The motion picture industry has been in effect since the early 1900's, but widespread star recognition was not as easily won by Blacks. By the 1940's, many big movie roles for Black stars like Lena Horne, the Nicholas brothers, and Louis Armstrong were nothing more than roles as "specialty acts." Major black actors like Paul Robeson rarely enjoyed equal recognition for their achievements on screen, and no mention was made of the difficulties they experienced in the industry off screen.
Only slight progress was accomplished in the 1950's. There was an emergence of black actors such as Eartha Kitt, Ruby Dee, Ossie Davis, Sammy Davis, Jr, Dorothy Dandridge, and Al Freeman, Jr, who still took backseat to their white counterparts.
In the 1960's, it was not until after the emergence of the first black oscar winner, Sidney Poitier (Lilies of the Field, 1963), and the emmy award winner Bill Cosby (I SPY), that Hollywood even begin to acknowledge talented black actors.
Then by the 1970's black directors such as Gordon Parks (The Learning Tree, 1969) and Melvin Van Peebles (Sweet Sweetback's Baadassss Song, 1971) came on to the scene. With the success of Sweetback came the era of the blaxploitation films with such stars as Richard Roundtree in Shaft (1971), Ron O'Neal in Superfly (1972), and Tamara Dobson in Cleopatra Jones (1973). Other films produced stars like Diahann Carroll (Claudine, 1974), Billy Dee Williams and Diana Ross (Mahongany, 1975), and Richard Pryor (Greased Lightning, 1977).
In the 1980's the Black mega star was born in Eddie Murphy for his role in movies like Beverly Hills Cop, (1984), Golden Child, (1986), and Coming to America, (1988). Additionally, films based on black themes such as A Soldier's Story, (1984), with Denzel Washington and Howard Rollins, and also The Color Purple with Whoopi Goldberg and Oprah Winfrey reached critical acclaim. Also in the 1980's the new mega star director Spike Lee produced hits like School Daze, 1988, and Do the Right Thing, 1989, also based on black themes but now directed by a black director.
Here we are today in the 1990's with an ever growing number of black directors, producers, and of course young talented actors and recognized stars. There is still room for improvement in the old Hollywood establishment, but now the opportunity for black actors to reach stardom is more tangible than it ever was before!
Downlow
reference: Parrish, James. Today's Black Hollywood, pp. 9-19, Pinnacle, 1995.
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