BSt 297 Foundations of Black Cinema

Throughout the seventeenth, eighteenth, and nineteenth centuries there evolved a collection of negative racial stereotypes in the United States that were created and attached to the Black race to rationalize and justify patterns of discriminatory racial behavior. In the early 20th century stereotypes were infused into cinematic treatments that were a part of the newly invented cinema industry to the exclusion of a realistic and honest portrayal of the Black experience. Students will examine the history, nature, and impact of these stereotypes on both the cinema industry and U.S. culture.