E L E C T R O N I C M E S S A G E Date: 01-Nov-1993 09:29am EDT From: Stephen Hart HARTS2 Level: Post-secondary/University Tel No: 904-644-4839 TO: Remote Addressee ( _jnet%screen-l@ua1vm ) Subject: re: Early Black cinema Pam, Let me suggest _A Seperate Cinema_ by John Kisch and Edward Mapp. The book is a collection of posters ranging from the early Black Cinema to the late sixties. Though poster art is the book's focus, it provides a forward with an excellent overview of the history of Black cinema, and other historical and biographical commentary. Another title I remember from many years ago is _From Sambo to Superspade_. I don't know the author and never got into reading the book, but I believe it traces Black Cinema history up to the blackploitation era. In light of Currie's discussion on Ferreyra, I read in _Seperate Cinema_ that many early black filmmakers, especially Micheaux, cast light skinned blacks as the protagonists in dramatic roles and dark skinned blacks as antagonists. Like Hollywood, leading roles for dark skinned blacks were only in comedies. This trend among black filmmakers did not last forever, but Hollywood carried it on. Even at that, light skinned blacks were not often seen in leading or supporting roles--or any black for that matter. Prints that were distributed in the South excluded any scenes where blacks had any non-stereotypical role, even if it was a singer doing a song in a nightclub scene. While Ferreyra's exclusion of blacks may have been coincidental, I'm surprised and a bit disappointed that early black filmmakers cast roles a deliberately. Let me know what you gather. Being African-American and an aspiring filmmaker, I am particularly interested in this subject. Good luck! Stephen Hart, Florida State University (8-0) HARTS2@firnvx ccording to the shade of skin color.