A midnight ramble was a segregation-era midnight showing of films for an African American audience, often in a cinema where, under Jim Crow laws they would never have been admitted at other times.[1][2] The films shown were often from among the over 500 films that were made between 1910 and 1950 in the United States with black producers, writers, actors and directors.[3] Film archivist Pearl Bowser said these films "were important to Black audiences because it provided them with images of themselves that they didn't see in the regular cinema".[4]

Oscar Micheauxs films were popular, and they starred all Black casts and were produced by Black filmmakers.[5] He was the first director to make feature length films, many of which explored subjects that were considered "taboo" at the time, like; alcoholism, crime, class conflict, interracial relationships, racism and lynchings.[4]

See also

Notes

  1. ↑ Bowser, Pearl; Cram, Bestor (dirs.) (1994). Midnight Ramble: The Story of the Black Film Industry (DVD). American Experience. PBS.
  2. ↑ "Film Notes for "Midnight Rambles". Cincinnati World Cinema. 2007.
  3. ↑ Thomas, Pamela (2011). "Black Folks Make Movies".
  4. 1 2 Burlingame, Jon (October 26, 1994). "The American Experience takes a Midnight Ramble". The Times-Mail. Bedford, Indiana. p. C4.
  5. ↑ Devi, Debra (October 11, 2015). "Language of the Blues: Rambling". American Blues Scene.
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.