for her employer, an imperious plantation owner. When she names Pinky heiress to her estate, the community rises in resentment triggering a-sensational court trial. Subject of a landmark Supreme Court case in film censorship, this moving story became itself a battle for human rights. Originally produced as a motion picture in 1949. Based on the novel 'Quality' by Cid Ricketts Sumner. 102 min. DVD 5064; vhs 999:1043

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Porgy and Bess (1993)

This video is the adaptation of the Glyndebourne Festival Opera stage production of the Gershwins' classic musical drama Porgy and Bess, which portrays the lives of the occupants of Catfish Row. Performers: Willard White, Cynthia Haymon, Gregg Baker, Cynthia Clarey, Marietta Simpson, Damon Evans, Paula Ingram, Gordon Hawkins; the Glyndebourne Chorus; Craig Rutenberg, chorus master; The London Philharmonic; Simon Rattle, conductor. 184 min. Video Disc 162

Purlie Victorious (1963)

Directed by Nicholas Webster. Cast: Ossie Davis, Ruby Dee, Sorrell Booke, Godfrey Cambridge, Alan Alda, Hilda Haynes. In this film version of a successful stage play, a black preacher returns home to rural Georgia to claim an inheritance and bring down the ruthless plantation owner that he once served. He finds a surprise ally in the plantation owner's son. Religious hypocrisy, racial bigotry, civil rights issues and the changing Southern society backed by forced integraton are subjects in this film (1963) that coincided with the turbulent social issues of the time. 99 min. DVD 5095

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Putney Swope (1969)

Directed by Robert Downey. Cast: Arnold Johnson, Laura Greene, Buddy Butler, Anthony Fargas, Vincent Hamill, Lawrence Wolfe. A comical satire which charts the rise and fall of a Madison Avenue advertising agency previously controlled by Whites which is taken over by Blacks who are dedicated to the downfall of the White Establishment. The picture is mostly a parade of vignettes, dealing with people and campaigns of the advertising world. 85 min. DVD 8923; vhs 999:1450

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Racist Little Rascals

Contents: Big ears / director, Robert McGowan (21 min.) -- Lad and a lamp / director, Robert McGowan (17 min.) -- Anniversary trouble / director, Gus Meins (18 min.) -- Little sinner / director, Gus Meins (18 min.) -- Three smart boys / director, Gordon Douglas (10 min.) -- Mush and milk / director, Robert McGowan (18 min.) -- Spooky hooky / director, Gordon Douglas (11 min.) -- Kid from Borneo / director, Robert McGowan (18 min.). Starring the Our Gang characters, including Spanky, Alfalfa, Stymie, Darla, Porky, Buckwheat, Butch, Wheezer, Chubby, Waldo, and Hattie McDaniel.

A rare collection of early Our Gang and Little Rascals television episodes poking fun at colored folks. Videodisc release of eight episodes of the Our Gang comedies, originally produced between 1938 and 1944, and shown on television as the Little Rascals. 131 min. DVD 2442

Ragtime (1981)

Directed by Milos Forman. Cast: James Cagney, Brad Dourif, Moses Gunn, Elizabeth McGovern, Kenneth McMillan, James Olson, Mandy Patinkin, Howard E. Rollins, Mary Steenburgen. This vivid, high-energy human tableau interweaves the lives and passions of a middle class, small town family against the scandals and events of a transitional America in 1906. Based on the novel by E. L. Doctorow. 156 min. 999:1203 Pt. 1-2

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A Raisin in the Sun (1961)

Performers: Sidney Poitier, Claudia McNeil, Ruby Dee. 1961 film based on the award-winning play about a struggling black family living on Chicago's South Side and the impact of an unexpected insurance bequest. Each family member sees the bequest as the means of realizing dreams and of escape from grinding frustrations. 128 min. DVD 9203; vhs Video 999:955

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A Raisin in the Sun (1989)

Performers: Danny Glover, Esther Rolle, Starletta DuPois, Kim Yancey. 171 min. Video 999:670 Pt. 1-2

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Redemption (2003)

Directed by Vondie Curtis Hall. Cast: Jamie Foxx, Lynn Whitfield, Lee Thompson Young, Brenden Richard Jefferson, Brenda Bazinet, Wes "Maestro" Williams, Greg Ellwand, CCH Pounder. Tells the true life story of Stan 'Tookie' Williams, founder of the L.A. Crips street gang, who denounced the lifestyle that landed him behind bars. While awaiting execution in prison, he became determined to stop violence, and began writing anti-gang books for children, earning him critical acclaim - and four Nobel Peace Prize nominations. 93 min. DVD 4746

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La revue des revues (France, 1927)

Directed by Joe Francys. Cast: Josephine Baker, Helene Hallier, Andre Luguet, Pepa Bonafe, Gretchikine, Madame Komakova, Ludovic, Lila Nikolska, Skibinne, Tiller's Follies Girls, Ruth Zackey and the Hoffmann Girls. Helene Hallier, an ambitious by innocent would-be young chorine, trumps a music hall publicity stunt to become the new Parisian nightclub sensation. The light story is only a pretext for La Revue des Revues' white-hot, non-stop procession of outrageously and scantily attired exotic dancers, showgirls, and acrobats including the Tiller's Follies Girls, Ruth Zackey and the Hoffman Girls, and danseuse russe Lila Nikolska. But it's Josephine Baker, "the high priestess of primitivism" who triumphs in two show stopping numbers. 103 min. DVD 9107

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Rush Hour (1998)

Directed by Brett Ratner. Cast: Jackie Chan, Chris Tucker, Tom Wilkinson, Chris Penn, Elizabeth Pena. Jackie Chan is Inspector Lee, a Hong Kong Detective who helps confiscate millions of dollars worth of stolen Chinese artifacts from crime Lord Juntao. Seeking revenge, Juntao kidnaps the eleven-year-old daughter of the Chinese consul when he moves to America. Chan is sent as a diplomatic advisor and finds himself paired up with a New York cop (Chris Tucker) -- a man who works alone, and wants to stay that way. 97 min. Video 999:3043

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LeiLani Nishime. ""I'm blackanese" : buddy-cop films, rush hour, and Asian American and African American cross-racial identification." In: Asian North American identities : beyond the hyphen / edited by Eleanor Ty and Donald C. Goellnicht. Bloomington : Indiana University Press, c2004. (Main Stack PS153.A84.A86 2004; Asian Amer PS153.A84.A86 2004)

St. Louis Blues(1929)

Directed by Dudley Murphy. Cast: Bessie Smith. In this all-black cast short, legendary blues singer Bessie Smith finds her gambler lover Jimmy messin' with a pretty, younger woman; he leaves and she sings the blues, with chorus and dancers. Video 999:1692

Stanfield, Peter. "An Excursion into the Lower Depths: Hollywood, Urban Primitivism, and St. Louis Blues, 1929-1937." Cinema Journal - 41, Number 2, Winter 2002, pp. 84-108

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Sanders of the River (UK, 1935)

Directed by Alexander Korda. Cast: Timothy Spall, Brenda Blethyn, Phyllis Logan, Marianne Jean-Baptiste, Claire Rushbrook. After her adoptive parents die, a young black woman seeks out her natural birth mother only to discover her mother is white. Equally shocked to learn her daughter she gave up for adoption is black, Cynthia insists it's a mistake. But she soon realizes it's true and when she springs her newfound daughter on the rest of the family, the resulting chaos leads to a series of secrets and lies being revealed at last. Special features: True Pioneer: the British films of Paul Robeson, a new video program with Paul Robeson Jr. and film historians Stephens Bourne and Ian Christie, including film clips from Song of freedom (1936), King Solomon's mine (1937), and Big Fella (1937). 87 min. DVD 7282

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Secrets & Lies (1996)

Directed by Mike Leigh. Cast: Timothy Spall, Brenda Blethyn, Phyllis Logan, Marianne Jean-Baptiste, Claire Rushbrook. After her adoptive parents die, a young black woman seeks out her natural birth mother only to discover her mother is white. Equally shocked to learn her daughter she gave up for adoption is black, Cynthia insists it's a mistake. But she soon realizes it's true and when she springs her newfound daughter on the rest of the family, the resulting chaos leads to a series of secrets and lies being revealed at last. 142 min. 999:1993

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Separate But Equal (1991)

Directed by George Stevens Jr. Cast: Sidney Poitier, Burt Lancaster and Richard Kiley. This film depicts a small town in South Carolina in the year 1950 as the issue of segregation between blacks and whites comes to a bitter, violent and courageous battle. 193 min. 999:418

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Sergeant Rutledge (1960)

Directed by John Ford. Cast: Jeffrey Hunter, Woody Strode, Billie Burke, Constance Towers, Juano Hernandez, Willis Bouchey. An African-American "buffalo soldier" is accused of rape and murder, but is successfully defended by a white officer during his trial in 1881. Lt. Cantrell defends him as witnesses give testimony relived in flashbacks, revealing the sergeant's gallantry and eventually the shocking truth behind the alleged crimes. 112 min. DVD 5659; vhs 999:2700

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Shadows (1959)

Directed by John Cassavetes. John Cassavetes' first film, tells a gripping story of racism set against a New York background in the 1950's. Lelia, a light-skinned black woman living in New York with her two brothers, has an affair with a white man. The relationship soon sours when he meets one of her brothers and discovers she is really black. 87 min. 999:1396

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Carney, Raymond. American Dreaming: The Films of John Cassavetes and the American Experience / Raymond Carney. Berkeley : University of California Press, c1985. (UCB Main PN1998.A3 C3333 1985; UCB Moffitt PN1998.A3 C3333 1985)

Carney, Raymond. The Films of John Cassavetes: Pragmatism, Modernism, and the Movies / Ray Carney. Cambridge [England]; New York, NY, USA: Cambridge University Press, 1994. Series title: Cambridge film classics. (UCB Main PN1998.3.C384 C37 1994; UCB Moffitt PN1998.3.C384 C37 1994)

Selected Program Notes for the Beat Screening List (Excerpts) by Ray Carney.

She Done Him Wrong (1933)

Director, Lowell Sherman. Cast: Mae West, Cary Grant, Owen Moore, Noah Beery, Gilbert Roland. Mae West as Lady Lou, a toughlady with a heart of gold, who dallys with assorted beaus, becomes entangled in murder, saves a Bowery mission and still has enough energy left to belt out a tune or two! Louise Beavers is featured as Mae West's stereotypically dithery maid and straight woman. 999:1691

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Show Boat (1936)

Directed by James Whale. Cast: Irene Dunne, Allan Jones, Charles Winninger, Paul Robeson, Helen Morgan, Helen Westley. A musical which celebrates the loves and heartbreaks of a Mississippi riverboat troupe, starting with a young girl whose heart is stolen by a dashing gambler. Presents timeless songs and an equally timeless outcry against racial bigotry. Includes the memorable performance of Paul Robeson singing "Ol' man river." 110 min. Video 999:3206

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Show Boat (1951)

Directed by George Sidney. Cast: Kathryn Grayson, Ava Gardner, Howard Keel. A romantic musical of Magnolia Hawks who grew up on the riverboat, Cotton Blossom. When a snitch on board calls the police the leading lady, Julie (who's half African-American) and her white husband are forced to leave the show. Magnolia becomes the leading show boat attraction and a gambler, Gaylor Ravenal, the leading man. They fall in love and marry but soon Magnolia must face reality as she is left alone penniless and pregnant. Based on the Jerome Kern-Oscar Hammerstein II musical play from Edna Ferber's novel. 115 min. Video 999:543

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Six Degrees of Separation(1993)

Director Fred Schepisi. Cast: Stockard Channing, Will Smith, Donald Sutherland, Flan Kittredge, Ian McKellen. When Manhattan art dealers take a smooth talking young man into their home believing him to be a friend of their children and Sidney Poitier's son, they awake the next morning to find him in bed with a male friend whom he had invited in for the night. 101 min. 999:1485

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Gillan, Jennifer. "'No One Knows You're Black!': Six Degrees of Separation and the Buddy Formula." Cinema Journal. 40 Spring (3): 47-68. 2001.

Soldier's Story (1984)

Directed by Norman Jewison. Cast: Howard E. Rollins, Jr., Adolph Caesar. A race relations drama about a military murder at a black army base near the end of World War II, and the subsequent investigation of the murder. 102 min. 999:375

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Song of the South (1946)

Walt Disney. On a long-ago Southern plantation, small children listen to the Brer Rabbit stories told by an elderly servant named Uncle Remus. Based on Tales of Uncle Remus by Joe Chandler Harris. 91 min. DVD 2767; vhs 999:2084

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Sounder (1972)

Directed by Martin Ritt. Cast: Cicely Tyson, Paul Winfield. Sounder is the heartwarming story of a black sharecropper family in Louisiana during the Depression. A father steals food for his family, his wife provides love, security and strength while he is in prison, and their oldest son bravely becomes the man of the house until his father returns. Together they love and laugh, struggle and survive, and dream and hope of a more promising future. 105 min. Video 999:449

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South Central (1992)

Directed by Steve Anderson; produced by Oliver Stone. Cast: Glenn Plummer, Carl Lumbly, Christian Coleman, Byron Minns, Lexie Bigham, Vincent Craig Dupree, LaRita Shelby. Bobby Johnson knows firsthand the ways of an L.A. street gang--and has been jailed for it. But now he has won his freedom and faces a new urgency: reclaiming his 10-year old son from the mean streets' cycle of hate and death. Based on Donald Bakeer's best seller about gang life, "Crips". 99 min. 999:2232

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Stereotypes and Minorities; Familiar Faces, Unknown Names.

Stereotypes & minorities: an overview of the treatment of black actors in Hollywood. Actors Della Reese and Nick Stewart offer their insights and reflect on the changing roles of blacks in films. Familiar faces, unknown names: features the character actors -- those supporting players that we recognize but never know who they are. c1991. 45 min. Video/C 8304

Stormy Weather (1943)

Directed by Andrew L. Stone. Cast: Lena Horne, Bill Robinson, Cab Calloway and his band, Katherine Dunham and her troupe, Fats Waller, Nicholas Brothers. A delightful musical strung together with a silly romantic show biz script. Horne sings the title song, Waller does a rendition of "Ain't misbehavin". A thinly veild dramatization of the life of dancer Bill Robinson. 78 min. DVD 4795; vhs 999:355

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They Call Me Mr. Tibbs (1970)

Director, Gordon Douglas. Cast: Sidney Poitier, Martin Landau, Barbara McNair, Anthony Zerbe. Detecti