Evolution of African Americans in Film

Evolution of African Americans in Film
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Abstract
Since Hattie McDaniel played Mammy, African Americans roles in films have stirred much controversy. Through most of the 20th century, African-American roles in films were limited to servants. Their roles were meant to communicate three themes; segregation, thug life or a tale of rags to riches. Even in the current film industry, African-American roles fall under similar typecast themes. Hollywood always has and will still have a direct influence on cinema globally. African American first presented in Hollywood in 1949. However, they were limited to The Tom, the coon, the mulatto, the mammy, and the buck. The presence of African American actors and films directors have gone a series of evolutions from acting as stereotypical maid roles to presenting speeches at the academy awards. Hollywood had been avoiding African-American actors/actress due to racial discrimination in the 19th and early 20th centuries. This essay will, therefore, emphasize the evolution of African Americans in Film from the early 1900s to date.
Keywords: Mulatto, Mammy, Buck, Racism, Hollywood.
Evolution of African Americans in Film
In 1903, the first black actor to ever appear on the screen starred in Uncle Tom’s Cabin. During this period, African American was limited to playing The Tom, the coon, the mulatto and the mammy and the buck. After that, Bill Foster became the first African American who enhanced the production of movies in African American Cinema.

One of the famous Bill’s films was a comedy named The Railroad Porter in 1912 (Field, 2015). However, after the Second World War, African American filmmakers started to gain impact in films. This essay will provide an in-depth understanding of the evolution of African Americans in Film.
Most of the films were addressing the social tension such as ‘Am I Guilty’ by Ralph Cooper’s in 1940. In the 1950s, black actors started becoming household names like Harry Belafonte and Sidney Poiter. The films displayed how African Americans were feeling after many years of inequality and racism. Some of the famous films that were produced included “Cool Breeze,” “Blacula” and “Shaft.” (Wills, 2018). The films acted between the 60s and 80s were not as demeaning and racist as compared to those acted from early 1900. For example, “Birth of a Nation” was a film that depicted US history since the 1860s and portrayed African Americans as dangerous, morally degenerated, lazy and brutish.
Ku Klux Klan was a champion who rose to save south from the Era-prominence Reconstruction of African Americans in Southern civic life. According to Gavins (2017), Hollywood was different from that of today. Back then, Hollywood was tarnished for generating films of various types that endorsed homophobic attitudes, sexist, classist and racism to diverse sectional groups. The character of African American was limited to butlers, mammies or loyal helps to strengthen the social status of blacks who were acted as servants by devoting their efforts to their masters.
In conclusion, African Americans have evolved an extensive way from being limited to disparaging conventional roles on screens. Much progress with African American is seen in the leading roles, breaking boundaries and stereotypes. Despite the debate over the race changes over the past few decades, black actors have moved past these stereotypes. Many African American has won great awards and made important aids in altering racial boldness and use of casts in cinema.

References
Field, A. N. (2015). Uplift Cinema: The Emergence of African American Film and the Possibility of Black Modernity. Duke University Press.
Gavins, R. (2016). The Cambridge Guide to African American History. Cambridge University Press.
Wills, M. (2018). African Americans. Education.