Back to Black

The other day as I passed my boss' table in her office, an old VHS tape caught my eye. At first I saw "That's Entertainment" and I got all warm and fuzzy inside because I love that classic compilation film- or as I like to think of it- 1940's music videos. I could sit for hours and watch those clips of Gene, Fred, Esther, Judy, and Ann from the greatest MGM musicals. But on closer examination, I noted the cover said "That's Black Entertainment" which is something entirely different. After promising to return the tape on pain of dismemberment I ran home and re-attached my VCR to my TV, and sat down and watched the history of Black film unfold.

That's Black Entertainment (1989) chronicles the independent Black film industry that existed from the early part of the Twentieth Century through the late Fifties. Because most movie theaters were segregated, Black Americans were forced to watch movies in Blacks-only theaters which gave filmmakers the opportunity to create films that spoke to Black audiences about Black culture. Filmmakers like Oscar Micheaux and Spencer Williams (Andy of Amos and Andy fame) were able to capture scenes of American life from the Black perspective. Issues of religion, crime, drug and alcohol abuse, police brutality (yep, it ain't nothin' new), and the importance of family were all being explored during a time when Hollywood only showed blacks as maids, slaves, or entertainers. There were even newsreels and shortfilms made exclusively for Black audiences to give African-Americans the same movie-going experience that their White counterparts enjoyed.

Because Hollywood refused to show any of these films in White theaters, the productions were funded on a shoestring budget. Often the acting talent was untrained, and the camerawork basic- with one-take scenes used to save money. But there were actors and actresses who were discovered in these films who went on to star in mainstream films for larger audiences.

Paul Robeson was mainly thought of as a Broadway star- but he did make Black independent films, as well as star in mainstream Hollywood movies like Show Boat (1936) and King Solomon's Mines (1937). Lena Horne starred in The Duke is Tops (1938) before being snatched up by Vincente Minnelli to star in films like Panama Hattie (1942) and Cabin in the Sky (1943). 

Nat King Cole, Ethel Waters, and Cab Calloway received their cinematic starts in Black films- and even little seven-year-old Sammy Davis Jr. is shown as a tap dancin' tyke running for office in Rufus Jones for President (1933) (I hope Hillary can at least soft-shoe). 
Black music stars seemed to be able to crossover into mainstream Hollywood more successfully, because their recognizability and influence over the music industry allowed for an easier transition to a white audience who would be familiar with them from their recording careers.

But black actors and actresses seemed only able to crossover as long as they played roles as servants or in Steppin Fetchit's case, as racist punchlines. While the level of production in the independent films was lower, the depictions of Blacks was generally better- forcing actors to choose between socially-responsible work and money from the Hollywood roles that perpetuated negative stereotypes.

The era of the independent Black film industry changed for a couple of reasons. Most importantly we stopped segregating black and white audiences, so smaller producers had no ability to compete with the Hollywood studios in the same theaters.  And with the emergence of actors like Sidney Poitier and Harry Belafonte, black audiences could feel more included in the mainstream films that Hollywood was producing. It was a minority of the Hollywood output, but films depicting Black characters in a more positive light were now available, making the Black independent films no longer the sole source for Black stories.

Independent Black artists would continue to make independent films, though. Genres like the blaxpoitation film became popular first as low-budget indies before being appropriated by Hollywood to cash-in on their built-in appeal. In the last couple decades Atlanta has emerged as a Black Hollywood that has reinvigorated independent Black films for primarily Black audiences. Perhaps it signals a renaissance in this historically rich American film genre. At a time when this country is torn with racial strife- it will be important to see Black stories told from Black perspectives without the Hollywood whitewashing.