African-Americans have played an important role in the development and evolution of American film-making from the silent era to the present day. Despite contending with discriminatory practices in the workplace and derogatory depictions on screen, a wide range of black film-makers,... [more]
African-Americans have played an important role in the development and evolution of American film-making from the silent era to the present day. Despite contending with discriminatory practices in the workplace and derogatory depictions on screen, a wide range of black film-makers, technicians, actors and performers have enriched the craft.
The first all-Black shorts were produced by William Foster between 1909 - 1913 including 'The Pullman Porter' (1910) and 'The Railway Porter' (1912). The release of DW Griffith's 'Birth of A Nation' in 1915, with its degrading depiction of blacks, catalyzed the development of the first "race films", movies produced with an all-black cast and targeted at all-black audiences. The Lincoln Motion Picture Company and Oscar Micheaux' Micheaux Film Corporation were pioneers of the genre which saw the release of nearly 500 films between 1916 and 1950. In 1948, in an anti-trust case involving Paramount Pictures, the U.S. forced the separation of film production and exhibition companies, ending the era of the 'race film.'
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