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Chestnut Hill College ACCELERATED
UEHI204: Film and History: African Americans Images in Film
Session 11 - 1999
Prof. Lawrence S. Little
Phone: 215 438-0567
CHCACC Office: 215 248-7063
CHCACC Fax: 215 248-7065
Required Readings:
Donald Bogle, Toms, Coons, Mulattoes, Mammies, and Bucks: An Interpretive History of Blacks in Film
Library Reserve:Intellectual and Cultural Life: From Emancipation to the Harlem Renaissance, in Passageways, 130-155
Sitkoff, Changing Ideas: Race and Racism,in A New Deal for Blacks, 190-215
Sexual Politics: An Antilynching Crusader in Revisionist Feminism, in Transcending the Talented Tenth 61-81
Palmer, Forcing Change: 1955-1965, in Passageways, 239- 278
Massey and Denton, American Apartheid: The Perpetuation of the Underclass, in Gallagher, Rethinking the Color Line, 316-337
Anderson, Code of the Streets,in Gallagher, Rethinking the Color Line, 347-357
DeMott, Put on a Happy Face,in Gallagher, Rethinking the Color Line, 358-364<
Entman, African Americans According to TV News,in Gallagher, Rethinking the Color Line, 372-376 in Wallace, Black Popular Culture, 292-302
This course examines the history of African American images in American film and how those images reflected and influenced American racial perceptions. Students will analyze the origins and development of racial stereotypes in film and efforts by African Americans to use film to overcome negative characterizations. We will thematically explore the processes of overturning intellectual racism, segregation and integration, racial violence and sexuality, civil rights, and black urbanization. Special attention will be given to the social, economic, political, religious, and cultural forces within American film that have helped to shape the course of racial attitudes in the twentieth century.
Course Requirements
At the end of the session, each student will submit a journal that will be compiled weekly throughout the session. The journal will include your analysis of the films, readings, and themes raised in the course lectures and discussions. The journal is due on the last day of class; thus, the film Get on the Bus will not be included. Nevertheless, the readings for the last week should be included. In addition, each student will independently view a film related to the week=s topic and write a two page review that links the film to the week=s readings and themes. Students should be prepared to give a brief five minute in-class synopsis of the film. The journals and reviews will be graded according to the content and aptness of your ideas and the quality and accuracy of your prose.
Because this class deals mainly with films that must be viewed and discussed, attendance is mandatory. Nevertheless, for those who have excused absences, all films are available from video stores and most from the public library. Students will be responsible for viewing each film.
Grade Distribution:
Journal 70%
Film Review 20%
Participation 10%
Schedule of Assignments
The reading assignments are listed below. All readings are in Bogle or on reserve in the library. Be sure to read each one in full before the date listed.
May 7 Unit 1: African American Images: Stereotypes in Film
Film: Ethnic Notions; Birth of a Nation (1916)
May 14 Unit 2: The Harlem Renaissance and the ANew Negro@
Film: Emperor Jones (1933)
Readings: Bogle, Chs. 1, 2; 94-100; Ch. 4; Palmer, AIntellectual and Cultural Life,@ 130-155
Supplemental Films: Any Oscar Micheaux film; Song of Freedom (1938); Tales of Manhattan (1942); Bronze Buckaroo (1939); Miracle in Harlem (1947)
May 21 Unit 3: The ATragic Mulatto@ and Overturning Intellectual Racism
Film: Imitation of Life (1934)
Readings: Bogle, Ch. 3; Sitkoff, AChanging Ideas: Race and Racism,@ 190-215
Supplemental Films: Pinky (1949); Imitation of Life (1959); Lost Boundaries (1949)
May 28 Unit 4: The ABad Black Woman@ and Racial Violence
Film: Carmen Jones (1954)
Readings: Bogle, Chs. 5 & 6; James, ASexual Politics,@ 61-81
Supplemental Films: Cabin in the Sky (1943); Stormy Weather (1943); Porgy and Bess (1959); Intruder in the Dust (1949)
June 4 Unit 5: The Civil Rights Era and the Demand for Equality
Film: Nothing But A Man (1964)
Readings: Bogle, Ch. 7; Palmer, AForcing Change: 1955-1965,@ 239- 278
Film: Shaft (1971)
June 18 Unit 7: Stereotypes Revisited and the Influence of Television
Film: Hollywood Shuffle (1987)
June 25 Unit 8: Black Images of the Future
Film: Get on the Bus (1998)
Readings: Bogle, Ch. 10; Marable, ARace, Identity, and Political Culture,@ 292-302
Films for independent viewing are not restricted to the above supplemental
films lists, and students may chose other films that are relevant to the
week=s theme.