The Civil Rights Achievements Of The Famous African American Actor, Canada Lee

This paper reflects Dorothy Dandridge the first African American actress to achieve a leading-role status. Mrs. Dandridge also had a deeply troubled life, marked by the scars of a miserable childhood, a string of failed personal relationships, numerous career setbacks, and ongoing struggles with drug and alcohol abuse. Racism was also one of the demons with which she had to deal with.

When thinking about black actresses in the 1930s through 1950s, a few names may come to mind like Nina McKinney, Lena Horne, Dorothy Dandridge, and Hattie McDaniel. However, many other black actresses have graced the big screen including Suzette Harbin, Theresa Hams, Ethel Moses, Mae Turner, and Hilda Simms just to name a few. Many of these talented actresses differ in their career paths, but they all endured some form of racism and sexism which made it laborious for them to thrive in their careers. By the Way, Meet Vera Stark represents the hardships of black actresses during the 1930s through 1950s. The protagonist, Vera Stark, persistently tries to prove to the people around her that she has star quality for show business. However, she does not reach her potential because of her race. Although she obtains some gigs, the gigs demean black women during that time. The offensive parts for black actresses vary from mammy to slave woman to seductress. The following roles offered black actresses’ opportunities to one day acquire star making roles. Unfortunately, those roles did not apply to black actresses. Only white actors and actresses experienced that fortuity. By the Way, Meet Vera Stark exposes Hollywood’s misconduct of black actresses and further explains the lack of black representation today. Indeed, roles for black actresses have increased since the 1930s through 1950s; however the roles have become more stereotypical like the obnoxious black woman, the token black

During the White Hollywood Cinema era, the Black African-American actors played the role of black stereotypes, and they also performed small parts in those films. D.W Griffith produced a racist film that had black stereotypes in it; the name of the film is Birth of a Nation. However, Oscar Micheaux made a film that responded back to D.W Griffith’s movie, which was Within Our Gates. He paved the way for other black African-Americans, which empowered them to speak out through their own films and movies. Spike Lee was influenced by Oscar Micheaux. He wanted to give the black community a voice just like Oscar Micheaux. Spike Lee turned himself into a revolutionary by the way he produced and directs his films. He is so fearless and always pushing

The film focuses on African American historical events, with special concentration on the civil rights era. With the White House segments of the film starting in the oppressive Eisenhower years, it offers a presidential level insight into the historic freedom movements of the 1960’s, all the way through until the day that Barack Obama is elected president in 2008. I am going to argue that Daniels’ representation of history and race are much more than a ‘parody of historical drama’, as he defies the ‘conventional’ stereotypes of Hollywood (Martin 2013) through the focus on individual character depictions and rejection of generalisations seen previously in African American films.

Despite the mistakes his father and brother made, Lee managed to grow learning the ways of a true Southern gentleman. The departure of his father and two older half-brothers made Lee the man of the house at an early age. His mother, Ann Carter, raised Lee in modest circumstances and helped him to learn standard of conduct. Lee grew up in modest conditions, and though he received the normal education for someone of his class, he had to earn his own living and didn’t live the easy-going plantation life that most members of his family did. Since his mother did not have sufficient cash to send Lee to go to college, he chose instead to enter West Point military and academy. He entered in 1825 at the age of 18. At West Point Lee excelled tremendously. He finished second in his class and didn’t receive one demerit during his four years there (A feat that has yet to be repeated since then). Lee entered Engineer Corps after graduation where he was employed to build and maintain military installations and assist the Federal Government in the enormous work of providing internal improvements in order to settle border disputes on the frontier lands.

The history of African Americans in early Hollywood films originated with blacks representing preconceived stereotypes. D.W. Griffith’s 1915 film, Birth of a Nation, stirred many controversial issues within the black community. The fact that Griffith used white actors in blackface to portray black people showed how little he knew about African Americans. Bosley Crowther’s article “The Birth of Birth of a Nation” emphasizes that the film was a “highly pro-South drama of the American Civil War and the Period of Reconstruction, and it glorified the role of the Ku Klux Klan” (76). While viewing this film, one would assert that the Ku Klux Klan members are heroic forces that rescue white women from sexually abusive black men. Griffith

Stephen Vaughn, author of “Ronald Reagan and the Struggle for Black Dignity in Cinema, 1937-1953,” wrote an informative article about Ronald Reagan as an actor during an important period in time. In this article, written for The Journal of African American History, Vaughn gives a detailed illustration of Ronald Reagan’s involvement in overcoming racial discrimination in the film industry. The author starts with giving background information on the state of racial issues in America in the 1940s. Continuing into the article, Vaughn mentions all of Reagan’s evolvement with organizations against racial discrimination, particularly in the film industry. Throughout the article, it is clear that Vaughn believes that Reagan was very respectable and greatly contrasted mainstream Hollywood due to his upbringing. According to the author, despite Reagan’s good intentions, his effectiveness in executing his intentions in relation to racial discrimination is questionable due to Reagan’s obvious priority of anticommunism over anti-racial discrimination.

Civil rights was an important American issue through the late 40s through the 60s. During this time period Baseball was “America’s Pastime, “and a major social get together for white Americans. However in 1947 both of these event were combined when the Brooklyn Dodgers gave Jackie Robinson a chance to play professional baseball. Jackie Robinson is the target of my biography. Robinson not only was the first African American baseball player, but he also had a hall of fame career, and eventually had his number retired by all of Major League Baseball. It is important to know about him because he helped accelerate the civil rights movement in America. Although his entrance was brutal with the abuse he received and the obscenities that were yelled at him. He helped the transition to not only make African Americans accepted in professional sports, but also to help the acceptance of African Americans in the civil rights movement.

August Wilson was one of the most accomplished African-American playwrights of this century and was one of only seven to win the Pulitzer Prize. He dedicated his entire career to documenting the 20th century struggles of African-Americans in a cycle of ten plays. He completed the cycle shortly before he died on October 2, 2005. His plays were themed around The Middle Passage, The Underground Railroad, The Emancipation Proclamation, Reconstruction and Jim Crow, The Northern Migration, Pittsburgh’s Hill District, Oppression , Civil Rights Movement and Black Nationalism, Developing Personal “Songs” and Cultural Mythologies, Sports Discrimination, and City Politics Wilson’s main goal in life was to make sure a realistic view of how the African-Americans was put on stage for everyone to see the struggles of African-American. He bridged the gap in tradition, modified tradition when experience demanded it, and he translated experience into meaning and meaning into belief. He deserves a lot of praise, but did he also backtrack on his original thoughts? In this paper, I will give a short biography of him, discuss his plays, and discuss how his plays and his paper/film The Ground on Which I Stand contradicts each other.

The United States has long been a country that has accepted that change is a necessity for prosperity and growth. However, each change within the nation's history was hard fought against those who resisted such change either through racism, bigotry, and blatant discrimination. African American cinema is enshrouded in history that depicts these themes of racism, struggle, and deprivation. Yet, this same cinema also shows scenes of hope, artistic spirit, intellectual greatness, and joy. Black actresses, actors, directors, producers, and writers have been fighting for recognition and respect since the great Paul Robeson. The civil rights movement of the 1950's and 60's was fueled by black cinema through films like A Raisin in the Sun.

Over the course of approximately one-hundred years there has been a discernible metamorphosis within the realm of African-American cinema. African-Americans have overcome the heavy weight of oppression in forms such as of politics, citizenship and most importantly equal human rights. One of the most evident forms that were withheld from African-Americans came in the structure of the performing arts; specifically film. The common population did not allow blacks to drink from the same water fountain let alone share the same television waves or stage. But over time the strength of the expectant black actors and actresses overwhelmed the majority force to stop blacks from appearing on film. For the longest time the performing arts were

African Americans were fighting for freedom for centuries. They were treated very badly and they had supposedly going to have a better way of life after WWII. Keep reading to find out how African Americans struggled for equality in voting and the opportunity for a good quality education.

Wilson stated that ''The truth is that often where there are esthetic criteria of excellence, there are also sociological criteria that have traditionally excluded blacks.'' He then continued on to say ''... raise the standards and remove the sociological consideration of race as privilege, and we will meet you at the crossroads, in equal numbers, prepared to do the work of extending and developing the common ground of the American theater.'' Through these powerful words Wilson is saying that in order to reflect American culture in the theater, the history of African American’s must be reflected. There have always been systems in place that have excluded African Americans and white Americans will never understand the way that sense of oppression felt. White Americans will never understand how it feels to be enslaved, be powerless in protecting your family, and being sold off as property, as Eliza Harris from Uncle Tom’s Cabin, and millions of other slaves felt. Photographing the “American Negro” by Shawn Michelle Smith presented the idea that white Americans have tried to take away the histories of other races in America. People have always turned against embracing the histories of the African Americans because they were seen as alien to their owners. Their different skin tone separated them from the white Americans who thought of them as uncivilized before they were brought to work for them. Ultimately Wilson calls for Black Theaters to prevent the culture of the

Over the past decade, important and relevant movies has been made about the historical and cultural touchstones after world war 2. For instance: Americas history, the Vietnam war, John F. Kennedy, the women’s liberation and fight for equality. But there has been one glaring historical event, both in terms of importance of your culture and society. That is The Civil Rights movement – possibly the most influential social and political event in the 20th century, both in America and in the rest of the world. Until 2013 these paramount events had not been adapted for the screen. The movie “The Butler” - which I will write my essay about – gives an insight of the events that would later on change the world. Not only does the text interpret the events of The Civil Rights Movement, it also shows the labyrinth of getting a

Perfectionism is not about achievement and growth. Perfectionism is the belief that if we live perfectly, look perfectly and act perfectly, we can avoid the pain of blame, judgment and shame.