on employment applications that discriminate against those with criminal records …” 8. The W. Haywood Burns institute at https://burnsinstitute.org/. 9. The 74, a nonprofit, nonpartisan news site covering education in America, reported that, in part as a response to the murder of George Floyd in 2020, “the LA school board in February 2021 approved a plan to cut $25 million—a third of the school police budget—and shift those funds into a $36.5 million initiative called the Black Student Achievement Plan.” The goal of this plan is to support the mental and academic well-being of Black students by adding psychiatric social workers, counselors and “climate coaches,” and restorative justice advisors to schools with predominantly Black students. You can read more about this plan here: https://achieve.lausd.net/bsa 10. Kim Tran. “Transformative Justice, Explained.” Teen Vogue , November 15, 2018, at https://www.teenvogue. com/story/transformative-justice-explained. 11. “How Car Chase Scenes Have Evolved for Movies,” insider.com, at https://www.insider. com/evolution-of-making-filming-car-chase-
scenes-for-hollywood-movies-2021-3.
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2. Stormy Weather
Stormy Weather , 1943 78 minutes, sound, black and white Director: Andrew L. Stone
Screenplay: Frederick J. Jackson, Ted Koehler Writers: Jerry Horwin, Seymour B. Robinson (story), H. S. Kraft (adaptation)
part of the armed forces, home front industries began hiring both women and racial minorities. Film still from Stormy Weather ©1943 Twentieth Century Fox. Courtesy of the Academy Film Archive, Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.
Music: Cyril J. Mockridge (uncredited), Harold Arlen, Fats Waller, Shelton Brooks, Cab Calloway, Jimmy Hughes, Dorothy Fields, Bill Robinson, Alfred Newman Photography: Leon Shamroy Editing: James B. Clark Cast: Lena Horne, Bill “Bojangles” Robinson, Dooley Wilson, Cab Calloway, Katherine Dunham, Fats Waller, Nicholas Brothers, among many others Producer: William LeBaron
—Harry M. Benshoff and Sean Griffin, America on Film: Representing Race, Class, Gender, and Sexuality at the Movies (2021), p. 89
Production: Twentieth Century Fox Distribution: Twentieth Century Fox
Hollywood, with the backing of the US government, pitched in with its own effort to boost morale among both white and BLACK audiences. In 1943, two Hollywood studio films featured all-Black casts: Cabin in the Sky , released by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM) in April, and Stormy Weather , released by Twentieth Century Fox in July. Stormy Weather stars Lena Horne, Bill “Bojangles” Robinson, and Dooley Wilson in character roles, as well as Fats Waller, Cab Calloway and His Cotton Club Orchestra, Katherine Dunham and Her Troupe, and the Nicholas Brothers as themselves. Also featured in the film are Emmett Wallace as Chick Bailey and various other Black performers. The cast was a who’s who of Black talent for the era. Despite such an achievement on screen, the film still operated within the power structure of the Hollywood studio system, and almost all crew personnel were white men: director, writers, cinematographers, editor, set decorators, and art director. And as a feel-good musical, the film exhibits virtually no awareness of the realities of racism, segregation, and discrimination that Black people faced during this time.
Keywords: minstrel show, vaudeville, Jim Crow laws, close-up shot, over-the-shoulder shot, cakewalk, The Story of Little Black Sambo , entertainment industry, Cotton Club, musicals, genre 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 (Negro, pickaninny, sambo, coon, uncle tom, mammy, tragic mulatto, black buck, blackface).
Film still from Reform School , 1939. Courtesy of Margaret Herrick Library, Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences
HISTORICAL CONTEXT
In 1943, the United States was involved in World War II. Schools, corporations, churches, and all levels of government mobilized for the war effort. These conditions created a unique opportunity to address racism in the United States. During the 1940s, the United States experienced a tentative surge of liberalism. As World War II was fought against the avowedly racist Axis nations (Germany, Japan, and Italy), many people in the United States felt the need to examine racism within our own country. Also, since much of the nation’s workforce had become
Explore: Group discussion
• Why did the US government encourage Hollywood to help with boosting public morale? What types of messages do you think the
*Words set in ALL CAPS are defined in the Glossary of Key Terms and Concepts (section F of this guide).
*Words set in ALL CAPS are defined in the Glossary of Key Terms and Concepts (section F of this guide).
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