Customer Reviews:
 A fascinating approach to film history June 9, 2007
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
"Imaging Blackness: Race And Racial Representation In Film Poster Art" is compiled, edited, curated and presented by Audrey Thomas McCluskey (Associate Professor of African-American and African Diaspora Studies). Professor McCluskey draws upon her years of experience and expertise when she was formerly the director of the Black Film Center Archive at Indiana University to present a series of movie posters for the 'race movies' that were a part of cinematic history from the late 1920s through the early 1940s when African-Americans were largely barred from mainstream Hollywood productions (except for stereotypical roles as maids, butlers, and comic relief characters), necessitating independent and small budget productions featuring African-American casts. Posters were a widespread means of advertising and promotion, designed to persuade members of the public to buy a ticket and see the film publicized by the images depicted in the poster material. "Imaging Blackness" shows the steady evolution of how African-American men and women were pictured on those posters in incremental changes that paralleled the discrimination and slow progress of change of the broader American culture. A fascinating approach to film history that accords with vigorous academic standards of scholarship, "Imaging Blackness" is an especially recommended addition to academic and community library African-American Studies and American Film History reference collections and supplemental reading lists.
A Must Have! February 27, 2007
A must have for any collection of film and African American book collection.
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