The black experience in hollywood

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Hollywood has come a long way since 1914, when Sam Lucas was the first African-American actor to have a lead role in a movie ("Uncle Tom's Cabin").

Now we are lucky enough to have stars like Denzel Washington, Laurence Fishburne, Halle Berry, Wesley Snipes, Whoopi Goldberg, Danny Glover, Morgan Freeman, Samuel L. Jackson, and others carrying movies by themselves, playing to both white and black audiences. At this writing Jamie Foxx looks like a shoo-in for a Best Actor Oscar for his portrayal of Ray Charles. But the studio heads and producers are all white, and you can name the prominent African-American directors on the fingers on one hand.

Still, progress is progress, and it's a great lesson for us to take a look at the careers of people like Sidney Poitier, Dorothy Dandridge, Harry Belafonte, Lena Horne, Stepin Fetchit, Bill "Bojangles" Robinson, Paul Robeson, and Hattie McDaniel in order to understand what has happened in the past century.

Fortunately, the Web offers us a great number of excellent resources in this regard. And many of the movies are still available for us to see, along with documentary films on the subject. One of the best of the latter is 1998's American Movie Classics feature, "Small Steps, Big Strides: The Black Experience in Hollywood (1903-1970)," which helped me with some of the original ideas for this article. The title of the documentary is based on something Bill Robinson said when asked a question about the kind of roles he chose to play

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Leading African-American Actors, Actresses, and Filmmakers

Here is a list of selected African-American actors and directors from the classic age, with links to their Internet Movie Database pages and other articles. You'll find links to others in the movie listing in the next section.

Eddie "Rochester" Anderson made 45 films beginning in the 1930s, but became best known for his role on Jack Benny's TV show.


Louis Armstrong appeared in 31 films, almost always as himself. The link will take you to a special tribute article I wrote on his 100th birthday.


Louise Beavers was a veteran of 130 films starting in the 1920s, most notably 1934's "Imitation of Life," in which she played a part that was given equal importance to that of the white co-star, Claudette Colbert.


Harry Belafonte appeared in several interesting films in the 50s, then settled into his singing and TV career, appearing in several films in the 70s, 80s, and 90s, mostly playing himself.


Dorothy Dandridge was the tragic star of "Carmen Jones" and "Porgy and Bess" who got her start as an extra in the Marx Brothers' "A Day at the Races." Phillip Oliver's tribute includes an excellent five-part biography.


Stepin Fetchit was the first real African-American "star." His flamboyant lifestyle bore no resemblance to his on-screen persona.

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Lena Horne was the first of a new generation of Black actresses who rejected stereotypes. She is still vibrant in her 80s.


Noble Johnson was an influential actor and producer who started the Lincoln Motion Picture Company, the first studio to portray Blacks in a non-stereotyped way.


Charles Lampkin was the first African-American to appear in a science fiction film, Five (1951). He also appeared in "Cocoon" and a dozen other films.


Hattie McDaniel appeared in 75 films from 1932 to 1949, including "Gone With the Wind," and was the first African-American to win an Oscar.


Oscar Micheaux was a pioneering director, producer, and writer who made films for mostly Black audiences from 1918 until 1948.


Juanita Moore won a Best Supporting Actress Oscar nomination for her role in the 1959 version of "Imitation of Life."


Gordon Parks was the director of Shaft (1971). His first film, The Learning Tree (1969), was one of the first 25 films chosen by the Library of Congress to be preserved in the National Film Registry.


Sidney Poitier was the first Black man to win an Oscar (1963), and received an AFI Life Achievement Award in 1992.


Paul Robeson may have been the greatest African-American actor who ever lived, but his career was tragically curtailed by the rabid anti-communism of the times.


Bill "Bojangles" Robinson was a great dancer known primarily for his movies with Shirley Temple.


Ethel Waters made only a dozen movies, but was once one of the country's highest-paid entertainers as a singer.

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Significant Classic Films With African-American Stars or Racial Themes

Here are a few significant classic films with African-American actors or racial themes, with links to their Internet Movie Database pages. Click on "Compare Prices" to see where you can purchase the film in various formats.

Uncle Tom's Cabin (1914-silent) featured the first Black actor in a starring role. Remade in 1927.


Body & Soul (1925-silent) was Paul Robeson's first movie role.


The Emperor Jones (1933) starred Paul Robeson and was based on the play by Eugene O'Neill.


The Green Pastures (1936) featured an all-black cast in a fable of life in heaven, directed by Marc Connelly.


Tales of Manhattan (1942), made with an all-star cast, was later denounced by star Paul Robeson and others as racially demeaning for its final segment.


Stormy Weather (1943) was an all-Black musical starring Lena Horne, Bill "Bojangles" Robinson and a cast of great jazz musicians.


Cabin in the Sky (1943), a filmed Broadway musical with an all-star Black cast, was directed by Vincent Minelli (Liza's dad).


Pinky (1949) is the story of a young Black woman passing as white, played by Jeanne Crain. A tear-jerker with good performances.


No Way Out (1950) was Sidney Poitier's second movie, a brilliant but controversial film in which he played a doctor and Richard Widmark portrayed a racist psychopath.


Carmen Jones (1954), a Black musical adaptation of Bizet's Carmen by Oscar Hammerstein, earned Dorothy Dandridge an Oscar nomination, the first ever for a bi-racial actress.


Island in the Sun (1957) had a kissing scene between Joan Fontaine and Harry Belafonte cut because of exhibitor pressure.


Tamango (1959) starred Dorothy Dandridge and was initially banned in the U.S. because of its interracial romance.


Imitation of Life (1959) earned Juanita Moore a Best Supporting Actress Oscar nomination for her role as the mother of a girl trying to pass for white in this second version of the Fannie Hurst tear-jerker that was Lana Turner's comeback film. The 1934 version, starring Claudette Colbert, featured Louise Beavers in the role of the mother.


Otto Preminger's Porgy and Bess (1959) won a Golden Globe award for Best Musical and an Oscar for Best Music. The all-star cast included Dorothy Dandridge as Bess and a reluctant Sidney Poitier as Porgy. Sammy Davis, Jr. and Pearl Bailey were also stand-outs.


A Raisin in the Sun (1961), based on the Lorraine Hansbury novel, was one of the high points of this history. The great cast included Sidney Poitier, Ruby Dee, Louis Gossett, Jr., and Ivan Dixon.


Lillies of the Field (1963) resulted in Sidney Poitier's celebrated first Oscar for a Black actor. Not a "message" film, but nevertheless one that had an impact owing to Poitier's excellent performance and his casting as the only Black man in an otherwise all-white cast.


Guess Who's Coming To Dinner? (1967) may seem a little dated today, but at the time it had a pretty strong message, particularly in terms of the attitudes of the two fathers, played wonderfully by Roy E. Glenn, Sr. and Spencer Tracy, in his final film role. Of course, Hepburn (who won a Best Actress Oscar) and Poitier are great, as always. One of the three Poitier films that were the three top boxoffice hits of 1967, along with To Sir, With Love and In the Heat of the Night.


The Great White Hope (1970) was a breakthrough film in many ways, starring James Earl Jones as a powerful Black fighter who stood up to the white establishment at every turn.


Shaft (1971) was the first film to which the term "blaxploitation" was applied, but if a strong Black lead character and a Black director were exploitative, it was a good kind of exploitation. The soundtrack by Isaac Hayes was perhaps even more significant for its impact on popular music.

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www.imdb.com is a great place to find more info on movies. Some that I've watched.....

Steel Helmet (1951)The black Medic keeps his cool in battle. I saw this movie, and it's a rare one. starring James Edwards, who was also Patton's aid in the movie Patton.
From www.imdb.com... He was also the first black actor to play the role of a fighter pilot in a film. This was in the film Battle Hymn (1956). This was not done again until Iron Eagle (1986) with Lou Gossett Jr.

Shaft I'm old enough to remember when it first came out! Shaft drove an orange 1971 RoadRunner.

Dr Strangelove 1964 James Earl Jones as the navigator.

I'd like to add STAR TREK 1968 ,"The Ultimate Computer" Episode: #2.24 William Marshall stars as Dr. Richard Daystrom, whose computer takes over the Enterprise. A really good episode.

I'd like to see these....

Five I have not watched this one, but I'd like too. I enjoy a good Sci-Fi story.

Red Ball Express (1952) Patton's wheels in WWII.