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