Source: Michael Ochs Archives / Getty
The film and television industry has historically excluded women – especially Black women – but a few stories have kicked in the door, paving the way for others. These are the iconic stars of Black History Women’s Month.
Quintus Preer
Often it is Preer Cicero to be considered She was the “First Lady of the Screen,” and one of the first black actresses to earn celebrity status. The goddess of the theater was the favorite of the director Oscar Michaeux, who made her the leader of his 10 daughters.
The main role of the star was in the film At our gates (1920) – Micheux’s only film survives. Many considered it the answer Birth of a Nation; which was released just five years ago. The film shone a spotlight on controversial issues of the time, such as white supremacy, the suffrage movement, which are excluded Black women and the government’s underfunding of schools for black boys. She played a strong, educated and complex character — characteristics rarely seen in roles played by black women at the time.
Gaius Dune
Cheryl Dune was the first Black lesbian to direct a feature-length film he received let them cry out in dismay. Dune wrote, directed, starred in and produced his own film Watermelon Woman from 1996. A romantic comedy-drama film about a girl working in a movie theater, when she was inspired to create a documentary about a black actress who received no credit for her stereotypical “Mammy” roles in movies in the 1930s.
The Library of Congress found the work to be both culturally and historically important keep in the US National Film Registry. Today, the Museum of Modern Art had had to move
Diahan Carroll
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Diahann Carroll was the first Black woman to star on a TV show in a non-stereotypical role when she landed the lead role in the 1968 series. Julia The nbc * A series of 86 episodes told the story of a nurse raising her son after her husband died in the Vietnam War.
The role of the actress in the show was so new for the time that there was no makeup ready with the makeup to the skin tone.
Carroll ultimately I won Golden Globe Award for Best TV Female Star for the role. She too I won a Tony Award for Best Leading Actress in a Musical for her role in No strings attached. Carroll worked all the way through 2016 when he received the final role in the film St. masked
Lena Horne
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Lena Horne is a famous singer and actress gained stardom in the 1940s. Horne was one of the first guests to successfully cross the color line, playing in the predominantly white Charlie Barnet Orchestra. She was also the first black woman to land a contract with a major Hollywood studio. In his contract, Horne had written that he would never play a girl in a movie. Horne is dedicated to fighting stereotyping of Black women in film and television.
Horne was such a vocal political and civil rights activist that he was also noted for working in film and TV for several years. But that didn’t stop him from an incredible career. Horne in the award-winning film The Wiz and toured show with his wife in the 1980s. In 1989, she I won a Grammy Award for lifetime achievement.
Julius Dash
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Directed by John Dash Daughter of the dust in 1991, making her the first Black woman to receive a national film release. The crowd’s popularity of the movie eventually inspired a novel of the same name, which was is praised by none other than the great Toni Morrison (who was poetically inspired by the great Dash).
No other story has been told like this about the Black experience before. Daughter of the dust an intimate look at the tension felt by African Americans between pressures to honor their diasporic heritage while assimilating whitewashed culture. Affecting several generations of women, the film is an opportunity for the audience to “Glimpse” in which the Black woman appears on the screen in different bodies, different emotions and different voices. described “ in one Medium article
cicely tyson
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Cycly is Tyson to be seen as one of the models of the Black movement is Beautiful, because she was one of the first TV stars to wear her hair naturally. Tyson starred in a long-running off-Broadway show, called an anti-colonial play The blacks which ran in the 1960s. Later, when he was cast as a secretary at CBS’s Eastern / Western Tyson became the first Black woman to have a recurring role in a drama series.
However, it wasn’t until she starred in the 1972 film Healthier that Tyson embarked on a journey of faithfully singing strong and witty characters. Ultimately, she refused to play any of the roles she considered black women – a decision that would put her out of work for a long time. But, the resilience paid off, in 2013 I won a Kennedy Center Honor for “a lifetime of powerful performances in roles that broke boundaries for African women.”
Until the late 1900s, the theatrical roles available to Black women were often limited, depressing and perpetuated stereotypes, and guests never portrayed main characters or love interests. An industry rule called “The Hays Code” was created in the 1930s forbidden interracial romance on screen Black actors were often relegated to the roles of maids, slaves and sex workers. Even movie experts have a problem with drive thru movies is separated until the 1960s.
Getting where we are today has not been easy, and we still have a long way to go. Currently, only 11 percent of Black actors and actresses have lead or co-starring roles in movies. Only four percent of film writers are black. However, we are angry, dedicated Black women, to thank for the progress that has been made.
Inch by inch, mile by mile, these women kicked down the doors that the entertainment industry tried to keep closed to black women.
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