Race film
From The Art and Popular Culture Encyclopedia
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The race film or race movie was a film genre which existed in the United States between about 1915 and 1950. It consisted of films produced for an all-black audience, featuring black casts.
In all, approximately five hundred race films were produced. Of these, fewer than one hundred remain. Because race films were produced outside the Hollywood studio system, they have been largely forgotten by mainstream film historians. In their day, race films were very popular among African American theatergoers. Their influence continues to be felt in cinema and television marketed to African Americans.
The term "race film" is sometimes used to describe films of the period aimed at other minority audiences. For instance, the 1926 film Silk Bouquet (also known as The Dragon Horse), starred the Asian-American actress Anna May Wong and was marketed to Chinese-American audiences.
Notable race movies
- The Homesteader (1919), Micheaux's first film
- Within Our Gates (1919), inspired by Leo Frank trial
- Body and Soul (1924), Paul Robeson's cinematic debut
- The Scar of Shame (1927)
- The Exile (1931)
- Harlem on the Prairie (1937), Herb Jeffries in the first singing cowboy Western race movie
- Lying Lips (1939)
- The Blood of Jesus (1941), the first race film added to the U.S. National Film Registry, in 1991
Print references
- Diawara, Manthia. Black American Cinema. Routledge, 1993. ISBN 0-415-90397-1
- Gaines, Jane M. Fire and Desire: Mixed-Race Movies in the Silent Era. University Of Chicago Press, 2001. ISBN 0-226-27875-1
