African Americans have a presence in film and have always struggled to increase and maintain that place. In the very beginning, the cost of film-making was not conducive for African Americans. There was a struggle outside of film-making that kept most African Americans away.
The appearance of African Americans in film began in the Silent Movie era. African Americans were filmed as soldiers in the Spanish – American War in 1898. Uncle Tom’s cabin, filmed in 1903, depicted African Americans in line with what the racial stereotypes were that were held during this moment in time. African American actors played preachers, kitchen help and chicken thieves.
African American Cinema
Bill Foster took the first steps toward African American cinema. Foster, an African American, made films such as The Railroad Porter which was a comedy set in 1912. Sadly most of Bill Foster’s work has been lost or destroyed. George P Johnson, inspired by Foster, Booker T Washington’s Tuskegee Circle, founded the Lincoln Motion Picture Company. The idea failed later due to an influenza epidemic that closed theaters.
After World War I ended, most film-making moved to California. This was the beginning of the Jazz Age which did little to change the roles that African American actors received. They were offered conventional roles like Hattie McDaniel’s servant role and other low wage roles such as convicts or boxer’s trainers. African American filmmakers such as George and Noble Johnson, The Colored Players of Philadelphia and Oscar Micheau continued to make movies that were an African American version of already successful movies. Oscar Micheau became an entrepreneur selling his novels door to door focusing on themes that other African American filmmakers and writers would not touch such as African American success stories and tales of lynching.
Sound Films
Sound reached film during the Great Depression and African Americans were unable to find the capital to invest and upgrade ghetto theaters to enjoy the new enhancement. It would take a period of time before African American audiences would benefit from Sound Films.
Oscar Micheau, after experiencing going bankruptcy, remade “The Exile”, “The Girl from Chicago” and “Swing” and was able to rebound. During this time, some African American filmmakers joined with their white counterparts and made movies and musicals that voiced African American Concerns
After the Second World War, African American filmmakers began to have a stronger voice. Movies that addressed racial tensions, documentaries and even an African American Physician role in Ralph Cooper’s “Am I Guilty” in 1940.
Actors such as Sidney Poitier and Harry Belafonte became familiar faces in film beginning in the 1950s with “Odds Against Tomorrow”, “Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner”, Lilies of the Field” and “No Way Out.” These movies were a reflection of Civil Rights struggles that were occurring in the 50s and 60s.
The 1960s' films focused on Blaxploitation films such as “Shaft”, “Blacula” and “Cool Breeze” that all followed the same pattern. The Civil Rights movement played out in “The Battle of Algiers”, “To Kill a Mockingbird”, “The Pawnbroker”, and Sounder” to begin the age of angry films. These films depicted the feelings that African Americans felts after the assassination of Martin Luther King Jr.
Present Day Films
The pathway to current day filmmakers like Spike Lee, Robert Townsend and others were paved by filmmakers from the late 1900s. From the late 1970s, African American actors and filmmakers made movies on their own terms. African American actors continue to evolve as well with current blockbuster actors like Will Smith and Halle Berry commanding large salaries and ticket sales.
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