Regeneration: Black Cinema 1898 – 1971 Curriculum Guide

Our curriculum guide invites teachers and high school students to celebrate Black cinema, expand their understanding of history, and examine the importance of telling inclusive stories.

REGENERATION: BLACK CINEMA 1898–1971 CURRICULUM GUIDE

Table of Contents I . Introduction II. Goals of the Curriculum III. How to Use the Curriculum IV. Regeneration Curriculum Resources

A. Biographies with Activities 1. Black Historical Figures 2. Black Filmmakers

6 6 7

History is not the past. It is the present. We carry our history with us. We are our history.

B. Exploration of Contemporary Artworks with Activities 1. Glenn Ligon 2. Kara Walker

12 12 14 16 18 20 20 27 33

3. Gary Simmons 4. Theaster Gates

C. Film Companions with Activities 1. Reform School 2. Stormy Weather 3. Two Films by Madeline Anderson

-James Baldwin, 1980

Integration Report 1 I Am Somebody

33 33

D. Topical Essay with Activities: Stereotypes and Tropes in Black Cinema

E. Thematic Lesson Plan: What Does Black Cinema Mean to You?

F. Additional Resources 1. Glossary of Key Terms and Concepts 2. California Common Core Curriculum Standards

42 42 45

I. Introduction With this curriculum guide, we welcome teachers and high school students to experience Regeneration: Black Cinema 1898–1971 . The most extensive museum exhibition of its kind, Regeneration offers a rigorous and celebratory exploration of the achievements and challenges of BLACK filmmakers in the United States from the dawn of cinema to the civil rights movement. The temporary exhibition is on view at the Academy Museum of Motion Pictures in Los Angeles from August 21, 2022, through July 16, 2023, and was curated by Doris Berger, Vice President, Curatorial Affairs at the Academy Museum, and Rhea L. Combs, Director of Curatorial Affairs at the Smithsonian National Portrait Gallery. While DOMINANT NARRATIVES of history suggest that Black people were not active participants in early American cinema, in fact Black filmmakers have been part of the art of moviemaking since nearly the beginning. Their opportunities have been limited, however—and complicated. Hollywood offered few options, and most roles for actors were fraught with STEREOTYPES . Despite economic and social obstacles, Black people did indeed make films, but outside of the white-dominated industry in the so- called classic era of Hollywood. At a time when the US was still racially segregated, productions made with predominantly Black casts and crew offered a greater variety of stories to Black audiences hungry to see their lives reflected on screen. In the late 1950s, as Hollywood expanded, so did opportunities for some Black filmmakers and actors—and many chose to use their craft to advocate for change and inspire others. They worked toward shifting conversations about race, identity, and culture to explore not only sociocultural limitations but also cinema’s possibilities for telling suppressed stories. The Regeneration exhibition presents this more inclusive history, filling in the gaps to show the steady and potent contributions of Black artists, filmmakers, entrepreneurs, and critics.

II. Goals of the Curriculum

The history of Black cinema is one that ebbs and flows. There are moments of flourishing and periods of frustration. Throughout, Black artists have found ways to persevere. Sometimes this requires working within the Hollywood system and delivering stellar performances despite the limitations of the script. At other times a complete rupture with the system is necessary to ensure that the message is not co-opted. Traversing this landscape has involved tremendous sacrifice and has given rise to extraordinary creativity. —Doris Berger and Rhea L. Combs, Regeneration: Black Cinema 1898–1971 (2022), p. 21 The exhibition’s namesake, the all-Black-cast film Regeneration ( A Romance of the South Seas ) from 1923, today survives only in fragments. The title embodies the aspirational goals of the exhibition, which seeks to revive lost and forgotten films and film artists and “regenerate” them for a contemporary audience. Alongside the cinematic history, the exhibition weaves in contemporary artworks and provides spaces for dialogue on how we, and artists, grapple with lost histories and their reverberations in the present. Included in this guide is information about the Academy Museum’s pedagogical approach to INQUIRY-BASED LEARNING , along with content connected to both the museum exhibition and catalogue: select biographies of significant Black thinkers and filmmakers; one- sheet guides about the contemporary artists and artworks featured in the exhibition; unique, in-depth film companions connected to the museum’s film programming; a topical essay exploring stereotypes and TROPES in Black Cinema; and a resource section with a glossary of key terms and concepts and California Common Core Standards. Discussion questions and activities are incorporated throughout the guide.

In this guide we aim to provide teachers with inspiration to engage students in the celebration of various kinds of Black cinema while also connecting to broader topics such as the visual aesthetics of stereotypes. By returning to the layered question, “What does Black Cinema mean to you?” we hope to inspire students to consider the myriad questions that spark from this one. For example,

By participating in components of the Academy Museum Regeneration Curriculum, students will:

• Examine and expand their own understanding of histories highlighting the plurality of the filmmaking experience with emphasis on the subjects of race, gender, and culture • Acquire knowledge of film studies terms, timelines, and key movements • Analyze and determine their own definition(s) of Black cinema • Increase their media literacy and recognize and understand the visual aesthetics of cinema explored throughout this exhibition • Engage in critical thinking and discourse • Develop projects that connect historical context to original ideas and creative perspectives III. How to Use the Curriculum The Regeneration Curriculum is modular and can be used in a wide variety of subject classrooms. Classes of History, Social Studies, English, Film Studies, and more can adopt elements of the curriculum to encourage critical thinking, dialogue, self-directed learning, and collaborative projects. The exhibition and this guide delve into a specific question: “What is Black cinema?” This question is inspired by a college course that filmmaker Charles Burnett took at UCLA in the 1960s. His professor posed the question that he, and now we, realize is open to discussion and debate, revealing deeply personal opinions and generating new, self-created definitions of the meaning of Black cinema. We invite teachers and students to develop their own answers to this question by participating in the dialogues and activities found in the curriculum.

• Who defines culture and identity? • How can we create art and films that allow for different perspectives?

We encourage you to ask your students to think creatively and critically about history itself, and to consider what happens when you think about the multiplicity and plurality of history: What are the histories of America?

*Words set in ALL CAPS are defined in the Glossary of Key Terms and Concepts (section F of this guide). Curriculum Text and Guide © 2022 Academy Museum Foundation. This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution NonCommercial 3.0 Unported License and is not intended for commercial

*Words set in ALL CAPS are defined in the Glossary of Key Terms and Concepts (section F of this guide).

IV. Regeneration Curriculum Resources A. Biographies with Activities

Educator and reformer Booker T. Washington (1856–1915) was one of the most influential Black leaders of his time. Born into slavery, he taught himself the basics of reading and writing after his mother gifted him a book at the age of nine. In the early 1880s, he established the Tuskegee Normal and Industrial Institute (now Tuskegee University) and built it into a thriving training ground for African Americans. Washington’s book Up from Slavery , which charts his life from enslavement to educator, is considered a foundational document on race relations of the era. Washington advocated for African Americans to accept social segregation in the short term, encouraging Black people to focus instead on uplift through hard work and economic growth, a position famously opposed to the more radical approach of W. E. B. Du Bois. While both men laid a pathway to the civil rights movement, they had very different ideas about how freedom could be achieved. Sojourner Truth (ca. 1797–1883) , born Isabella Baumfree, escaped enslavement in 1826. Orator, abolitionist, and staunch advocate of women’s rights, she traveled the country giving speeches. Truth attracted large crowds and, like Frederick Douglass, understood the power of the image. Although illiterate, she published an autobiography with the assistance of abolitionists and sold the book—along with her photograph— to support the antislavery movement. The photo is captioned: “I sell the shadow to support the substance.” In the mid-1850s, Truth introduced the topic of women’s rights into her lecture tour, delivering the “Ain’t I a Woman?” speech in Akron, Ohio, that became famous for its challenge to belief systems supporting racial and gender inequalities. While she and Douglass shared much common ground, they ultimately clashed over the timing of women’s suffrage. Douglass argued that Black men should gain freedoms before Black women, while Truth endorsed their simultaneous liberation. James Baldwin (1924–1987) was a writer and cultural critic who spent much of his adult life outside of America, but his work explored social issues impacting the United States and challenged prevailing STEREOTYPES related to race, class, gender, and sexuality. In addition to essays, novels, and plays, Baldwin produced film

Louise Beavers (1902–1962) stars in Reform School (1939) as Mother Barton, a probation officer who institutes drastic, progressive changes in a juvenile prison that have a positive impact on the young men in her care. Her leading role in a social drama that criticizes the prison-industrial complex was a departure from the minor servant characters Hollywood typically offered Beavers. The career of composer, pianist, and big-band leader Edward Kennedy “Duke” Ellington (1899–1974) spanned from his teens in 1914 to his death sixty years later. His worldwide legacy is unparalleled. He composed hundreds of scores and also made significant contributions to films. The “elegant Ellington” charmed audiences around the globe with his unique melodies, subtle sonic moods, and swinging rhythms. Trinidad-born pianist, singer, and actor Hazel Scott (1920–1981) impressed audiences with her jazzy renditions of classical pieces and became the darling of Café Society, an integrated nightclub in New York’s Greenwich Village. In Hollywood in the 1940s, she rejected singing-maid roles and insisted on playing herself. In 1950, Scott became the first Black woman to host a TV program, although allegations of communist ties by the House Un-American Activities Committee shut down the show within a year. Cab Calloway (1907–1994) was a singer, actor, and big-band leader known for his dynamic style. His swinging music, trademark white tuxedo, oversized baton, and exuberant moves created an unforgettable image. He performed regularly at the Cotton Club in Harlem and played himself in movies such as Stormy Weather (1943) and Hi De Ho (1947). In his late-career appearance in The Blues Brothers (1980), he sings his signature hit “ Minnie the Moocher .”

criticism. The Devil Finds Work is a book-length essay chronicling his experience watching movies while at the same time offering a critique on racial politics in American cinema. He wrote a SCREENPLAY based on Malcolm X’s autobiography that was adapted into a 1972 DOCUMENTARY FILM by Arnold Perl and a 1992 biopic by Spike Lee. It also served as inspiration for Raoul Peck’s documentary on Baldwin, I Am Not Your Negro (2016).

1. Black Historical Figures

2. Black Filmmakers

ABOLITIONIST Frederick Douglass (1818–1895) founded and edited The North Star , one of the most influential antislavery publications of the pre–Civil War period. He was also the most photographed man of his era. At a time when African Americans were not considered full citizens, Douglass used photography and his newspaper to demonstrate their humanity. Born into slavery and gaining freedom as a young man, he dedicated his life to the cause of freedom and equality. A revered orator, social reformer, writer, and statesman, Douglass was a living example defying the belief that enslaved people in America lacked intellectual capacity. W. E. B. Du Bois (1868–1963) dedicated his life to the fight for equal rights for African Americans. The educator, activist, and writer cofounded the NATIONAL ASSOCIATION FOR THE ADVANCEMENT OF COLORED PEOPLE (NAACP) in 1909 and edited its house publication, The Crisis magazine, which addressed topics like racial prejudice, women’s rights, and voting rights. Its arts and letters section occasionally referenced motion pictures by BLACK filmmakers. Du Bois challenged the notion that equal and fair treatment is contingent upon merit or excellence as defined by white people. As a social scientist, he documented the dynamic and varied lives of Black people through photographs. In 1900, he organized the immensely influential exhibition on the American Negro at the Paris Exposition that featured 500+ images, charts, and maps, as well as a display of 200 books written by African Americans. Du Bois’s well- known theory of “double-consciousness” explores the difficulties of navigating the dual identities of Black and American, and his ideas inform the ideology of many Black social justice movements today.

Hattie McDaniel (1893–1952) performed in VAUDEVILLE with her siblings and recorded blues songs before arriving in Los Angeles in 1931. Like many Black actors in Hollywood, she was TYPECAST in servant roles, but she often infused her characters with sharp wit and personality. McDaniel made history as the first Black person to win a competitive Oscar as Best Supporting Actress for her role as Mammy in Gone with the Wind (1939). At the awards ceremony held in the whites-only Cocoanut Grove, she and her guest were seated separately from the rest of the cast. To criticism that she perpetuated stereotypes, McDaniel famously retorted: “I’d rather play a maid than be one.” Oscar Micheaux (1884–1951) wrote, directed, produced, and distributed more than forty features from 1919 to 1948 and is probably the best-known maker of RACE FILMS. Often drawing from his own life story as well as news headlines—about interracial relationships, passing, lynching and other social injustices— Micheaux used his motion pictures as morality tales to instruct the African American community. His stories could be empowering and controversial. They featured a broad range of characters including some stereotypes circulating within the Black community. His approach was daring, complicated, and influential. Herb Jeffries (born Umberto Alexander Valentino, 1913–2014) , also known as the “Sepia Singing Cowboy,” was well recognized for his silky baritone voice. He performed in clubs in the United States and Europe from the 1930s to the 1950s. Although of mixed racial heritage, he is often called the first Black singing cowboy. He made his acting debut in Harlem on the Prairie (1937) and performed in westerns such as The Bronze Buckaroo and Harlem Rides the Range (both 1939).

The mesmerizing performances of dance team Fayard Nicholas (1914–2006) and Harold

Nicholas (1921–2000) remain unmatched. Growing up in Philadelphia in a show-business family, the duo began performing as children, with Fayard teaching himself and his siblings how to sing and dance. The Nicholas Brothers’ popularity in Philadelphia landed them a gig at the Cotton Club in Harlem in 1932. While there, they were spotted by movie producer Samuel Goldwyn, who

*Words set in ALL CAPS are defined in the Glossary of Key Terms and Concepts (section F of this guide).

invited the duo to appear in Kid Millions (1934), their first Hollywood film. After appearing in various Broadway shows, the Nicholas Brothers moved to Los Angeles, working regularly in films and television, on Broadway and touring around the world. Today, family members of the Nicholas Brothers operate a dance studio for all ages in the Leimert Park neighborhood of Los Angeles. Josephine Baker (1906–1975) achieved immediate stardom when she moved to Paris, where she enjoyed opportunities and successes in film, theater, and business that would not have been possible in the United States. From the year of her first film to well into the 1940s, she adorned the covers of major French cinema magazines, which illustrated and helped cement her fame and influence. Baker moved to Paris at age nineteen to perform in La Revue nègre at the Théâtre des Champs-Elysées and quickly became the main attraction. She played lead roles in four French features between 1927 and 1945; she worked for the French Resistance against the Nazis in World War II; and she dedicated her life to human

rights causes. She was the first Black woman to receive a state funeral in France, and was inducted into the Pantheon, the nation’s mausoleum of heroes, in 2021. Paul Robeson (1898–1976) , a true twentieth- century Renaissance man, was a celebrated singer, actor, athlete, and activist. Robeson’s powerful dual-performance screen debut in Oscar Micheaux’s silent drama Body and Soul (1925) is an example of the skill and talent he delivered. He rose to success notwithstanding the limitations of JIM CROW LAWS and effectively counteracted problematic on-screen narratives authored by white filmmakers by highlighting the lived reality of Black people in America. With the power of his baritone voice, Robeson brought Negro spirituals and Black folk traditions to greater public attention. Promoting world peace and human rights, he sang in more than twenty languages, including Russian, Chinese, and various African languages. Sidney Poitier (1927–2022) was the first Black performer to win the Academy Award for Best Actor, for his role in Lilies of the Field (1963) as a charismatic handyman who befriends a group of Eastern European nuns. Acutely aware of his unique position, Poitier said in his acceptance speech: “Because it is a long journey to this moment, I am naturally indebted to countless numbers of people.” In the late 1960s, he was one of the highest paid actors in Hollywood. In his screen acting debut, No Way Out (1950), Poitier plays a doctor who must deal with a patient’s blatant racism. While he played dignified roles ranging from doctors, a detective, and a teacher, his success was complicated. The Black press criticized him as embodying the “ebony saint,” since his characters would often either save whites or help them feel more comfortable. In 1972, Poitier began directing movies. Activist, actor, and screenwriter Ruby Dee (1922–2014) is considered one of the most significant actors of our time. With a career spanning more than seventy years, Dee transcended the limitations placed on Black women and landed in dynamic and dignified theater and movie roles, often quietly yet strongly appearing alongside high-caliber performers like Sidney Poitier, Denzel Washington, and James Earl Jones. An ardent and vocal supporter

Ruby Dee at the March on Washington, 1963. Courtesy of Getty Images

Portrait of Paul Robeson, 1933. Courtesy of Margaret Her- rick Library, Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences

The World, the Flesh, and the Devil (both 1959) were co-produced by HarBel, while The Angel Levine (1970) was produced by Belafonte Enterprises.

of the civil rights movement along with her husband Ossie Davis, she stood by Martin Luther King Jr. as he delivered his “I Have a Dream” speech. Ossie Davis (1917–2005) was an actor, director, writer, activist, and devoted husband of Ruby Dee. Davis’s debut role in film was starring alongside Sidney Poitier in No Way Out (1950). With a career spanning fifty-plus years, Davis and Ruby Dee spoke in support of progressive and humanitarian causes throughout their lives. Both were cast in Spike Lee’s Do the Right Thing (1989). The son of Jamaican-born parents, singer Harry Belafonte (b. 1927) made his film debut in Bright Road (1953). Dissatisfied with the roles on offer, Belafonte founded HarBel Productions in 1957. The first African American–owned production company developed by someone working in Hollywood, HarBel advertised itself as being openly dedicated to ensuring more positive, nuanced representations of the Black community and creating stories that defied color barriers. Odds Against Tomorrow and

A close friend of Martin Luther King Jr., Belafonte was very active in the civil rights movement. He participated in many political marches, including one from Selma to Montgomery in support of voting rights for Black people in 1965. After King’s assassination, Belafonte turned more of his attention to international humanitarian causes, in particular supporting communities in Africa in the fight against poverty, HIV/AIDS, and apartheid. Bahamian-born vaudevillian Bert Williams (1874–1922) achieved mainstream fame thanks to his headlining roles in the popular Ziegfeld Follies. Although performing in BLACKFACE, Williams developed a signature act that elevated the otherwise troubling performance practice. His superb comedic timing is evidenced in his first feature film, the all-Black-cast Lime Kiln Club Field Day (1913), which was unfinished until it was reassembled by The Museum of Modern Art, New York, in 2014.

*Words set in ALL CAPS are defined in the Glossary of Key Terms and Concepts (section F of this guide).

Williams and his onstage partner George W. Walker (1873–1911) began their performance duo in 1896 on the vaudeville stage. Blackface performance— the practice of applying darkened facial makeup to make eyes and lips look disproportionately large while performing stereotypical Black characters—was then commonly used by white actors. Because of its popularity, Black performers wore it as well, notably Williams, and even Walker for a brief period early in his career. Their remarkable musical sensibilities and expressive body language attracted huge crowds, and their success helped create employment opportunities for other Black entertainers. Sam Lucas (1840–1915) was one of the most celebrated entertainers of his day and the first Black actor to play the Uncle Tom character adapted from Harriet Beecher Stowe’s novel UNCLE TOM’S CABIN on the US stage and screen. In stage adaptations, per the MINSTREL tradition, he performed in blackface. Toward the end of his life, Lucas was cast as Uncle Tom in the 1914 film version of the story, while previous film versions had white actors performing the character in blackface.

William Greaves (1926–2014) played an outsized but under-recognized role in Black INDEPENDENT FILM production. The trained actor starred in films and plays in the 1940s, then shifted to producing documentaries and television news programs. He noted: “It became clear to me that unless we Black people began to produce information for screen and television, there would always be a distortion of the ‘Black image.’” His verité-style Symbiopsychotaxiplasm: Take One (1968), which reflects on his own status as a Black director, was daring in its production and storytelling approach. Photojournalist Gordon Parks (1912–2006) was the first African American to direct a feature film produced by a Hollywood studio: The Learning Tree (1969) at Warner Bros. Parks also composed and produced the music of this coming-of-age story based on his semi-autobiographical novel of the same title, which follows a Black teenager growing up in rural Kansas. In 1971, Parks directed Shaft , a classic of the so-called Blaxploitation genre. Madeline Anderson (b. 1923) is an independent producer and director and is known for being one of the first women to join a union of film editors. She has dedicated her career to making films that honor and celebrate the lives of Black people. Anderson started making films in the 1950s. Her passions grew from a young age, sparked by a desire to fight the injustices that Black people faced in America. She was aware of the harmful media stereotyping of Black people and wanted to create work that countered those images. She regularly speaks about simultaneously being a filmmaker, a wife, and a mother. In the same way, her films engage audiences in the dynamic aspects of lived events and experiences. As one of the first women in the New York editors’ union, she was mentored by documentarians like D. A. Pennebaker and Shirley Clarke. She wrote, produced, directed, and edited the documentary I Am Somebody (1970), about Black women medical workers on strike for equal pay and better working conditions in Charleston, South Carolina. Lena Horne (1917–2010) started out as a Cotton Club dancer in New York when she was still a teenager. Lured by a seven-year contract with Metro-Goldwyn-

Mayer, she moved to Hollywood and starred in the all-Black-cast musicals Cabin in the Sky and Stormy Weather (both 1943). In the latter film, she wore the sequined gown that has been restored for display in the Regeneration exhibition. Horne refused to play stereotypes and was often passed over for more substantial roles or relegated to stand-alone singing parts. She later leveraged her public persona to become an effective and outspoken civil rights activist. William D. “Bill” Foster (1884–1940) was the first African American film producer and an influential figure in the Black film industry during the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. He established the first African American film production company, called the Foster Photoplay Company. Foster saw promise and prosperity in making films about Black people that pushed against harmful racial stereotypes and portrayed African American communities as they wanted to be seen, not through a white lens. His film The Railroad Porter , released in 1912, is known for being the world’s first film with a Black director and entirely Black cast. Activity: Dive in and research Explore Regeneration through the exhibition, the Regeneration microsite at www regenerationblackcinema.org, the catalogue, and the curriculum, then choose one notable figure or filmmaker to research. Some of the most prominent people in Regeneration are Hattie McDaniel, Oscar Micheaux, W. E. B. Du Bois, and Sidney Poitier. And there are many more! Use our short biographies to help make your selection and then start researching.

• What obstacles did they overcome? • How did they use films, community, or forms of activism as a means to overcome these obstacles? • Did their work influence others? Portrait of Hattie McDaniel, 1941. Courtesy of Margaret Herrick Library, Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences In addition to articles and essays, you can research home movies, oral histories, and photography collections. Use your local library to dive deeper. We also encourage you to reach out to the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences Margaret Herrick Library and ask a film librarian for resources and info by following this link: ref@oscars.org.

As you research, consider how different elements provide different insights and layers of meaning.

Research questions

• How do objects teach us more about a person? • How do films further our insights into a significant historical figure? Activity: Create and write Develop a biography of your notable figure. Create a short video, poem, or essay exploring your person and what impact they had on film, culture, and American history. Share it with the museum education team at museumeducation@oscars.org.

• What can you discover about your person’s life in the Regeneration exhibition and website? • Are there works on view related to your person? How do these items (objects, clips) help us to understand their achievements and contributions? • How did their childhood impact their path

to adulthood? Was there a significant moment in their early life that inspired them to pursue their passions? • Did a particular movie influence them?

Portrait of Josephine Baker, 1940. Photo by adoc-photos/Corbis. Courtesy of Getty Images

*Words set in ALL CAPS are defined in the Glossary of Key Terms and Concepts (section F of this guide).

B. Exploration of Contemporary Artworks with Activities

strength alone keeps it from being torn asunder.

Considered within the context of Regeneration , Du Bois’s idea offers insight into some of the ways in which Black people responded to a harsh reality: they created spaces free of the burdens of the white gaze and produced, directed, and exhibited their own films. In the Regeneration exhibition, this painted neon artwork is situated alongside the two versions of the short film Something Good—Negro Kiss (1898) as a reminder of not only a divided US history, but a divided cinematic one as well.

1. Glenn Ligon (b. 1960)

Double America 2 , 2014 Neon and paint Edition of 3, AP 1/2, produced 2022

Reflect

When looking at a photograph of this artwork in your classroom, we invite you to consider these questions:

Explore: Group discussion

• Take a moment and “read” this artwork to yourself. How would you describe it? • What does this artwork communicate to you? • What message is the artist trying to convey and how does it relate to issues raised in the Regeneration exhibition?

In groups of three or four students, re-read the quote by W. E. B. Du Bois: “It is a peculiar sensation, this double consciousness, this sense of always looking at oneself through the eyes of others, of measuring one’s soul by the tape of a world that looks on in amused contempt and pity. One ever feels his two-ness, an American, a Negro; two souls, two thoughts, two unreconciled strivings; two warring ideals in one dark body, whose dogged strength alone keeps it from being torn asunder.” • How do you think Ligon’s Double America 2 and Du Bois’s idea of double-consciousness are related? • What meaning can be drawn from considering these together? • Ligon is considered a CONCEPTUAL ARTIST. What concepts does he communicate with this artwork? Share the group discussions in the classroom, noting similarities and differences across the groups in their responses to the questions. Activity: Create a word map In your group, collectively choose a word that has multiple meanings—like America. It is a place, but it also conjures an idea. Write the chosen word on a big piece of paper and have everyone write out their personal associations with the word. Take time to make connections and note differences. Add graphic elements to create new meanings—like drawing lines from one idea to another, or using color to demarcate similarities and differences. Reflect on the group’s definition: Do new meanings emerge from the word map?

Information

Glenn Ligon’s Double America 2 is formed from an outline of black paint and neon lights. Two neon signs spelling out the word AMERICA are mounted one on top of the other. The top word reads legibly from left to right; glowing white light emanates from the letters. The bottom word is dark and in shadow; its letters are upside down and backwards. The two words flash on and off in a random rhythm. The neon is powered by several cables that hang from the letters and connect to power boxes on the floor, creating another set of lines. Double America 2 evokes the notion of two Americas— one for white people and one for BLACK people, one for those on top and one for those at the bottom. It also recalls the Black sociologist and activist W. E. B. Du Bois’s notion of double-consciousness, which he described in 1903 as central to the Black experience: It is a peculiar sensation, this double-consciousness, this sense of always looking at oneself through the eyes of others, of measuring one’s soul by the tape of a world that looks on in amused contempt and pity. One ever feels his two-ness, an American, a Negro; two souls, two thoughts, two unreconciled strivings; two warring ideals in one dark body, whose dogged

Glenn Ligon, Double America 2, 2014. ©Glenn Ligon; Courtesy of the artist, Hauser & Wirth, New York, Regen Projects, Los Angeles, Thomas Dane Gallery, London, and Chantal Crousel, Paris

*Words set in ALL CAPS are defined in the Glossary of Key Terms and Concepts (section F of this guide).

Activity: Create your own Victorian silhouette portrait

2. Kara Walker (b. 1969)

The End of Uncle Tom and the Grand Allegorical Tableau of Eva in Heaven , 1995 Linocut paper on wall

In pairs, take a photograph of your classmate in profile against a blank background. Print out the photo and tape it to a black piece of paper. Using very sharp scissors or an X-Acto knife (under the supervision of an adult), cut out the background. You will be left with the cutout of the person’s profile and an exact copy on black paper. Tape the black paper to a white background or put it in a white frame. Explore: Group discussion How might the Victorian silhouette portraits of you and your classmate tell a story of a lived experience? In pairs, write down a story, fictional or non, steeped in emotion. What other silhouettes might you add to your portraits that convey this story? Take photographs of your installation and share the image and your writing with our education team at museumeducation@oscars.org. Further reading Jordan Giles. “The End of Uncle Tom and the Grand Allegorical Tableau of Eva in Heaven,” in Afterlives of Slavery: An encyclopedia documenting contemporary representations of transatlantic slavery , at https://afterlivesofslavery.wordpress. com/visual-art/the-end-of-uncle-tom-and-the- grand-allegorical-tableau-of-eva-in-heaven/. Gwendolyn DuBois Shaw. “The ‘Rememory’ of Slavery: Kara Walker’s The End of Uncle Tom and the Grand Allegorical Tableau of Eva in Heaven .” In Trauma and Visuality in Modernity , edited by Lisa Saltzman and Eric Rosenberg. Dartmouth College Press, 2006, pp. 158–88.

Warning: This piece contains explicit imagery that may be disturbing for some audiences

Reflect

• Describe what you see in this image? • In what ways does this artwork relate to filmmaking?

Information

This large-scale installation by Kara Walker is made with linocut black paper and adhesive on a curved white wall created in the style of a popular form of portraiture from the Victorian era called silhouetting. The work is an imagined visual history that probes the violent characterizations in Harriet Beecher Stowe’s UNCLE TOM’S CABIN (1852). “Reading” from left to right, the first depiction is of a woman with her child, described by Gwendolyn DuBois Shaw as “involved in a moment of mutual nursing.” Next are images of enslaved children holding various objects circling a young woman wielding an ax above her head; a silhouette of an aging man engaged in sexual activity with a young girl; and finally, a very old man holding his hands in prayer while a fetus dangles from a cord hanging from his backside. Walker’s artwork rejects the mainstream narratives of a glorified ANTEBELLUM SOUTH, including depictions by white filmmakers well into the twentieth century, and presents a frank and graphic visual history from an African American woman’s perspective.

Kara Walker, The End of Uncle Tom and the Grand Allegorical Tableau of Eve in Heaven , 1995

*Words set in ALL CAPS are defined in the Glossary of Key Terms and Concepts (section F of this guide).

Activity: Text as art

3. Gary Simmons (b. 1964)

Choose a word from the word map and explore how different presentations of that word convey different meanings and interpretations. Write the word small, big, backwards, smudged, in color, in line or not. Which version is most successful in expressing your intentions as an artist? What do your classmates think? Select the most effective rendition and write an artist statement explaining your intention and the reasons for your artistic choices. Photograph and share the statement with museumeducation@oscars.org.

Balcony Seating Only , 2017 Oil paint on aluminum, mounted on steel

Reflect

• What do you notice when looking at this artwork? What are the first thoughts that come to mind as you view it?

• Why do you think the artist smudged the letters? How would the meaning of this piece change if the letters were not smudged?

Information

Gary Simmons’s large-scale sculpture, created from oil paint on aluminum mounted on steel, is inspired by a historical photograph of the exterior of a segregated theater in Anniston, Alabama, with signage that indicates a separate entrance for people of color. In Balcony Seating Only , the racially charged word COLORED is rendered with the artist’s “erasure drawing” technique whereby the text is smudged, giving it a ghostly quality. The word is set on an incline, suggesting stairs leading to a different space: a visual reminder of the segregated spaces African American moviegoers were forced to inhabit as both viewers and filmmakers. Simmons here conjures the past with his technique of partially erasing but at the same time draws sharp attention to the injustices suffered by African Americans throughout US history, and particularly the history of cinema in America.

Explore: Group discussion

• What can we learn from the past by referencing it in the present? In what ways have we progressed since the time period of segregation? In what ways have we not? • How does Simmons’s work convey the physical experience of being separated and segregated because of one’s race? How do his choices magnify that experience? • How would the meaning of this installation

Gary Simmons, Balcony Seating Only , 2017

change if the word COLORED were small? Not angled? Not blurred?

*Words set in ALL CAPS are defined in the Glossary of Key Terms and Concepts (section F of this guide).

Activity: Assemblage

4. Theaster Gates (b. 1973)

While Theaster Gates’s piece reads like a painting and can also be considered sculpture, another method of art making with found materials is called assemblage. An assemblage is a three-dimensional collage of layered materials. Create an assemblage using materials found inside your home. Consider what you want your artwork to convey about your life, family, or home. Assemble your materials on a board, canvas, or painted piece of cardboard. Take a photograph of your work and share it with museumeducation@oscars.org.

Some Remember Sock Hops, Others Remember Riots , 2020 Wood, denim, and fire hose

Reflect

• Take some time to look closely at the materials used to make this artwork. What are some things you notice? • Does this object/format remind you of anything?

Information

The strips of decommissioned fire hose covering the surface of this work reference the high-pressure water jets that police employed to attack people—including children—during nonviolent protests against segregation in the 1950s and 1960s. Using the aesthetics of abstract and minimalist painting, Gates also creates a dialogue between the history of art making and the record of racial injustice in this country. The title comments on the stark racial disparities of the civil rights era: while Black protesters were being assaulted, white people were dancing shoeless to avoid scuffing school gymnasium floors. Denim, a fabric associated with both the working class and the COUNTERCULTURE, here pays homage to the overalls worn by members of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC), the main channel of student involvement in civil rights actions.

Explore: Group discussion

• How is this piece like an abstract painting? What sets it apart from a painting? • How do materials make meaning? What do you think the materials in this piece mean to the artist? What do they mean to you? • Without knowing Gates’s intention, this work can be interpreted very differently. How does knowledge of his choice of materials add layers of meaning and complexity to the artwork?

Theaster Gates, Some Remember Sock Hops, Others Remember Riots , 2020

*Words set in ALL CAPS are defined in the Glossary of Key Terms and Concepts (section F of this guide).

C. Film Companions with Activities

aspirational narratives of Black success while also revealing, if sometimes inadvertently, the realities of racial injustice and poverty” ( Regeneration , p. 119).

race film companies, the collaboration with Black filmmakers suggested meaningful allyship, though some Black film producers like Oscar Micheaux and George P. Johnson did not always see it so. What is clear, however, is that race films allowed Black people to see and experience themselves on screen.

1. Reform School

Reflect

Reform School , 1939 82 minutes, sound, black and white

Director: Leo C. Popkin Screenplay: Zella Young Music: Lou Frohman Photography: William Hyer Editing: Bart Rauw

Consider various types of media that are made with a particular audience in mind.

Explore: Group discussion

• How does the conversation around the message and meaning of movies, media, and content in general change when you consider by whom and for whom?

In 1913, Black film producer William D. Foster stated: “Nothing has done so much to awaken the race consciousness of the colored man in the United States as the motion picture.”

Cast: Louise Beavers, Reginald Fenderson, Monte Hawley, Eugene Jackson, Freddie Jackson, Eddie Lynn, DeForrest Covan, Bobby Simmons, Maceo B. Sheffield, Edward Thompson, the Harlem Tuff Kids Producer: Harry M. Popkin

PRODUCTION STUDIOS

• What are some of the impacts of seeing oneself and one’s experience reflected in a movie? • What power lies in representation? • In what ways does Foster’s statement apply today?

Production: Million Dollar Productions Distribution: Million Dollar Productions

In 1939, the production company Million Dollar Productions released Reform School , a film that serves as the embodiment of Ellen C. Scott’s description of race films from that era. Founded in 1937, Million Dollar Productions was a white-owned production company that specialized in “all-colored cast, modern, Class A talking pictures with themes taken from modern Negro life.” The company was owned by the brothers Harry M. Popkin, a theater owner, and Leo C. Popkin, a movie producer. They partnered with Ralph Cooper, a multitalented Black entertainer who founded amateur night at Harlem’s famous Apollo Theater and served as the original emcee.

SYNOPSIS

Keywords: reform, transformative justice, race films, production, justice, prison-industrial complex, script, cinematography, editing Disclaimer: This film companion contains historical examples of content and language that may be harmful to view and may reflect outdated, biased, and offensive ideas.

Reform School features Louise Beavers as Mother Barton, a crusading probation officer who comes to the defense of Freddie, played by Reginald Fenderson, and his friends, played by the Harlem Tuff Kids. When Mother Barton investigates the situation, she runs into a corrupt bureaucracy that is indifferent and downright hostile to her. Despite this, she institutes drastic changes in a juvenile prison offering a sharp critique of the prison- industrial complex and its effects on Black youth.

HISTORICAL CONTEXT: THE YEAR 1939

Poster for Reform School , 1939. Courtesy of Black Film Center & Archive, Indiana University, Bloomington

Many film historians single out the year 1939 as the greatest in Hollywood studio history. The list of films released that year includes famous titles such as Gone with the Wind , Stagecoach , The Wizard of Oz , Mr. Smith Goes to Washington , Gunga Din , The Women, Dodge City , Wuthering Heights , and Goodbye, Mr. Chips . From 1927 to 1948, five movie studios had total control of their individual ecosystems, and the films produced in 1939 were made at the peak of the Hollywood studio system. Loews Incorporated (which owned Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer), Paramount Pictures, Warner Bros. Pictures, Twentieth Century Fox, and RKO Radio Pictures all owned production studios, distribution networks, and theater chains, and contracted performers and filmmaking personnel. This enabled studios to determine every aspect of how films were made and how they reached audiences.

Around this time, several other studios focused their production on race films, including:

SCRIPT

Black-scripted studio film, written by Clarence Muse and Langston Hughes. However, most movies from that period that were produced for BLACK audiences, featuring Black casts, and distributed to movie theaters in Black neighborhoods—movies called RACE FILMS—existed outside of the Hollywood studio system. Due to segregation and racial inequities, Black filmmakers were not afforded the same opportunities that white filmmakers had in Hollywood. In addition, studios that did hire Black actors only offered them supporting, usually stereotypical roles, with little or no backstory. Race films lacked the resources of the studio system. They had smaller production budgets and fewer theaters where they could be shown. Yet as film historian Ellen C. Scott observes: “Often these films had an epic scope and a real, if uneven, complexity in their depiction of Black life: they portrayed

Pages 3–4 of the Reform School script. Courtesy of Margaret Herrick Library, Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences

• The Foster Photoplay Company, founded by William D. Foster in Chicago in 1910 • Lincoln Motion Picture Company, founded by actor Noble Johnson in 1915, with his brother George P. Johnson joining a year later to manage booking and publicity • Michaeux Film and Book Company, founded by Oscar Michaeux in 1918 in Chicago A few white-owned film and distribution companies, like the Norman Film Manufacturing Company and Toddy Pictures, made and released films outside of the Hollywood studio system targeted to Black audiences. These entrepreneurs saw Black communities as an untapped audience. For many of these white-owned

The dialogue in the SCRIPT, based on a story by Hazel Jamieson and Joseph O’Donnell, and SCREENPLAY by Zella Young, shows Mother Barton in conversation with the reform school officials, proposing new ways to enact change in the system. Here are some of her key lines from the script: “Unfortunately, there’s a disgrace attached to anyone coming from a reform school and when the news circulates that boys were inmates, they can’t get jobs. They finally become desperate and disillusioned. There’s

Also in 1939, RKO released Way Down South , the first

*Words set in ALL CAPS are defined in the Glossary of Key Terms and Concepts (section F of this guide).

Stills from Reform School , 1939, showing the changing office décor before and after Mother Barton’s intervention

only one last resort for them—they turn to crime, just to get enough food to keep life in their bodies.”

“Discipline must be tempered with justice and understanding.”

Explore: Group discussion

“I would change the system in handling the youngsters. There’s no reason for treating them like caged animals. They should be permitted to talk, to sing, to dance, to play games, to have regular hours of recreation. In other words, to live life as normal as possible. Educate the public and businessmen of this country to know that when reform schoolboys are released, they’re not criminals. They’re ready to take their place in society.”

• How does the complexion of the characters challenge stereotypes?

• Consider the set, and particularly the office after Mother Barton moves in. How does the change in furniture, décor, and lighting reflect the different leadership styles of Mother Barton and Mr. Stone? • Louise Beavers is the only female actor in the film. How significant is it that her character,

Mother Barton, has so much power and that she wields it with moral courage?

Explore: Group discussion

• Reflect on images you have come across in recent social media, movies, or episodic shows. Have you seen images that you would classify as stereotypes?

• How do scripts directly and indirectly communicate a message or theme?

• Consider the dialogue in this movie. How were the filmmakers, both in front of and behind the camera, making a statement about what was happening in the real world?

If so, in what ways are they stereotypical? Can you trace any of these new stereotypes to old Hollywood stereotypes and tropes?

CINEMATOGRAPHY AND EDITING

CASTING, CHARACTER, AND PRODUCTION DESIGN

Despite budget constraints, the filmmakers tapped new CINEMATOGRAPHY and EDITING techniques to shape the Reform School storyline. There are noticeable differences between the films of the early and late 1930s. Technological advances in cameras, sound, film stock, color technology, and editing propelled story construction to new heights. These advances are evident in Million Dollar Productions’ Reform School . Ellen C. Scott writes: “What the Popkins’ scrappy outfit lacked in budget for props and sets it made up for with complex cinematography and editing. Diverging from the bare-bones, B-cinema visual style of race films, the cinematographer William Hyer, a veteran of Hollywood westerns, artfully filmed Reform School using complex shot structure and stylized tracking shots. The editing was efficient and creative as in the film’s cross-cut opening chase scene, which builds drama and subverts Hollywood’s ideology by leading the audience to root for the ‘criminal’ to escape” ( Regeneration , p. 120). breakdown to analyze the techniques the filmmakers used to build tension in the scene.

Film stills from Reform School , 1939, showing the chang- ing office decor before and after Mother Barton’s inter- vention. Courtesy of the Academy Film Archive, Academy

Louise Beavers was cast as the lead, Mother Barton, and is the only woman in the movie. Born in Cincinnati in 1902, Beavers was a prolific actress in SILENT FILMS. She made the transition to TALKIES and appeared in over 100 films and TV shows. She was usually cast as a servant, maid, or enslaved person. Thus, Mother Barton was a radical departure from these subservient characters, with Beavers’s strong performance providing emotional depth and a persuasive perspective on educational values. As Mother Barton carries on her battle for justice, one cannot ignore the filmmakers’ keen attention to CHARACTER DESIGN. She is impeccably dressed, confident, and carries herself with the dignity her position requires. To see a Black woman on the screen not dressed as a servant was making a big statement. A remarkable aspect of the CASTING in Reform School is that the film features Black people from all walks of society and resists the STEREOTYPES prevalent in mainstream cinema of the day. We see a working-class parent, a middle-class probation officer, management-

class reform school officials, police officers and guards, and young boys who are talented, caring, and willing to learn and grow. Together these depictions create a complex society, and each role is essential to the story of reform. The humanity afforded the characters on screen is reinforced by the casting of people of various skin tones and the treatment of the characters as equal, again pushing back against the TROPE of dark-skinned Black people as less civilized or intelligent than Black people with lighter skin. In addition to casting, PRODUCTION DESIGN plays an important role in communicating the trajectory of a story. Here, the visual space of the film transforms as the story unfolds, as illustrated in two images from before and after Mother Barton moves into the office of the reform school:

Pages 3–4 of the Reform School script. Courtesy of Margaret Herrick Library, Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences

*Words set in ALL CAPS are defined in the Glossary of Key Terms and Concepts (section F of this guide).

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