FINAL TASK: THE REPRESENTATION OF AFRICAN AMERICANS ON SCREEN

« FINAL TASK: THE REPRESENTATION OF AFRICAN AMERICANS ON SCREEN Hello everybody! Welcome to the new exhibition of the Academy Award Museum of Motion Pictures, about African-Americans contribution to cinema! As you know, African-American have been for a long time unfairly disadvantaged in comparison to white people.

They were considered inferior, violent, stupid, obsessed with interracial marriage, so as enemies of America.

In consequence, they couldn’t access a lot of occupations. Sadly, these differences between black and white people were very pronounced in Hollywood, and overall, in the cinematic world.

For years, white actors in black faces were preferred to black actors for main roles.

It was a problem because people of color only acted secondary ones or slaves.

They were subjected to racism, some filmmakers refused to choose one of them in their movies, so black actors were underrepresented.

Since 1929, 3000 Academy Awards have been awarded, but less than 30 to people of color.

Just as well, some of them triumph. Dorothy Dandridge, who has always refused to play a slave, was the first black actress to be nominated for an Academy Award, and in 1940 Hattie Mc Daniel became the first African American actress to win an Academy Award.

Nevertheless, racism stilled be present on the movies, for example on the Griffith’s one, named “Birth of a Nation”.

This racist film depicts black people as a threat, and the Ku Klux Klan as heroes come to save America, what helped.... »