While the last ten years has seen an explosion both in Hollywood
films and prime time television series produced and directed by
African Americans, it’s only a recent —- and some say limited -—
phenomenon. For much of the last 80 years — from the Silent Era to
World War II, through to the civil rights movement and the
"Blaxploitation" films of the 1970s — African Americans have been
systematically excluded and misrepresented in the American film and
HAILE GERIMA, an independent filmmaker and director of the
critically-acclaimed film Sankofa.
JESSE ALGERON RHINES, an assistant professor of political
economy in the African American and African Studies Department at
Rutgers University at Newark, New Jersey. He is an assistant editor
for Cineaste magazine and the author of Black Film/White Money, a
book examining how on-screen portrayals of African Americans has
been shaped by social and political forces.