“Only the colored people themselves can determine their political, social and economic future.”
William Monroe Trotter
This course surveys a hidden canon of African American film while also uncovers the roots of representational injustice in Hollywood and the secret, but cardinal role Woodrow Wilson played in the production and distribution of Griffith’s “The Birth of a Nation” that led to the rebirth of the KKK. Wilson’s policy of segregation was adapted by Hollywood as a self-censoring industry regulation of representation. Black people could only appear on screen as subservient and marginal characters, never as equals, partners or leaders. This industry code, Wilson’s legacy, has become second nature to Hollywood.
At the 2017 “Unite the Right Rally,” hundreds of far-right marchers gathered in Charlottesville, Virginia to protest the removal of a statue of Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee.
They attempted to symbolically reclaim the United States by chanting nativist and racist slogans, including “You will not replace us.” Pres. Donald Trump did not denounce the marchers.
Website concept and design: Erika A. Kiss & Sabi
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