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ing films such as Body and Soul,
The Exile, The Betrayal, and (iod's
Step Children. All these pre-WWII
movies worked to portray the Afri­
can American as human and much
more than a slave. Al Jolson’s 1927
performance in The Jazz Singer was
one o f the early “sound” films that
helped open up the doors to more
African American films.
Post WWII films with black ac­
tors such as Sidney Portier helped
break stereotyping in the film indus ­
try. His film debut in the 1950drama
No Way Out, Portier began his of­
ten-played role o f a sophisticated,
educated, and wel 1-mannered black
man He went on to star in Cry, The
Beloved Country, The Defiant Ones,
A Raisin in the Sun, Guess Who's
Coming to Diner, and In the Heat o f
theNight His 1963 performance in
Academy Award received by an
African American. His role as a
suave attractive black male helped
create opportunities for other black
male actors. In 1954, Dorothy
Dandridge became the first A frican
American nominated for an Acad­
emy Award. Although her role in
Carmen Jones set her apart as a
leading actress, she was never able
to find a role with the same dimen-
sions as she played in that film.
After that, she was mostly cast as
an exotic native. Unable to rebound
to the stardom she once had,
Dandridge unfortunately drifted
away from Hollywood and only
eleven years after her peak, she died
o f an apparent suicide.
Within the theatre industry, the
1950’s was a time ofopportunity for
black and white actors In 1959, the
m ost successful all-black play
opened on Broadway. Lorraine
Hansberry’s Raisin in the Sun won
the New York Drama Critics Circle
Award. Staring Sidney Portier, Ruby
Dee, Diana Sands, Claudia McNeil,
Louis Gossett, Jr., I van Dixon, Lonnie
Elder and Douglas Turner, it was a
smash hit. The African American
influence in theatre was on the road
to success.
A Profile of
Black Heroines
B y J ack B r a iio n for T he
P ori i . and O bserver
Ida B. Wells
A f te r le a r n in g o f
w hites hanging three o f
h er friends because they
w ere successful black
b u sin e ss
m en ,
Id a
B.
W e lls ,
c o -o w n e r /
of
a /
n e w sp a -
w rote
seeth**’
i n g /
^apexes Salutes
Black History Month
lynchings. H er quest w ould be
kno w n to en d h a n g in g s and
other brutalities in several states.
Ida B. W ells w ent on to becom e
the m ost fam ous black fem ale
jo u rn a list o f h er tim e. A lthough
she died in 1931 in h er se v e n ­
ties, an ev er-g ratefu l A fri-
c a n
A m e ric a n
c o m m u n ity
w ill a lw a y s
re m em b er her
h a rd -w o n v ic ­
to ries.
Alice
Walker
T ire d
o f dom inant
a rtic le
m ale c h a ra c ­
c o n -
ters in lite ra ­
dem ning
tu r e
to d a y ?
the m u r
T re a t y o u r s e lf
d e r s
to an A lic e
Soon a f­
W alker novel.
te r , h e r
Born in 1944,
b u s i­
t h i s
n ess
N o b el
Ida Well Barnett was a full-tim e
lite r­
P riz e
journalist in 1891, campaigning
a lly
w
in n in g
against racially motivated lynchings
w ent
a
u
th o r
o f African Americans.
u p in
w ill give
smoke.
y o u
W hen
larger than life exciting and pow ­
they c o u ld n ’t find her,
erful black w om en characters
they burned her new sp a­
in her novels. W alker has risen
per, The F ree Speech, to
fam e on a d iffe re n t path than
the ground. F rightened
m any A frican A m erican w riters
for her life and d isc o u r­
by not b lam ing life ’s problem s
a g e d , th is c o u ra g e o u s
on racism and p reju d ice. A l­
black w om an w ould not
though a few people have c riti­
give up. H e rb e lie fin free­
cized h er for this, she is m ostly
dom also won her a $500
praised for her po sitiv e attitudes
law suit ag ainst a railroad
and philo so p h ies reg ard in g b e ­
c o m p a n y th a t had h e r
ing black and fem ale. W alker is
“ forcibly rem o v e d ” from
know n for tak in g h e r “ dual m i­
a w hite section on a train.
n o rity ” sta tu s an d tu rn in g it
A fte r m o v in g to N ew
around into so m e th in g w o n d e r­
Y ork, she jo in e d the N ew
ful. H er b o o k , The C o lo r P u rp le
York Age, and continued
not only becam e a perfect e x ­
a strong crusade ag ainst
am ple o f this, it also w on her