Written by
Rooney, Andrew, American, 1919 - 2011
Wolff, Perry, American, 1921 - 2019
Narrated by
Cosby, Bill, American, born 1937
Produced by
CBS Broadcasting, Inc., American, founded 1927
Subject of
Fetchit, Stepin, American, 1902 - 1985
Glenn, Roy, American, 1914 - 1971
Katharine Hepburn, American, 1907 - 2003
McDaniel, Hattie, American, 1895 - 1952
McQueen, Thelma, American, 1911 - 1995
Moreland, Mantan, American, 1902 - 1973
Poitier, Sidney, Bahamian American, 1927 - 2022
Sanford, Isabel, American, 1917 - 2004
Robinson, Bill "Bojangles", American, 1878 - 1949
Owned by
D.C. Public Library, American, founded 1896
Date
1968
Medium
acetate film
Dimensions
Duration (Reel 1): 26 Minutes
Length (Film): 950 Feet
Duration (Reel 2): 31 Minutes
Length (Film): 1100 Feet
Caption
This film was a part of the Washington D.C. Public Library's circulating 16mm film collection housed at the Martin Luther King Jr. Central Library. The collection is particularly noted for the wide variety of African American and African diaspora content.
Description
A documentary film with the title “Black History: Lost, Stolen, or Strayed” from the Of Black America television series. It consists of two (2) reels of color 16mm acetate film with optical sound.
The documentary opens with narrator Bill Cosby discussing contributions that African Americans have made to American Life, such as Norbert Rillieux's contributions to refining sugar; Jan Ernst Matzeliger's contributions to shoe manufacturing; Matthew Henson being one of the first men to successfully make an expedition to the North Pole; and Daniel Hale Williams performing the world's first open-heart surgery. Cosby then questions why these pioneering African Americans were excluded from history textbooks. After discussing the innovations of African Americans, Cosby discusses a study which compares the way white children and black children view and represent the world around them through art.
The rest of the documentary mostly focuses on African Americans in film. Cosby states that white filmmakers routinely represented black characters in ways that reinforced erroneous stereotypes about black people. He discusses films such as Uncle Tom's Cabin, The Birth of a Nation and Guess Who's Coming to Dinner, as well as African American actors such as Stepin Fetchit, Bill "Bojangles" Robinson, Sidney Poitier and several others. In the final scenes, he comments on beauty culture and the practice of black men chemically straightening their hair, as well as shows footage of a man educating a small class of young children on the importance of black pride.
Place used
Washington, District of Columbia, United States, North and Central America
Collection title
DC Public Library Film Collection
Portfolio/Series
Of Black America
Classification
Time-based Media - Moving Images
Movement
BAM (Black Arts Movement 1965-1976)
Type
sound films
color films (visual works)
16mm (photographic film size)
Topic
Actors
Barbershops
Children
Documentary films
Education
Entertainers
Film
Hair
Hollywood (Film)
Identity
Public television
Science
Credit Line
Collection of the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture
Object number
2017.55.101.1ab
Restrictions & Rights
Restrictions likely apply. Proper usage is the responsibility of the user.
GUID
http://n2t.net/ark:/65665/fd5a52552d9-33e0-46b6-9324-81c074a548f0

Cataloging is an ongoing process and we may update this record as we conduct additional research and review. If you have more information about this object, please contact us at NMAAHCDigiTeam@si.edu

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