James Baldwin Video
James Baldwin was an American and activist born in 1924 and educated in Harlem. Unhappy with segregation and the overall treatment of African Americans, Baldwin moved to Paris France at the age of 24.
His work includes Go Tell It On The Mountain, The Amen Corner, If Beale Street Could Talks and many more.
This Week is about movies. We will take a quick glance at what some amazing African American actors have done. Today meet Dorothy Dandridge.
Dorothy Dandridge was an entertainer and actress that starred on stage and screen in the late 1940s and 1950s. She performed at the Cotton Club at the age of 16 with her sisters as a trio. She starred in a series of low budget films in the early 1940s like Drums in the Congo and The Hit Parade of 1943.
Carmen Jones, a film based off the opera Carmen, made her a star and earned her an Oscar nomination for Best Actress. It was the first time an African American had been nominated for a leading actor role. She was also one of the first actresses to play roles where there were interracial relationships.
She struggled for good acting parts, even going to Europe in hopes of landing better roles. She did not find much.
Her last important movie was Porgy and Bess (1959) with Sidney Poitier, Pearl Bailey and Sammy Davis, Jr. By this time, Dandridge had perfected the role of playing the bad black woman who refused to go right.
In 1965, Dandridge died of an overdose of anti depression pills.
This information is from Donald Bogle’s Toms, Coons, Mulattoes, Mammies and Bucks.
Sir Sidney Poitier is a Bahamian American citizen, actor and director. He is the first person of color to win an Academy Award in the Best Actor category. Which is your favorite Sidney Poitier film?
For decades movies with African American casts were hard to come by. Occasionally Hollywood would throw us a bone with movies like Cabin in the Sky or Carmen Jones. In the late 60s and early 70s the exploitation film became a thing.
Bert Williams was one of the best comedians that had ever lived. In 1902, Williams worked with a partner, George Walker to create an all African American production titled, In Dahomey, with music by Will Marion Cook and lyrics by Paul Lawrence Dunbar. It was the first All African American production to be done in a Broadway theater. The production traveled to London and did a command performance for Buckingham Palace in 1903.
They also signed a limited contract to record some of the songs from the musical. George Walker died in 1911.
Despite segregation, Williams went on to worked for Ziegfeld Follies with talent like Fannie Brice and Leon Errol in 1910 making an annual salary of 62,000 a year.
He was the type of performer who never quit. He performed with pneumonia one evening and passed out. The audience laughed because they thought it was part of the act. He died March 4, 1922. He was 47 years old.
Tomorrow starts Black History Month. Join me on the journey and a learn a few new things you might not have known. Lets enjoy being African American. We aren’t perfect, but we sure are fun. Also lets honor the history of African Americans which has been misreported and ignored.
Join me in February as I uplift the race on this site, UPP Creative and Black Gyrl Art on Facebook, and @blackgyrlart on Instagram.
UPP Creative Media 