Footsteps articles from November 2004

Footsteps archives from November 2004

'Race' movies.
November 1, 2004... Everyone enjoys the magic of Hollywood movies. Yet African Americans have had a love-hate relationship with the film industry. From film's start, there has been a continuous struggle with moviemakers about the negative ways films portray...

'R' 'A' 'C' 'E' movies.(Brief Article)
November 1, 2004... Find the answers to the puzzle below, all of which can be found in the article "Race Movies." The only letters we've filled in for you are the letters that Lappear in the word "R-A-C-E." 1. A R-C-- -E-A-------- existed between African...

Within our gates.
November 1, 2004... It was the "Red Summer" of 1919. Bloody race riots were erupting throughout the country pitting black against white. A railroad porter turned filmmaker decided to expose this hatred and violence. Little did he know that he was also opening a...

Oscar Micheaux.(Biography)
November 1, 2004... Born in southern Illinois in 1884, the son of a former slave, Oscar Micheaux helped pioneer one of the 20th century's new art forms--the cinema. Only a handful of his many "race movies," including Within Our Gates (1920), can still be seen...

Take one! LeRoy Collins.(Interview)(Biography)
November 1, 2004... LeRoy Collins was the lead actor in The Betrayal, Oscar Micheaux's last film. It premiered at the Mansfield Theatre on Broadway in New York City in 1948. The script was adapted from Micheaux's book The Wind From Nowhere. How did you meet...

Honoring a 'star'.(Oscar Micheaux Film Festival)(Brief Article)
November 1, 2004... What does South Dakota have to do with celebrated author and filmmaker Oscar Micheaux? A lot! Micheaux's 7 novels and 12 surviving films (he made 44 films) were inspired by experiences in his "beloved Rosebud" country in South Dakota. The year...

From stage to screen.
November 1, 2004... A man gives a signal to start, and a horse and rider go galloping down a track. They race past a row of cameras set up along the side. Attached to the shutter of each camera is a string stretching across the horse's path. As the horse races...

Make a flip-card movie.(Brief Article)
November 1, 2004... You need: * photocopier * scissors * nontoxic activity glue * 33 3- by 5-inch note cards * pencil or pen Directions: 1. Use a photocopier to enlarge Eadweard Muybridge's galloping horse photographs below so that...

The learning tree.(Movie Review)
November 1, 2004... Newt Winger walks through a vast cornfield along a serene lake. Suddenly, a tornado sweeps across the western plain. As it moves away, a majestic sunset fills the sky behind silhouetted people on horseback. This beautiful scene from the...

American Gordon.(Biography)
November 1, 2004... The youngest of 15 children, Gordon Roger Alexander Buchanan Parks was born on November 30, 1912, in the small Kansas prairie town of Fort Scott. After the death of his mother, Parks was forced to move in with his sister and brother-in-law in...

'Behind the scenes'.(The people involved in movie production)
November 1, 2004... Have you ever watched film credits roll up the screen and wondered why it took so many people to make a movie? Here's a who's who of people "behind the scenes" of Hollywood: The PRODUCER is the head decision maker in the filmmaking process....

A change in attitude.(The influence of Melvin Van Peebles)(Biography)
November 1, 2004... Today, we have come to expect a full range of images of African Americans on the big screen: heroes and villains, lawyers and doctors, sports stars and soldiers, taxi drivers and housekeepers. We also expect to see African Americans in leading...

In their own words.(African american documentaries)(Brief Article)
November 1, 2004... Not all movies are fiction. Some films show true stories about real people and events. These movies are called documentaries. The first documentary produced by an African American was the brainchild of Booker T. Washington, the early...

Blaxploitation.(Discussion of movies that exploited blacks)
November 1, 2004... The term "blaxploitation" unites the words "black" and "exploitation." It was coined by the Hollywood trade magazine Variety to describe a type of film popular in the 1970s. As the term implies something negative, it is not surprising that...

The making of Malcolm X: "Action".
November 1, 2004... The camera zooms in on Denzel Washington, the lead actor in Spike Lee's 1992 film Malcolm X. In this scene, Malcolm is waiting backstage at the Audubon Ballroom in Harlem. It is February 21, 1965. A large crowd, including three men with guns,...

Write your own screenplay.
November 1, 2004... Before Will Smith battled a single alien as Agent Jay in Columbia Pictures' Men in Black, a writer imagined what Smith would do and say during every second of the film. The resulting screenplay, excerpt at right, was the first step in making...

Stars on and off the screen.(Biography)
November 1, 2004... AS more African Americans become major stars and players in the movie industry, many of the most famous use their celebrity and money to support issues and causes that help others. Ossie Davis and Ruby Dee are legends in the acting community....

An Oscar for Whoopi: and the legacy of Hattie McDaniel.(Biography)
November 1, 2004... Caryn Elaine Johnson was born in New York City on ovember 13, 1955. From an early age, she knew that she wanted to be a performer. Her family encouraged her dreams, especially her mother, who told her that if she worked hard she could be...

Roxbury film festival.(At The Festival)(African American films)
November 1, 2004... Every year filmmakers from around the world showcase their films to the public at special festivals. These events attract many independent filmmakers, whose movies are not typically selected by large Hollywood distribution companies. Their...

Voice of dreams: James Earl Jones.(Interview)(Biography)
November 1, 2004... James Earl Jones is one of the world's leading actors. He has starred in many films and television movies, including Roots (1979), Field of Dreams (1989), and Cry the Beloved Country (1995). His voice is especially recognizable as he spoke the...

Meet a star! An interview with Halle Berry.(Interview)(Biography)
November 1, 2004... How did you get into acting? I always thought I would go to college. I loved English and thought I would major in English and be a writer or journalist. I started on a different path when I entered a few beauty pageants, and as a result of...

Spike Lee and the African American Filmmakers: a Choice of Colors.(Books)(Brief Article)(Book Review)
November 1, 2004... Spike Lee and the African American Filmmakers: A Choice of Colors by K. Maurice Jones (Millbrook Press, 1996, www.millbrookpress.com) focuses on Lee's contributions to film, but includes material on other filmmakers, as well as a chronology of...

Black Americans of Achievement: "The Game".(Games)(Brief Article)
November 1, 2004... Black Americans of Achievement: "The Game" (ML Baseth, 1993, 1-888-834-4518, www.blackgame.com) is a great, entertaining, and educational board game. The questions are true/ false or multiple choice. The answers are designed to teach the names...

On the net.(www.indiana.edu/~bfca/)(www.lib.berkeley.edu/MRC/AfricanAmBib.btml)(www.lib.berkeley.edu/MRC/imagesafam. html)(Brief Article)
November 1, 2004... For an excellent site with many links to film stills and primary sources related to filmmaking and African Americans, go to: www.indiana.edu/~bfca/ For two sites that provide great bibliography descriptions of African Americans in the...

Let's find out.(African Americans in the film industry)(Brief Article)(Biography)
November 1, 2004... Spike Lee's film company is called Forty Acres and a Mule Filmworks. The name refers to a clause in the Freedmen's Bureau Act of 1865 that promised newly freed slaves the land and resources to build new lives. The promise was never kept. ...

African Americans in the news--past and present.(In The Know)(Brief Article)(Biography)
November 1, 2004... In 1910, William Foster founded the Foster Photoplay Company in Chicago. A press agent and promoter for black vaudeville acts, he also worked as a sportswriter and circulation manager for the Chicago Defender, a black newspaper. Foster was the...