| Slow Fade to Black: The Negro in American Film, 1900-1942 Contributor(s): Cripps, Thomas (Author) |
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ISBN: 0195021304 ISBN-13: 9780195021301 Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA OUR PRICE: $36.09 Product Type: Paperback - Other Formats Published: February 1977 Annotation: Set against the backdrop of the black struggle in society, Slow Fade to Black is the definitive history of African-American accomplishment in film - both before and behind the camera - from the earliest movies through World War II. Cripps explores the growth of discrimination as filmmakers became more and more intrigued with myths of the Old South - the "lost cause" aspect of the Civil War, the "happy" slaves singing in the fields - showing how these characterizations culminated in the blatently racist attitudes of Griffith's Birth of a Nation, and how this film led the N.A.A.C.P. to campaign vigorously, and successfully, for change. Cripps goes on to examine the period of the 1920s to 1940s, a time replete with stereotypical casting for African-Americans and largely unsuccessful attempts at independent black production. But with the coming of World War II also came increasing pressure for wider, more equitable use of blacks in films, leading eventually to more sympathetic casting of racial roles, such as that of Sam, the piano player in the 1942 classic Casablanca. A lively, thorough history of African-Americans in the movies, Show Fade to Black is also a perceptive social commentary on evolving racial attitudes in this country during the first four decades of the twentieth century. |
| Additional Information |
| BISAC Categories: - Performing Arts | Film - History & Criticism - Social Science | Ethnic Studies - African American Studies |
| Dewey: 791.430 |
| LCCN: 93006520 |
| Physical Information: 1.1" H x 5.6" W x 8.5" (1.35 lbs) 464 pages |
| Themes: - Chronological Period - 1900-1949 - Ethnic Orientation - African American |
| Descriptions, Reviews, Etc. |
| Publisher Description: Set against the backdrop of the black struggle in society, Slow Fade to Black is the definitive history of African-American accomplishment in film--both before and behind the camera--from the earliest movies through World War II. As he records the changing attitudes toward African-Americans both in Hollywood and the nation at large, Cripps explores the growth of discrimination as filmmakers became more and more intrigued with myths of the Old South: the lost cause aspect of the Civil War, the stately mansions and gracious ladies of the antebellum South, the happy slaves singing in the fields. Cripps shows how these characterizations culminated in the blatantly racist attitudes of Griffith's The Birth of a Nation, and how this film inspired the N.A.A.C.P. to campaign vigorously--and successfully--for change. While the period of the 1920s to 1940s was one replete with Hollywood stereotypes (blacks most often appeared as domestics or natives, or were portrayed in shiftless, cowardly Stepin Fetchit roles), there was also an attempt at independent black production--on the whole unsuccessful. But with the coming of World War II, increasing pressures for a wider use of blacks in films, and calls for more equitable treatment, African-Americans did begin to receive more sympathetic roles, such as that of Sam, the piano player in the 1942 classic Casablanca. A lively, thorough history of African-Americans in the movies, Slow Fade to Black is also a perceptive social commentary on evolving racial attitudes in this country during the first four decades of the twentieth century. |