Public Domain Resources

On Thursday, February 29th the Library will be hosting a Black Heritage Film Screening in front of the library fireplace from 2-6pm.

The film screening will feature a curated selection of "race films" -- a Black-oriented film genre produced by independent film makers between the early 1900s and the early 1950s.

For context, over 150 independent film companies "endeavored to make, distribute, and exhibit race movies... crossing all manner of genres and that, oriented to and shown largely in segregated movie theatres, featured all-black casts. ...[An] implicit challenge to black disenfranchisement, such movies engaged with the spectrum of African American life and experience... comprised a range of visual and narrative styles, artisanal modes of production, and a fluid division of labor, these early productions bore traces of what would later become an African American cinematic tradition." (Michael T. Martin quoted in Richard E. Norman and Race Filmmaking, 2008).

Films showcased will include:

• From The Library of Black History: Black Hollywood, 1989. This eVideo from Films on Demand discusses the history of films with all-black casts. Meant to be an informational video about the history of early black representation in cinema, it does briefly discuss sensitive topics related to racism. Viewer discretion is advised. 28 minutes. *Note: this film is NOT in the public domain, but we have licensing to show it on campus. It is meant to provide context for the public domain films screened.
• The Flying Ace, 1926. The silent film was directed and produced by Richard E. Norman, a white director, who produced race films with all black casts through his company, Norman Studios in Florida. Collected and restored by the Library of Congress for its cultural significance, this film is an airplane thriller about a WWI hero, named "The Flying Ace," who returns to his hometown and previous career as a detective in the railroad business. Will he be able to catch the thief and win over the local beauty, or will the thief get away with it all? 65 minutes.
• Lying Lips, 1939. This film was written and directed by the influential black film director and independent film producer, Oscar Micheaux, and stars: Edna Mae Harris, Carman Newsome, and Robert Earl Jones. In this film, a young night club singer, who refuses her white bosses' request for her to date the customers, is set up by greedy and jealous relatives to take the fall for a murder. Can the truth be discovered in time to set her free? 67 minutes.
• Of One Blood, 1944. Directed by Spencer Williams, a pioneering black film director, producer, and actor, this film follows three boys whose lives take a drastic turn when catastrophe strikes, causing them to take separate paths as an educated lawyer, a policeman, and a bootlegging gang leader. A crime film with moral undertones, the film is meant to highlight social issues of the time. 60 minutes.
• Beware, 1946. The film was directed by Bud Pollard and stars Louis Jordan, an American musician known as "the King of the Jukebox," and an all black supporting cast. This musical romance features Louis Jordan's jazz band against the backdrop of a small Black College, which is struggling to remain open due to the immoral actions of its CEO, the grandson of the original founder. A former student of the college and now famous swing band leader, Louis Jordan, agrees to help save the college and in the process tries to win over his college sweetheart, who is now one of the teachers there. 53 minutes.