Black Cinema Part I — Race Movies – The Silent Era

POSTED BY ERIC BRIGHTWELL, JANUARY 31, 2010 10:11AM | POST A COMMENT

This is the first installment in a three part history of early Black Cinema. To read Part II, covering the Hollywood Studio years of the 1930s and ’40s, click here To read Part III, covering the TV Age of the 1950s and ’60s, click here The Lincoln Motion Picture Company

 

In most American silent films, minorities were generally played by white actors in make-up. When actual minorities were cast, roles were generally limited. Latinos in silent films usually played greasers and bandits; Asian-Americans played waiters, tongs and laundrymen; and blacks usually played bellboys, stable hands, maids or simple buffoons. Early film depictions of black characters were highly offensive, including those in the films Nigger in the Woodpile, Rastus, Sambo and The Wooing and Wedding of a Coon. Not surprisingly, both Asian-Americans and blacks responded by launching their own alternative cinemas. But whilst Asian-American Silent Cinema quickly faltered, black cinema (blessed with a much larger audience) flourished and soon many so-called race movies were being made by both black and white filmmakers for black filmgoers.

see full article here