African-American Studies Collections

Filmography: W

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W. E. B. DUBOIS OF GREAT BARRINGTON.
1992. 58 minutes.
Documentary, Biographical. Dubois, W(illiam) E(dward) B(urghardt), 1868--1963.

The following brief biographical descriptions are from The Oxford Companion to English Literature and The Concise Columbia Encyclopedia respectively:
". . . black American author, social reformer, and activist, whose many historical and sociological studies include The Souls of Black Folk (1903), a collection of essays which criticizes Booker T. Washington for being insufficiently militant about black rights. He became increasingly radical and anti-imperial during his long career, and in the year before his death moved to Ghana and became a citizen of that country. "
"American civil rights leader and author, b. Great Barrington, Massachusetts. Earning a Ph.D. D. from Harvard (1895), he taught economics and history at Atlanta University, (189-1910, 1932-44) and was one of the first exponents of full and immediate racial equality. He cofounded (1909) the National Negro Committee, which became the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, and edited the NAACP magazine, The Crisis, until 1932. Late in life he promoted worldwide black liberation and pan-Africanism and, in 1961, joined the Communist party and moved to Ghana. His many writings include an autobiography (1968)."
Notes: Among those interviewed: John Bracey, DuBois AFAM Studies Professor at U of Massachusetts; Nancy Ladd-Muller, U Mass Ph.D. D; David Levering Lewis, Rutgers University; David Graham DuBois, Pres., DuBois Foundation, Inc.; William Strickland, U. Mass; James Parrish, Great Barrington Historical Society; Wilson Moses, Boston University. Executive Producer, Beth Curley. Produced by Lillian Baulding. Videographer/Editor, Tim Paine. Music by Jeff Steele.


W. E. B. DU BOIS.
1995. 116 minutes.
Documentary. Biographical Documentary. W.E.B. Dubois. African-American Authors. African-American Intellectuals. Directed by Louis Massiah.

"This is the first film biography of a wan who towered over African American history for nearly a century, W. E. B. DuBois [1868-1963]. His remarkable career as a scholar-activist stretched from the end of Reconstruction to the imposition of Jim Crow, its eventual defeat by the Civil Rights Movement and the successful independence struggles of African nations. In this film, four prominent African American writers, Wesley Brown, Thulani Davis, Toni Cade Bambara and Amir Baraka each narrate a period of his life and describe his impact on their work. They chronicle Bu Bois' role as a founder of the N.A.A.C.P., organize of the firs Pan-African Congress, editor of Crisis, a leading journal of the black cultural renaissance and author of a string of landmark sociological studies include The Souls of black Folk. Anathematized during the McCarthy years, Du Bois was invited in 1961 to help in the reconstruction of Ghana, the first independent African state. He went into exile living in Accra until his death two years later."
Notes: Narrated and written by, Thulani Davis [The Crisis and the Negro 1919-1929 deals with Du Bois work in the decade immediately after WW I and during the Harlem Renaissance], A Second Reconstruction? 1934-1948 is written and narrated by Toni Cade Bambara, Wesley Brown, and Color & Democracy: Colonies and Peace 1949-1963 written and narrated by Amiri Baraka. Produced by Louis Massiah. Among those interviewed: Herbert Aptheker [Historian and editor of Du Bois papers], Dubois Williams [Du Bois' grand daughter], Paula Giddings [Historian], Huber Ross [Sociologist, Atlanta University], Ruth Morris Graham [author], Blyden Jackson [educator], Louis Harlan [Historian], Harold Cruse [historian], David Levering Lewis [historian], Anna Walling Hamburger [daughter of an NAACP co-founder], Lily Golden [Pan African Historian], Patrick Bellegarde-Smith [historian], Esther Cooper Jackson [Editor, Freedomways], John Henrik Clarke [historian]. Louise Thompson Patterson, [activist, Du Bois friend], Gloster Current [NAACP Director of Branches 1946-77], John Hope II [son of Atlanta U. President John Hope], David Graham Du Bois [stepson of Dr. Du Bois], Dorothy Hunton [wife of Alpheus Hunton, Council of African Affairs], James E. Jackson [activist], Vicki Garvin [labor activist, Council of African Affairs]. Edited by Monica Herniquez. Photography by Michael Chin Arthur Jafa, Larry Banks. Music supervision by Dwight Andrews and compositions by Dwight Andrews, Dave Burrell and David Murray.


WATER FOR TONOUMASSE.
1989. 28 minutes.
Documentary. Women in the Developing States. Water Contamination. Women and the Environment. Women of Africa. Togo.

"During the long, dry season in the south of Togo, in West Africa, a woman's day began at 1:00 a.m. with an eight-hour trek for water. Unbeknownst to her, the water so arduously collected was contaminated. This film shows the efforts of a group of villagers to get clean water by drilling a well nearby. If chronicles the success, of this project in which women played a key role. To the surprise of the village men, the women were capable of making decisions, handling money, and learning the mechanics of keeping the pump in working order. We share their joy as they celebrate when water pours forth. By taking responsibility, these women have transformed daily life, both for themselves and their families. They ar able to are for their children better and have more time to grow food. This vivid example of a development project that works is an excellent resource for exploring issues relating to women's roles in developing countries."
Notes: Directed by Garry Beitel. Camera by Marc Gadoury. Edited by Bernard Labelle and Garry Beitel.


WAITING TO EXHALE.
1995. 124 minutes.
Women's Picture. African-American Women. Romantic Melodrama. Popular American Fiction. Terry McMillan. African-American directors. Directed by Forrest Whitaker.

Whitney Houston, Angela Bassett, Lela Rochon, Loretta Devine are the stars in this well acted, episodic melodrama about four women whose friendship is a bond for each of them in times of crisis with their husbands and lovers. The film, presumably like the book it is based on, has much less of a male bashing sensibility than that alleged for Alice Walker's controversial The Color Purple. The film is about toughness, spirit and friendship and the fact that those are not male preserves. The ladies all perform well but Lela Rochon is especially delightful and funny.
Notes: Original music by Kenneth "Babyface" Edmonds including the title song [sung by Houston]. Screenplay by Ronald Bass and Terry McMillan is based on the very popular novel of the same name by Terry McMillan.


WANDERING IN MY SOUL.
1991. 28 minutes.
Documentary. Homelessness, Chapel Hill, N.C. Homeless. Chapel Hill Community Kitchen. Volunteerism.

A documentary (filmed in black and white photography) that focuses on the nature and affects of homelessness in Chapel Hill, N.C. the home of the University of North Carolina. Homeless people are interviewed who work in and visit the Chapel Hill community Kitchen Documentary. The film notes that nearly 10,000 meals were served when it opened in 1982. 1991 should see that figure increased to 70,000; guests served expected to be 18,980; 75% of guests are new to the program; 50% are from Orange County, N.C. and 50% have jobs.
Notes: A film by Callie Warner. Camera by Jeff Leighton, Cabot Dixon, and Tammy Thornton. Edited by Warner, Leighton and Mary Taylor. The song Wandering In My Soul and No Other Way are by Al Ross.


WARRIOR MARKS.
1993. 54 minutes.
Documentary. Female Circumcision. Genital Mutilation. Alice Walker. Directed by Pratibha Parmar.

Alice Walker discusses her awareness of and empathy with female circumcision by comparing it, in prose and in interviews with the filmmaker and victims of the act, with an injury or "mutilation" committed against her at age 8 when an older brother shot and destroyed one of her eyes with an air rifle. The relative disinterest expressed by her parents, relations and school mates, the ridicule she perceived, made her feel as unprotected and unwanted as she thinks the young girls in societies who practice the mutilation of a girl's sexual organs. Many women from different parts of Africa are interviewed including Awa Thiam [Senegal] of Commission for the Aboliton of Sexual Mutilation, Dr. Kouyate [Senegal], Mboutu Fall [Senegal], Mama Singhateh [Gambia]. Tracy Chapman appears in one segment with Walker during a sojourn to Senegal. Midwives who have conducted the act are interviewed as well as victims of the action. The film depicts the strong emotional concerns of the women of Africa who have faced mutilation.
Notes: Camera by Nancy Schiesari, Jeff Baynes, Harriet Cox, and Nic Knowland. Dancer is Richelle. Edited by Anna Liebschner. Executive Producers, Debra Hauer and Alice Walker. Narrated by Walker. Some of the text was taken from Walker's Like the Pupil of An Eye: Genital Mutilation and the Sexual Blinding of Women as well as extracts from Awa Thiam's Black Sisters Speak Out. Music includes the song Something Inside So Strong by Labi Siffre and Wale Gnouma Don by Sale Sidibe.


WE SHALL OVERCOME.
1989. 58. minutes. (V4012).
Documentary -- Civil Rights Movement -- Protest Songs. Directed by Jim Brown.

"We Shall Overcome traces the origins of a social movement through a single song. The film uncovers the diverse strands of social history which flowed together to form the Civil Rights movement. This stirring documentary takes us back to the days of slavery when the spiritual I Will Overcome helped blacks endure hardship and brutality. In a 1945 Charleston tobacco strike, workers adapted this song to become their rallying cry. Then, at Highlander Center in Tennessee, white folksingers Pete Seeger and Guy Carawan encountered the song, changed the lyrics to We Shall Overcome and taught it to the young activists of the Civil Rights movement. Andrew Young, Julian Bond, the SNCC Freedom Singers and other veterans of the Sixties reminisce about what this song meant to them over footage of the sit-ins, voter registration drives and protest marches they led. We watch folk singers Peter, Paul, and Mary introduce the song to audiences across the country and Joan Baez sing it at the historic 1963 March on Washington. Today, around the globe, peace, anti-nuclear, and environmental activists, even Bishop Tutu, are still inspired by "We Shall Overcome." Among those interviewed and performing are Pete Seeger, Bernie Regain, Joan Baez, Janie Hunter, Delphine Brown, Anna Lee Bonneau, Corrine Chisholm, Guy Carawan, The Freedom Singers, Taj Mahal, Moving Star Hall Singers, and Peter, Paul and Mary.
Notes: Produced by Brown, Ginger Brown, Harold Levanthal, and George Stoney.


WEND KUUNI.
1982. 70 minutes. In More with English subtitles. (V2846).
Africa. Folk Drama. Directed by Gaston Kabore.

The film opens with the scene of a despondent young wife and mother in an village in pre-colonial Africa denying to herself that her young warrior/hunter husband will not return. Rather than re-marry she runs away with the infant. Years later, a young boy is found half dead in a forest. A traveler takes him to the nearest village where a search is conducted for his home. The boy, apparently mute, seems to have no memory of his pass. Time moves on slowly in his new life, but happily. He remains silent until he comes across the body of a middle-aged man who has killed himself after a humiliating argument with one of his young wives. The shock brings back his voice. In flashback we see how he and his mother lived in poverty and shame in village after village. She, always hoping her husband would return. In one village she is seen as evil, so the villagers' persecution drives her away. In the forest she dies of despair and exhaustion. The boy, quite ill, survives only because of the kindness of his new family. This is a lovely, gracefully produced film. It is rich in style, and subtle both cinematically and narratively. Kabore's camera sense is fluid and clean. Sekou Ouedgraogo's photography is the work of an artist. Though the film glorifies the past, it is not didactic and strident. Kabore's message on bigotry and senseless fear have a context and place. Fine work. Some may find the pace slow, put the patient will be rewarded. It is not kinetic cinema, rather, it is muted and subtle. With: Serge Yanogo as Wendkouni, Rosine Yanogo as Pognere, Joseph Nikeima as Tinga, Colette Kabore as Iale, and Simone Tapsora Koudbila.
Notes: Screenplay by Kabore. Music by Rene Guirma. Photography by Sekou Ouedraogo. Music by Alain Garnier.


WHAT'S LOVE GOT TO DO WITH IT.
1993. 118 minutes.
Biographical Drama. Turner, Tina. Turner, Ike. Rock Music. Rhythm and Blues. Directed by Brian Gibson.

Angela Bassett is Tina Turner and Laurence Fishburne, Ike in this biographical film. Also with Vanessa Bell Calloway as Jackie. Jennifer Lewis as Zelma Bullock, Phyllis Yvonne Stickney as Alline Bullock, Khandi Alexander as Darlene, Rae'ven Kelly as Young Anna Mae (Tina), Virginia Capers as the choir mistress.
Notes: Original music by Stanley Clarke. Photography by Jamie Anderson. Screenplay by Kate Lanier from the book I Tina by Tina Turner and Kurt Loder. Choreography by Michael Peters. Songs include Tina's Wish, A Fool in Love, Proud Mary, I Don't Wanna Fight and What's Love Got To Do With It. Academy Award nominations for best actor (Fishburne) and best actress (Angela Bassett). Box-office gross: $39,100,956.


WHEN THE ANIMALS TALKED.
1975. 28 minutes.
Folktales. African-American Folktales.

"Reverend William Faulkner, now in his nineties, is an educator and folklorist who first heard many of his storeis from an ex-slave named Simon Brown in the early 1900's. Generally dismissed as entertainment for children, African-American folktales often served as a form of protest and were used to pass secret messages among black people during slavery."
Notes: Reverend Faulkner relates the role of folk tales and church spirituals as "underground" and subtle protest within the slave community. He recounts Simon Brown's remembrances of his bondage and Reconstruction. Written and produced by Carol Munday Lawrence. Directed by Christopher Lukas. Cinematography by Emiko Omori. Edited by Jennifer Chinlund. Animation by Todd Flinchbaugh. Music by Taj Mahal.


WHICH WAY IS UP?
1977. 94 minutes.
Comedy/Drama. Labor Unions. Farm Workers. Migrant Workers. Directed by Michael Schultz.

Richard Pryor plays three parts in this satire about farm workers and organizers in Southern California. Leroy Jones is a young farm worker married to a woman who doesn't particularly like sex, and a grandfather who is randy old rooster. He's easily intimidated by everybody but especially the forces of the big agricultural combines who want to break up the workers' union efforts. Pryor plays, the much put-upon Leroy Jones, his grandfather Rufus, and the Reverend Lenox Thomas, each a wildly improvised stereotype. The film, an American adaptation of Lina Wertmuller's The Seduction of Mimi, is ribald, scattershot satire saved only by Pryor's tremendous talent. With: Lonette McKee as Vanetta, Margaret Avery as Annie Mae, Morgan Woodward as Mr. Mann, Marilyn Coleman as Sister Sarah, Bebe Drake Hooks as Thelma, Gloria Edwards as Janelle, Ernesto Hernandez as Jose Reyss, DeWayne Jessie as Sugar, Morgan Roberts as Henry, Diane Rodriguez as Estrella, Dolph Sweet as The Boss, and as Danny Valdez as Chuy Valdez.
Notes: Screenplay by Carl Gottlieb and Cecil Brown and adapted from Lina Wertmuller's The Seduction of Mimi. Music by Paul Riser and Mark Davis. Words and music to the title song by Norman Whitfield and sung by Stargard.


WHITE MAN'S BURDEN.
1995. 89 minutes.
Social Drama. Race Relations. Role Reversals. Directed by Desmond Nakano.

In a world in which racial roles are reversed -- Blacks are the dominant political and economic power and Whites the disenchanted minority, John Travolta plays Pinnock, an honest, hard working blue collar worker who finds his life completely turned on end when the owner of the company he works for makes a minor complaint to the company manager after Pinnock has made a delivery to the owner's home. Pinnock loses his job. When he tries to contact the manufacturer to clarify the misunderstanding that started his problems [he's accused of being a peeping Tom] matters deteriorate quickly and a troubled situation becomes quite volatile. This film, a parable of racial role reversal, has some subtle and clever moments but it makes mostly obvious, well-worn, points about the nature of racism in America. The cleverest decision by the filmmakers was having John Travolta play the doomed, harassed Pinnock. Travolta does an excellent impersonation of a proud, hard-working family man caught in the insidious web of bigotry. Desmond Nakano keeps the narrative simple and direct, but it's Travolta's creation of Pinnock as a "minority" with a rhythm and pace that bespeaks an intelligent but under-educated man's refusal to yield to a wrong, regardless of where it ultimately and tragically leads him. With: Harry Belafonte as Thaddeus, Kelly Lynch as Marsha, Margaret Avery as Megan, Tom Bower as Stanley, Andrew Lawrence as Donnie, Bumper Robinson as Martin, Tom Wright as Lionel Sheryl Lee Ralph as Roberta, Judith Drake as Dorothy.
Notes: Screenplay by Desmond Nakano. Photography by Willy Kurant. Music by Howard Shore.


WHITE MAN'S COUNTRY see BLACK MAN'S LAND


WILD WOMEN DON'T HAVE THE BLUES.
1989. 58 minutes.
Documentary. Blues Singers, Women -- Women Studies, African-American Blues Singers -- Worksongs. Race Records. Directed by Christine Dall.

"The story of Ma Rainey, Ethel Waters, Bessie Smith, Alberta Hunter, Ida Cox, and other pioneering blues women from early in the century are brought to life in Wild Women Don't Have the Blues. We learn of their vision and their struggle, their pain and their humor, their unflagging spirit, and most of all, their legendary music. The film compiles for the first time dozens of rare, classic renditions of the early blues to commentary by 'Queen of the Blues,' Koko Taylor. Ma Rainey, 'Mother of the Blues,' first put the Worksongs of black field hands on stage in 1902. At the end of WWI, millions of African-Americans left the fields of the south to search for work in the factories of the North. The blues singes followed with their music - salty and melancholy, full of pain, humor and love. Audiences, black and white, rocked through the twenties to groundbreaking records like Bessie Smith's St. Louis Blues. Wild Women. . . recreates the gutsy stories of these pioneering women who left an indelible mark on the music and the heart of America."
Notes: Produced by Carole van Falkenburg and Christine Dall. Directed by Dall. Edited by Jeanne Jordan. Cinematography by Steven Ascher. Narrated by Vinie Burrows. Among those interviewed are Mamei Smith, Ida Cox, Chris Albertson, Sammy Price, Ida Goodson, blue Lu Barker, Lucille Hagermann, Alberta Hunter. Among those as subjects are also Ethel Waters, Bessie Brown, and Bessie Smith.


WITH THESE HANDS.
1987. 33 minutes. (V1720).
Documentary. African Women. Agricultural Work, Africa. Burkina Faso. Kenya. Zimbabwe. Subtitled: How women feed Africa.

A study of the roles of women in three African countries -- Kenya, Zimbabwe and Burkina Faso. Each woman tells in her won words of the struggle to feed her family. Together the stories give an account of Africa's relentless slide into perpetual famine.
Notes: Produced and directed by Chris Sheppard and Calud Sauvageot.


WITHIN OUR GATES.
1919. 79 minutes.
Silent. Melodrama. African-American Cinema. Oscar Micheaux. African-Americans, 1900-1920. Melodrama. Lynching. Directed by Oscar Micheaux.

Of pioneer black filmmaker Oscar Micheaux's few surviving films, two of his silent efforts Body and Soul with Paul Robeson, and this film, Within Our Gates, are his most impressive. In the silent medium, Micheaux's strong preachments about racial pride and emphasis on color consciousness - minus the disjointed and stilted dialogue in his sound pictures -- are more effective. In this picture, Evelyn Preer is Sylvia Landry, a young black woman educated in the north who has been convinced that she can achieve more for her people by returning to teach at a southern school. She finds herself caught in a web of racism and terror when the plantation owner near her school becomes infatuated with her not aware, that the light-skinned Sylvia is really his daughter by a former housekeeper. This stark tale has some riveting moments, some, in fact that seemed clearly aimed at disputing the images presented of race relations and black attitudes in Griffith's monumental The Birth of a Nation. There is a shocking scene at the film's climax, where an entire black family is lynched after the murder of the landowner. The scenes of the landowner attempts at seducing the heroine are filled with the same emotional charge as similar scenes and situations in Griffith's film. Overall, this film is a remarkable, fascinating companion piece to Birth of a Nation. With: Charles D. Lucas as Dr. Vivian, Jack Chenault as Larry Prichard, William Stark as Jasper Landry, Matty Edwards as Mrs. Landry, Flo Clemes as Alma Prichard, Ralph Johnson as Philip Gridlestone, Grant Gorman as Armand Gridlestone, E.G. Tatum as Efrem, James D. Ruffin as Conrad Drebert, William Smith as Philip Gentry, Mrs. Evelyn as Elena Warwick, Grant Edwards ad Emil Landry, and Oscar Micheaux (cameo as a hood).
Notes: Produced and written by Micheaux.


THE WIZ.
1978. 133 minutes. (V527).
Musical Comedy. All Black Casts. The Wizard of Oz. Directed by Sidney Lumet.

The Oz story with an all black cast and a rocking musical score. With Diana Ross (as Dorothy ?), Lena Horne (as the good witch), Ted Ross ( as the Lion), Nipsey Russell (as the Tin Man), Michael Jackson (as the Scarecrow), and Mabel King (as the evil Lucinda). The Wizard is played by Richard Pryor. The best moments in the film -- Jackson's charming rubbery legged dancing to Ease On Down The Road and the rousing singing and dance of Mabel King and dozens of dancers -- Don't Nobody Bring Me No Bad News. Notes: Produced by Berry Gordy. Box office gross. $12,264,263.


THE WOMEN OF BREWSTER PLACE.
1989. 180 minutes. (V2435).
African-American Women. Popular American Fiction. Black Women Authors. Directed by Donna Deitch.

Mattie Michael is a proud black woman who over the years has experienced disappointment and failure from those she loved. When her son skips bail after the home she worked years to obtain is used as security on his bond, she moves to a tenement known as Brewster Place. Oprah Winfrey, plays Mattie in this socially conscious soap opera. Based on a novel by Gloria Naylor, the story of the uncertain lives of women left by their men or without their support drew fire similar to that for The Color Purple because of its characterization of the black men in the women's' lives. Though hardly meant to be a universal depiction it does fall into the trap of showing one-dimensional males. The cast includes Cicely Tyson, Robin Givens, Paula Kelly, Jackee, Paul Winfield, and Moses Gunn.
Notes: Winfrey was the driving force behind this made for television film getting made. It was shot in her studio and she was executive producer. She is also producing a television series for ABC to be based on the film as well.


A WORLD APART.
1988. 114 minutes.
Apartheid Drama. South Africa, Politics and Government. Social Drama. Directed by Chris Menges.

Barbara Hershey plays a white journalist in 1960s South Africa, whose sympathies with the black South African struggle causes serious emotional and psychological difficulties for her and her family. When she defies the apartheid forces of the government for her participation in freedom movement activities and publication she becomes the first white woman arrested on the 90-day Detention Act. Hershey gives a riveting, controlled performance as a woman of principle, a woman who bucks tremendous odds and greater hostility from friends and some of her family. Menges, a fantastic cinematographer by trade, makes an excellent feature debut. The support cast with: David Suchet, Jeroen Krabbe, Paul Freeman, Tim Roth, and Jodhi May all perform admirably.
Notes: Written by Shawn Slovo.


WOZA ALBERT.
1978. 55 minutes.
South African Theater. Literature, South African. Politics and Government. South Africa. Directed by Barney Simon.

Percy Mtwa, Mbongeni Ngema. The premise of this work is "what if Christ came back today as a black South African?" Mtwa and Ngema wrote and performed scenes from the play for this program. It is a look at the social and political conflicts and complexities at-large in South Africa.
Notes: Photography by John Goodyear. Edited by Richard Brunskill. Produced by David M. Thompson.


WYLIE AVENUE DAYS.
1991. 60 minutes.
Documentary. African-Americans in Pittsburgh, Pa. Hill District, Pittsburgh.

"The heyday of Pittsburgh's Hill District lasted from the 1930's through the 1950's, and this eloquent documentary recaptures it all the music clubs that attracted both black and white, the best Negro baseball teams in America, the church picnics and family businesses that comprised the essence of life in this vibrant neighborhood."
Notes: Produced by Doug Bolin and Christopher Moore. Executive Producer, Nancy Lavin. Among those interviewed: August Wilson, Albert Johnson, Mike Flournoy, Estelle Blanks, Prof. Rollo Turner, Douglas King. Narrated by Christopher Moore. Videographer & Editor J. Michael Schafer.