The University of Idaho Argonaut

While Black History Month comes to an end, there are several moments in film history where black culture made an impact and are worth observing. 

Here is a selection of films that represent different times in film history where black culture was prevalent, through different subject matter, noteworthy actors and directors.

“The Birth of a Race” (1918)
“The Birth of a Race” was to be the first independent black film undertaken and produced by Emmett J. Scott, personal secretary to Booker T. Washington of the Tuskeegee Institute. The film was released in 1919 but never drew moviegoers.

Men like Scott paved the way for black directors like Oscar Micheaux who used profits from its books to set up Micheaux Film and Book Company.

Micheaux directed many films, however none of these films made their way to mainstream theaters.
 In the film industry around 1927, the use of sound films or “talkies” was the new technique connecting the silent staged scenes in movies to the voices of actors and the action of those scenes.

The usage of blackface, which is a style of theatrical makeup used on Caucasian actors portraying a black character, in sound films was a carry over from the silent films when depicting blacks in movie roles. The old minstrel shows that used exaggerated black characters was a continued trend.

“Jazz Singer” (1927)
“Jazz Singer” had Al Jolson (in blackface) and two white sisters, Rosetta Duncan (in blackface) and Vivian Duncan.

Hollywood was not interested in making positive films about blacks, and the films were viewed as “risky” undertakings.

Therefore the major roles available to black actors were maids, walk-ons, butlers, servants or comics.
Blackface was still in vogue and it could sell movie tickets.
From 1940s to the 1960s the motion picture industry changed their approach by presenting blacks  realistic roles depicting social or civil conditions in an integrated context.

Many of these roles required scenes showing blacks in positions of authority or relating to Caucasian Americans in a positive way.

Films such as “Home of the Brave,” “Pinky,” “Lost Boundaries” and “Look Who’s Coming to Dinner,” however backward they might seem today were a welcome change at the time.
Around the end of the ‘60s, one might be hard pressed to find a film or TV show using blackface.

“Watermelon Man” (1970)
Directed by Melvin Van Peebles, “Watermelon Man” puts an amusing spin on the old tradition of blackface.
Van Peebles’ film stared Godfrey Cambridge, a Caucasian man who later chances into a black man.
Van Peebles would go on to create his very own production company.

In 1971, “Sweet Sweetback’s Baadasssss Song,” was directed, written by Van Peebles, who also held the leading role.

Van Peebles ushered in what is known today as black-exploitation cinema.
Van Peebles paved the way form other black filmmakers like Michael Schultz “The Last Dragon” (1985), John Singleton “Four Brothers” (2005) Boyz ‘n the Hood” (1991), and the Hughes brothers “Menace II Society” (1993).

Spike Lee’s first film, with an all black cast, “School Days” was for the most part ignored.
Lee’s 1989 movie, “Do the Right Thing,” was at first thought to be a racially reactionary film aimed at the psyche of both black and Caucasian viewers.
It proved just the contrary.

The movie was a success due to the untouched topics of racial situations, ethnic tensions and human encounters of anger.

The superb cast of both black and Caucasian actors made the motion picture industry aware of a newer avenue for films and race relations.

Mario Van Peebles, the son of Melvin Van Peebles and a Columbia University graduate made is mark in Hollywood with his film “Badassssss!” 2003.
The film is a biography of Van Peeble’s father during the making of “Sweet Sweetback’s Baadasssss Song.”