Regeneration: Black Cinema, 1898–1971

Review\nEvokes the pride of cultural acknowledgment and serves as a dismaying reminder of the pernicious effects of racism and discrimination over the decades. -- Mekeisha Madden ― Financial Times\nA sense of doubleness reverberates throughout the show as it continues to chart year after year of bigotry and resistance, institutional repression and artistic sovereignty, struggles that were literally embodied by performers working in old Hollywood and outside its cruelly restrictive gates. -- Manohla Dargis ― New York Times\nComprised of erudite essays, illustrative case studies ... Simply outstanding. ― Midwest Book Review\nRegeneration: Black Cinema 1898-1971 is jam packed with treasures and revelations … [An] astonishing, well-paced journey through seven-plus decades of movie history. -- Phyllis Tuchman ― Brooklyn Rail\nThe overlooked yet vibrant history of Black participation in American film, from the beginning of cinema through the civil rights movement
From the dawn of the medium onward, Black filmmakers have helped define American cinema. Black performers, producers and directors―Bert Williams, Oscar Micheaux, Herb Jeffries, Lena Horne, Dorothy Dandridge, Ruby Dee and William Greaves, to name just a few―had a vast and resounding impact. Black film artists not only developed an enduring independent tradition but also transformed mainstream Hollywood, fueled and reflected sociopolitical movements, captured Black experience in all its robust complexity, and influenced generations to come. As harrowing as it is beautiful, this history of Black cinema and its legacy is often overlooked.
Regeneration accompanies a first-of-its-kind exhibition at the Academy Museum of Motion Pictures exploring seven decades of Black participation in American cinema. Amplifying this underrepresented history in colorful and striking detail, the book features an in-depth curatorial essay and scholarly case-study texts on topics such as early Black independent filmmaking, Black spectatorship during the Jim Crow era and home movies as an essential form of Black self-representation. The volume also makes meaningful connections to the present through interviews with award-winning contemporary Black filmmakers Charles Burnett, Julie Dash, Ava DuVernay, Barry Jenkins and Dawn Porter. An extensive filmography and chronology offer an essential resource for anyone interested in Black cinema, while images of contemporary visual artworks further illustrate the volume throughout.