Book ID: CBB195877199

Cinema Civil Rights: Regulation, Repression, and Race in the Classical Hollywood Era (2014)

unapi

From Al Jolson in blackface to Song of the South, there is a long history of racism in Hollywood film. Yet as early as the 1930s, movie studios carefully vetted their releases, removing racially offensive language like the 'N-word.' This censorship did not stem from purely humanitarian concerns, but rather from worries about boycotts from civil rights groups and loss of revenue from African American filmgoers. Cinema Civil Rights presents the untold history of how Black audiences, activists, and lobbyists influenced the representation of race in Hollywood in the decades before the 1960s civil rights era. Employing a nuanced analysis of power, Ellen C. Scott reveals how these representations were shaped by a complex set of negotiations between various individuals and organizations. Rather than simply recounting the perspective of film studios, she calls our attention to a variety of other influential institutions, from protest groups to state censorship boards. Scott demonstrates not only how civil rights debates helped shaped the movies, but also how the movies themselves provided a vital public forum for addressing taboo subjects like interracial sexuality, segregation, and lynching.

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Reviewed By

Review Cara Caddoo (2016) Review of "Cinema Civil Rights: Regulation, Repression, and Race in the Classical Hollywood Era". Journal of American History (pp. 248-249). unapi

Citation URI
https://data.isiscb.org/isis/citation/CBB195877199/

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Authors & Contributors
Candacy A. Taylor
Berney, Barbara
Allyson Nadia Field
Blair Murphy Kelley
Elizabeth Stordeur Pryor
Meta G. Carstarphen
Concepts
African Americans
African Americans and science
Civil rights
Technology and race
Segregation
Popular culture
Time Periods
20th century
19th century
21st century
20th century, late
20th century, early
Places
United States
Richmond, Virginia
Southern states (U.S.)
Georgia (U.S.)
Central America
North America
Institutions
American Red Cross
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