American Masters (1985–…): Season 35, Episode 5 - How It Feels to Be Free - full transcript

♪ Spread the word ♪

♪ Spread the Gospel ♪

♪ Let the congregation know ♪

♪ That a cornet
was the downfall ♪

♪ Of the walls of Jericho, ♪

♪ Spread the word,
Spread the Gospel ♪

Abbey: I made a movie called
"The Girl Can't Help It"

with Jayne Mansfield

and, um, Little Richard,
and Fats Domino.

♪ Revival meeting,
Spread the... ♪

- In a dress that
Marilyn Monroe wore



in a movie called
"Gentlemen Prefer Blondes."

Well, what does that make me?

I would wear this dress
and go places,

and I'd open the show,
or whatever

and my breasts would be
bouncing around-

I'd run on the stage.

Jacey: She was a chanteuse.

Sexy dresses, she rolled
around on the piano.

She was a pretty face.

She, more or less,
ran from that image

and she ran to the role
of a truth teller.

- I saw myself as beautiful,

but I didn't see myself
as an imitation of anybody,

but an original.



♪ Choppin' cotton
don't be slow ♪

♪ Better finish out
your row ♪

- And I found songs
that would express

what was in my heart.

♪ Keep a movin'
with that plow ♪

Jacey: She told me,
she said,

"You know what I did
with that dress?

I threw it in a furnace."

I said, "Well why?"

"Are you kidding?

I'm not wearing some white
woman's hand-me-downs!"

Abbey: What is most important
to me is being free

of the shackles that chain me.

♪ Freedom daaaaay... ♪

♪♪

♪♪

Alicia: Black women
entertainers -

they blazed such a trail...

- I hear that you're
a big star now.

- Yes, I'm doing nicely,
thank you.

Alicia: When I think
of all these women,

I think of such credible
human beings

who really stood for
equality and justice.

And that is in the spirit
of activism

in a way that art
and politics all crossed.

♪ Somebody save me ♪

Salamishah: Often times
they're forgotten

and yet these artists
are the most influential

and oftentimes,
the most vanguard performers

in American culture.

Halle: These women were
pioneers in the industry.

They were making a way out
of no way.

They actually had careers
in a time when

they really weren't supposed
to have careers.

Nathan!

Ruth: Some are musicians,
some are more famous on TV,

some through films,

but they all took risks

and they engaged with
Black freedom struggles

in terms of the ways in which
they represented blackness,

on screen, on stage,

in music, in their lyrics,

their choices of clothing,
their choices of hairstyles.

Shonda: This moment right here,

me standing up here
and my Thursday night

of network television
full of women of color,

that could only be happening
right now.

How many women had to hit
that glass

before the first crack appeared?

How many cuts did they get?
How many bruises?

How hard did they have
to hit the ceiling?

Salamishah: All of these
artists have been

carving out a space
for themselves

in an industry that's still
not quite ready to hear

what they're saying
or performing or singing.

They had to create the space
for themselves to be heard.

♪♪

Diahann: I lived in New York

and I was in the Village a lot.

I loved being in the Village.

It was all so multiracial,

and people mixed and mingled

with less fear, less anxiety -

what the world should be.

Everything was based upon
something you could do,

not what you looked like.

Ruth: Women entertainers were
particularly important

in New York City

in interracial subcultures
based in Harlem

and the Village,

where this idea that activism
and entertainment

could come together
in these exciting ways.

Tammy: Greenwich Village
becomes this cultural,

musical, artistic enclave

beginning as early as the 1930s,

but then it also becomes
this incubator

of progressive political
ideologies.

♪ I can't give you anything ♪

♪ But love, ♪

♪ Baby... ♪

- Someone asked if I was named
after Lena Dunham,

and I said, "No, I'm named
for Lena Horne."

♪ Baby... ♪

Lena W.: When my mom
was pregnant,

she saw Lena Horne on TV.

She knew if she was having
a girl,

that she would want them

to have the same amount of, uh,

class and grace as Lena had.

And I do everything I can

to try to live up to that.

♪ There's honey
in the honeycomb ♪

- My God, she was a goddess.

She was, she was someone
who I just thought

existed sort of in the ether

as just this angelic beauty.

- She was a singer.

She was, uh, an activist.

She was a forerunner.

She was an international
superstar.

♪ ...in meeee ♪

♪♪

Gail: In 1933, my mother
went into the Cotton Club

knowing how to, vaguely,
how to dance and sing.

♪♪

Her mother decided
she could do better

and spirited her away
from the Cotton Club

to, uh, Boston to sing
with Noble Sissle,

and he changed her image from
the Cotton Club chorus girl

to a torch singer -

that was sort of the style
of the day.

Finally, she got a job
that kept her in New York

at Café Society.

Tammy: One of the central
entities

that defines Greenwich Village
is Café Society,

the night club that is
created in the late 1930s.

- It was the only integrated
night club outside of Harlem.

It was started to raise money
for the Communist Party.

It was sort of radical chic
in its day.

It was full of showbiz people,
and celebrities,

and socialite people,
but also Communists.

So, my mother got
a political education.

- I began to thrive.

I was introduced to great
writers, and painters,

actors, and intellectuals.

People like Langston Hughes,

and Orson Welles,
Billie Holiday,

Art Tatum, Duke Ellington.

♪♪

Tammy: We also have
the great Hazel Scott,

who is oftentimes excluded

from these conversations
of civil rights

who's performing there.

♪♪

- That's where Billie Holiday
famously premieres

"Strange Fruit."

♪ Black bodies swingin' ♪

♪ In the Southern breeze ♪

♪ Strange fruit hangin' ♪

♪ From the poplar trees ♪

Ruth: Lena Horne later
talked about that

as a time of awakening for her.

Charlene: I met Paul Robeson,

who became a part of my life.

Paul Robeson was a...

renowned black intellectual

and as he became more, uh,
disconcerted

with the politics of America

and he became a kind
of international figure,

his political beliefs and views

certainly influenced Lena Horne.

- Mr. Robeson,
have you come back from Moscow

still a convinced Communist?

- I don't see how you
can ask me that.

How do you know I'm a Communist?

Nobody else knows.

Interviewer: What are your
political opinions?

Have they been changed at all?

- My political opinions
about the Soviet Union

have only been deepened.
I'm a believer in socialism,

the hope of the future.

- Robeson was enormously
influential

in terms of the ways
in which he modeled

being an activist entertainer.

And that he showed other
artists and performers

that one could mesh activism

and political commitments
with their artistry.

- He said, "You're a Negro,

and that is the whole basis
of what you feel

and it's the basis
of what you will become."

And he gave me identity -
he grounded me.

♪♪

Ruth: Abbey Lincoln's
career started

very much in the mold that
Lena Horne had established

several decades earlier.

Very sexualized, glamorous,

singing these popular hits.

She moved to New York.

She became more invested

in changing her musical style-

she became more invested
in jazz vocals -

and she also became more
interested in black politics.

Abbey: Well, I came to New York
and met all these people.

You know, these writers,
painters, musicians-

who told me why it was every
time I would go to a city,

I'd find my relatives,
the people that I represented,

living in hovels and they
didn't have anything, you know?

I thought, I said,
"Why is this? What is this?"

And they said,
"Oh, this is because of this,

and because of that,
and because of that."

And I said, "Okay, well,
we have to fix it then."

Tammy: She ends up, in the 50s,

in this progressive scene
that's being refueled.

Some of that political culture,

some of that political energy
is being reformed

in these different nightclubs.

♪♪

Tammy: In 1960, Nina Simone

becomes a part of this nexus

of artists and activists
and writers

and political leaders

that are meeting in New York.

Salamishah: She's in
a community of people

who are from many margins,

and that kind of gives her
a different courage

to be a different kind
of artist.

- I'll never forget

the first time I played
at Montreux Jazz Festival.

The guy who had run
the festival since,

you know, it started;

he has an archive
of every person

that ever touched the stage.

So, he said,
"Who do you want to see?"

And I was like,
"I have to see Nina."

And I just watched her, riveted,

in this little theatre,

like her playing this piano.

And I was like,
"I'm never gonna play again

because I'm never gonna be
as good as her."

Salamishah: Nina Simone
was born Eunice Waymon

in Tryon, North Carolina,

and she was discovered
at a very young age

to be a musical prodigy.

Her family moves
to Philadelphia.

All in the attempt to audition

for the Curtis Institute
of Music in Philadelphia,

and she's rejected.

Was it because she wasn't
good enough?

Was it because she was a woman?
Was it because she was black?

The answer to that is unknown.

Heartbroken, she had
to reinvent herself.

She gigs in Atlantic City.

Her mother is a very religious
figure,

so she doesn't want her mom
to know she's playing jazz.

So, she takes on this name,
Nina Simone,

after the French actress
Simone Signoret.

She was seen as kind
of exceptional

from the very beginning
of her career.

♪♪

Tammy: And she comes under
the influence of James Baldwin,

and Lorraine Hansberry,
as well as Miriam Makeba

and Abbey Lincoln.

Salamishah: These figures
were known as like

civil rights writers, right?

Lorraine Hansberry's,
uh, famous play,

"A Raisin in the Sun";

Baldwin is writing
scathing criticisms,

um, like "The Fire Next Time".

She has a, a cool quote
about Lorraine Hansberry;

that they were talking
about like Marx and Lenin

and revolution.
You know, girl stuff, right?

♪♪

- I always taught my daughter

if she wanted to know something,

don't ask the internet.

Find the smartest person
in the room.

- When we see black women on...

In film and in television,

the first thing that happens
is we applaud.

We made it.
We're being actually seen.

You know, the second thing
that happens,

I think for myself,
is an analysis happens.

How are we being portrayed?

When I see black women

in any kind of TV or film,

it's an act of protest

because I know
how long and how hard

you have to fight
to even get there.

♪ Don't know why ♪

♪ There's no sun up
in the sky ♪

♪ Stormy weather ♪

♪ Since my man and I
ain't together ♪

- She arrived in Hollywood
the same time

that Walter White arrived
in Hollywood

to speak to Hollywood producers

to ask them to change
the stereotypes in Hollywood,

and they agreed.

- They began to talk about me
being at the studio.

So, I called my father.

'Cause my father, he was tough,

hardworking provider.

He was a gangster.

He was in what we used
to call "Sporting Life."

- Walter White and her father
convinced her

that she could change the image
of black woman in Hollywood.

- Sufficed to say he came
to Hollywood the next day

and I arranged a meeting
with him with L.B. Mayer.

And my dad walks in -

and he's sharp.
You know, he was -

and he had on a diamond
stick pin

but a very conservative
dark suit.

And he said, "Mr. Mayer,
it's a great privilege

you're offering my daughter,"
he says,

"But I can buy my own daughter
her own maid."

He was just jivin',
you understand.

"I don't want her to be
insulted.

Uh, it's very nice,

but she's not gonna be
in a "Tarzan" picture

and run around
in a leopard skin."

Well, my father was from-

and I don't think Mr. Mayer

had ever been approached
by a black man like that.

So, he just sat and he said,

"Oh, well, Mr. Horne,

we wouldn't do anything to,
to, to..."

And of course, remember,
in 1940, the NAACP

was trying to break
the union out there

to get black cameramen,
get black people on the sets.

- She was definitely
a pioneer in her day

because black women represented-

had been represented on screen
mostly in demeaning roles.

- If you don't care what folks
says about this family,

I does! I's told you
and told you,

they can always tell a lady
by the way that she eat

in front of folks like a bird.
And I ain't aiming...

Jacqueline: The Mammy,
who I think, um, you know,

many of us might immediately
bring to mind Hattie McDaniel

as the character named Mammy
in "Gone With The Wind".

- Ooh!

- Just hold on and suck in!

Jacqueline: So if you think
about that iconic image

of Hattie McDaniel tying up

the corset of Scarlett O'Hara,

the Mammy is,
um, completely devoted

to perpetuating white womanhood.

Hattie McDaniel, first academy
award winning role

for a black actor.

- I sincerely hope I shall
always be a credit to my race

and to the motion picture
industry.

- I remember the first time
seeing "Gone with the Wind",

and I remember thinking,
"Oh my gosh,

I want to be Scarlett O'Hara."

Hattie McDaniel didn't even
play in my consciousness

because the message that
got infiltrated was

to be a black woman
who is dark and poor

is a negative thing,

and it is...

not something to aspire to
or to relate to.

Samuel: Seeing Butterfly
McQueen and Hattie McDaniel.

Uh, seeing Stepin Fetchit
wasn't confusing to me.

I knew white people had
this image of us

as being shuffling and lazy.

- The level of stereotyping
has been through the roof.

So blatant and so obvious.

- Holy Moses!

- Moses nothing!
Say, that's Jonah!

- I went for the doctor,
and I just...

- Come on out of there now.
Ain't nobody gonna harm you.

What you doin' in there?
- Nothin'. I was just...

Thought you thought I was Mr...

Jacqueline: The scholar,
Donald Bogle, wrote a book

called "Toms, Coons, Mulattoes,
Mammies & Bucks".

The movies did not invent
these stereotypes.

They came from much older
traditions

of representing black people

across media and literature
and theater.

And the movies just picked up
on those things,

but then I think also
really amplified them

and circulated them
more broadly.

♪♪

♪ I'd like to black my face ♪

♪ Put on a stovepipe hat ♪

♪ On a February morn ♪

♪ A tiny baby boy was born ♪

- Well, thank you, boys!
Here's my card.

Any time you're up my way,
drop in.

- You need to look at the
foundations of film, right?

Like the foundations of film

are much like the foundations
of America.

Like, in the same way that
America was built on slavery,

film was built on
racist imagery.

The film that is largely
credited as teaching us

how to make films is
"Birth of a Nation".

This was D. W. Griffith's
epic recreation

of the civil War era.

It's a movie that was built off

the racist imagery from society,

But then it, in turn fed society

by, by inspiring the second
coming of the KKK.

Lena H.: In any case, I became
the first black to be signed

to a long-term contract.
Seven years.

They said, "Well now, you are

in a very representative
position

and you must make sure

that you've handle yourself
circumspectly

so that you don't embarrass
other black women."

That was a heavy load, you know?

- Progress in Hollywood comes
in waves, okay?

Like it always -
it's always baby steps

and it comes in waves, right?

So, they saw Lena Horne as
kind of the new, the new hope.

- Why Lena Horne managed
to negotiate this contract

with the Hollywood industry,

was a result of the fact

that African Americans had
contributed to World War II.

And they realized that because
of the black contributions,

that the country was changing.

And so, they were gonna have
to compromise in terms

of the demands that blacks
were making and expecting

in view of their contributions
to the war effort.

♪♪

Ruth: For Lena Horne to say,

"No, I will not play
maids onscreen,"

was to reject all of these
deeply entrenched

historical stereotypes
of African American women.

And she was saying, "No, I can
be another kind of performer.

I can offer a different
kind of representation."

♪ We could be messin' round ♪

♪ But you is disgressin' round ♪

♪ While I'm tossin' nature
at your feet ♪

Lena H.: My signing
this contract

and they're hearing
that I would not do

certain kind of work,

got me into a lot of trouble
with black actors.

- This could actually seem
really problematic

for the black actors

who had been working
in Hollywood or decades,

who felt as though, you know,

they were doing the work
that was available to them.

♪♪

- They feared that her contract

would then make it difficult

for all black performers.

- Oh, Mamie!
- Coming!

Gail: If she refused
to be a servant,

then they wouldn't have
any more servant parts.

- Actors like Hattie McDaniel,

uh, could feel some kind of way

about Lena Horne entering
Hollywood, ostensibly,

to improve the image
of the Negro;

well, then, like what does
that say about

what Hattie McDaniel
has been doing?

- They very fact that I was one
of the first, you know,

I was isolated right away

because there was no niche
for me.

So I was in the middle.

Grey, you see.

This pale thing.

- "In sunny Puerto Rico,

We drink floats
of Rum and Clicquot

While our favorite
houseboy Chico

Shakes the rhythm
of the spin."

- Lena Horne was the first
woman of color

I saw in a movie ever.

And I had the immediate
reaction of saying,

"Is she black or is she white?"

I was a little confused.

And that's when I got
the first lesson on

a drop of black blood
makes you black,

and you should understand
that right now.

♪ It was just one
of those things ♪

- The first movie that I was in
at MGM

was called "Panama Hattie".

♪ We have been aware ♪

♪ That our love affair
was too hot... ♪

Lena H.: "Who's the new
Latin singer,"

everybody was asking.

Well, MGM may have wanted
to pass me off as Latin,

but when my own people accused
me of trying to pass,

I was furious,

and I felt more isolated
than ever.

They said, uh, um,

"Why don't you be Latin,
pass as Latin?

I mean, you know, you don't,
don't look colored,"

and all that kind of nonsense.

- That was always meant to be
a compliment...

- That was meant to be a big
compliment, see.

So anyway...

By the time they put dark
makeup on me

to make match the darker actors
that I was working with,

all they had was teeth.

- Then they said, "Okay.
Max Factor was the genius."

So, he invented a new color

pancake makeup called
"Light Egyptian,"

which they put on mother,
and they put on everybody

who ever played a jungle
princess after that.

Hedy Lamarr wore it.
Everybody wore it.

♪ Oh, listen, sister... ♪

Gail: My mother wanted
very much

to play Julie in "Show Boat"

because she'd sung
some of Julie's songs

in "Ziegfeld Follies."

♪ Can't help lovin' ♪

♪ That man of mine ♪

- Lena Horne was particularly
attracted to it

because she, herself,

was a light-skinned
black woman singer

and the fictional character
was as well.

- So, when they were casting
the movie many years later,

I hoped I would be chosen
for the part.

- MGM felt it was too big
of a risk

to cast a light-skinned
black woman

to play a leading role
as a light-skinned black woman.

Lena H.: Instead, they chose
Ava Gardiner,

who, ironically, was my best
white girlfriend out there.

♪ Tell me I'm crazy ♪

Lena H.: And they put
dark make-up on her,

created for me especially,
and she played Julie.

♪ Can't help ♪

♪ Lovin' that man ♪

♪ Of mine ♪

- As successful and prominent
as Lena Horne was,

it is worth thinking about

what her career might have been

if this door and other doors
hadn't been shut to her.

Gail: My mother could've
played that part,

but Hollywood was nervous.

They were always nervous
about race

because of the Southern market,

which was their biggest market.

And Southerners just slashed
any movie

that had a black in it
that wasn't playing a servant.

And it was Hollywood's way of,
of saying,

Look, we're not racist.
We have this black star.

But at the same time,
we don't do anything with her.

- You know I still love you.

- Now, you just be a little
more careful what you say

to your wife in front of me.

- Georgia, you keep out of this.

- I'm speaking my mind.
- And I ain't heard a sound.

- Now Little Joe,
are you just so dumb

you can't see what she's after?

- We're both after
the same thing,

but I'm still the wife
and got the inside track.

Gail: There were only
two movies

that she ever had
speaking parts in:

"Cabin in the Sky"
and "Stormy Weather"

and they helped make her famous.

- Like here's MGM doing this
really progressive thing

by making an all-black musical
for the black audiences.

That was the big progress
for Hollywood,

and they never did it again.

♪ Hey, hey, hey, hey,
Hey, hey, ♪

♪ Hey, over there you all ♪
♪ Hey, hey, hey, hey ♪

♪ Your city's gonna fall ♪
♪ Do you give in ♪

Ruth: She ends up being
in films

where she appears as a singer.

She doesn't have a speaking
role.

And the reason they did that
was so that, um,

southern distributors could
cut her out of the movie

if they so chose.

- I actually went to segregated
movie theaters on Saturday.

We had two movie theaters

that were specifically black
in Chattanooga,

because we couldn't go to
the other theaters anyway.

So, I went to The Liberty
or The Grand,

which were on diagonal corners
from each other.

So, I saw movies
in that particular way.

- The censors...

They took out a beautiful scene
I did, when...

when I take a bubble bath
in "Cabin in the Sky."

They don't show it
in the picture.

They cut it out
because everybody said,

what's this black woman doing
in these soap suds

acting like, you know.

And it's one of the prettiest
scenes in the picture.

♪ Love is a rippling brook ♪

♪ Man is a fish to cook ♪

♪ You got to bait your hook ♪

♪ Rise and shine ♪

♪ And cast your line ♪

- They hadn't made me a maid,

but they hadn't made me
into anything else either.

So, I just became
a little butterfly

pinned up against the wall,

singing all these lovely songs.

Singing my heart away
in Hollywood.

Announcer: And now ladies
and gentlemen,

the Plaza Hotel takes great
pride in presenting...

Ms. Diahann Carroll.

♪ Things look swell, ♪

♪ Things look great ♪

♪ Gonna have the whole world
on a plate ♪

♪ Starting here,
starting now ♪

♪ Honey, everything's
coming up roses ♪

♪♪

- Diahann Carroll came
of age professionally, um,

with this aura of glamor
around her,

and the parts that she played
reinforced that.

She won the Tony Award
for "No Strings"

in which she played the part
of a model.

- I wanted this.

I'm like Abe Burrows,
I really wanted this.

Male Interviewer: I know,
inevitably, you will be

and probably are already
compared with Lena Horne.

Does this bother you at all?

- I suppose it does
on the same basis that

any young artist hopes
to carve out their own niche

and, uh, not suffer through
comparisons,

but I don't mind the comparison

because, to me, Lena Horne

is one of the greatest
performers in the world.

So being compared to that
caliber is kind of very nice.

- She's this iconic,
kind of, figure

that still maintains part
of that Hollywood mystique.

Uh, and she was around
when Hollywood stars

were bigger than life

and more mysterious than magic.

And she's created a sort
of niche

that a lot of young actresses
don't even realize:

the Ingénue,

the gorgeous kind of smart,
sexy woman

that could entice, you know,
people of all races,

you know, not just,
not just the brothers.

- In the United States,
as well as here,

there are very few Negroes
employed in,

in television drama
and in movies.

And I would like to do more,

as I'm sure many other young
Negro actors

and actresses would like to do,

but the job opportunities
are très few.

- You look at an actress
like Diahann Carroll,

light-skinned, beautiful,

and she still was not able
to have the opportunities

that her white counterparts had.

Ruth: In 1962,

Congressman Adam Clayton Powell

convened hearings to address
racial discrimination

in the entertainment industries
and Diahann Carroll

was among the black luminaries
that testified.

It's kind of hard for us
to imagine now.

They were not recorded;
they were not televised.

The white mainstream press
barely wrote a word about it,

even though the African
American press

covered it extensively.

Diahann: I am living proof
of the horror of discrimination

because when you consider

how little employment
I have had,

in the field of television
and Broadway,

and yet, being as well-known
as I am.

I have been discriminated
because of my color.

Chairman Powell: Here is the
brightest star on Broadway,

a girl who virtually made
"No Strings",

all the critics have said so -

yet, you have only worked twice

in seven-and-a-half years?

If they made a film
of "No Strings",

they would probably get
a white girl and darken her up.

Ruth: It's a little bit ironic

because the erasure
of the hearings

brings even more attention
to the fact

of why Adam Clayton Powell
was motivated

to have these hearings
in the first place -

was to talk about the absence
of black people

in Hollywood industries.

- You often hear about
people talk about

the gatekeepers in Hollywood.

They're the ones that decide

how wide the gate's gonna
be opened

and how much they're gonna
close the gate.

But the thing for black people
is that

there's always less of us
allowed through.

- You can't deny that there are

fair-skinned black actresses

that just have more
opportunities

than actresses that are,
that are brown-skinned.

And that's just a fact.

- It seems a number of times
in, in your life and career,

you have been, quote unquote,

"The first black woman to..."

do one thing or another.

Did that bother you?
Did you like that?

- No, I don't mind,
I really don't mind.

I know why it happens to me

as opposed to happening to,
happening to others

and I think it is because
God put me together in a way

that is more acceptable
to the white community.

"Oh, it's not such a major
chance,

let's take it with Diahann."

And, and that does not
make me feel proud

of the white community.

- I get these lists of actors
that, you know,

that studios and networks

deem more profitable

or, or feel as if it can help
get the movie greenlit.

And very rarely are there
brown-skinned women

at the top of those lists.

- When it comes to getting jobs,

light is better to certain
people that are hiring.

Um, you know, that's why,

not to take away
from the other women,

you know, Diahann Carroll,
Lena Horne,

they're, they're a different
thought to me.

Um, they are not
in the same realm

because I am not going to be

like a Diahann Carroll,
you know.

I am a brown woman,

and I have a whole other
kind of situation

that I'm going to have
to deal with in life.

Portia?

You drunk?
- No.

I been trying mighty hard,

but I ain't been able
to make it-yet.

Halle: Someone like
Cicely Tyson

didn't fit into that mold,

and she was, um, accepted

for her talent alone.

And it wasn't about
her physicality

or what she looked like, or if
she fit into that box or not.

And I think that gave, um,

a pathway to women
that didn't fit in that box

to also be respected,

and to be found beautiful
in their own right,

and not be defined by this

white American's version
of what beauty is.

- Yeah, Cicely Tyson.

I mean, obviously
she's been a part

of some of the most incredible
films of all time.

But what I remember the most
is meeting her,

and I was immediately drawn
to her.

That gorgeous skin

in this most magnificent
queen face,

and this tiny body, by the way-

very small woman -

and spirit like bam!

Ruth: In 1961,

one of Cicely Tyson's first
big performances

was in a play called
"The Blacks".

She was very committed
to portraying her character,

you know, accurately
and with dignity.

And I think that was
a defining thing for Tyson

and remains so to this day.

- May I sit, please?
- Yes. Yes, please.

Ruth: Where she chooses
her parts so carefully,

infusing her roles
with a realism

and a believability.

- Cicely Tyson stood out to me

because she was brown-skinned.

So, I'm like "Okay,
she's like me," you know?

And then...

she was also becoming characters

that were not stereotypes,

they were real people.

They were people with emotion,
with heart.

They weren't always
pretty people;

they were just real.

- I think that we need
to level the playing field

so that way the best person
for the job is who gets it.

But it really is-it's tricky.

I mean, you cannot...

These days, if you cast
a light-skinned woman,

black Twitter is coming for you.

Uh, but then somebody
could also argue

if you're a lighter-skinned
actress,

and you want an opportunity,

are you paying for the sins of,
of those that came before you?

♪ We who believe
in Freedom ♪

♪ Cannot rest ♪

♪ We who believe
in Freedom ♪

- Black women were
so fundamental

to the Civil Rights Movement.

They were the rank and file.

♪ Not needing to clutch
for power ♪

- I question America.

Is this America,
the land of the free

and the home of the brave,

where we have to sleep

with our telephones off
of their hooks

because our lives be
threatened daily,

because we want to live
as decent human beings,

in America? Thank you.

- When we look back,

Fannie Lou Hamer and Ella Baker,

were clearly leaders
in the movement

and yet we write these women
out of the narrative.

Gail: Her grandmother made
my mother a lifetime member

of the NAACP when she was two,

so she had a sense of activism
her entire life

and never gave up on it
even when she was,

um, criticized for it.

My mother started off
the 60s with a bang.

She was in The Luau restaurant
in Hollywood.

She was sitting up in the
balcony at the restaurant,

and she heard a little
commotion down below.

A drunken man called,
"Waiter, waiter!"

And the waiter said,
"I'll be with you,

I just have to serve
Ms. Horne."

- And he said, "Who the hell
is Lena Horne?

Who does she think she is?
She's just another "N-word"

just like all the rest of them."

And I got so mad,

I picked up a lamp
off the table,

I threw that first.

I picked up three other
ashtrays - glass ones-

and I threw them at him,

and he began to bleed down
the side of his head.

And the people over on his side
of the room were looking.

Nobody touched me
'cause I was furious.

- And sometimes your madness
just mounts into,

you know, beautiful madness,

and I struck him.
And I got tons of mail,

and letters, and telegrams
from black people who said,

you know, "Hey! Thank you
and how wonderful."

And all I said, "My God,
I'm not alone."

I had lived a long time
without that feeling.

I even got one from
Joe Louis who said,

"I always said you had
a great right arm!"

- This woman who had been in
front of cameras and audiences

since she was 16 was saying,

"Look at me in a new way."

And so, she was really
aligning herself

with the younger generation
of activists

who were also demanding
to be seen.

- ♪ I'm a woman who speaks
in a voice ♪

- ♪ In her voice ♪
- ♪ And I must be heard ♪

- ♪ I must be heard ♪

- ♪ At times I can be
quite difficult ♪

- ♪ Difficult ♪

- ♪ I'll bow to no man's word ♪
- ♪ Ain't gonna bow to no man ♪

- ♪ And I want to live in... ♪

- What brought me out

was the young people of my race.

Their movement all over
this country

gave me something to feel.

I, I became alive again.

Announcer: I take great
pleasure and pride

in introducing to you
Ms. Lena Horne.

- Freedom!

I don't feel like a movie
star particularly,

but I'm a New Yorker,
and what happens in the South

happens to my state
and for my state too.

It's a communal effort,
I'm sure.

♪♪

♪♪

Diahann: The marches
I will never forget.

It was wonderful, frightening.

Crowd:

- It just had a feeling of
something you should be doing.

That was the most
important point -

how much power our voices had.

Ruth: Behind the scenes,

Diahann Carroll supported black
organizations; the NAACP,

and SNCC financially.

She hosted fundraisers
in her home.

Diahann: I met Dr. King
through Harry Belafonte.

It was a strange sensation

because we were in the presence
of someone

who really understood
that what he was doing

would probably cause his death.

Dr. King: The Negro still
is not free.

We can never be satisfied
as long as the Negro

is the victim of the
unspeakable horrors

of police brutality.

- He operated without
ever mentioning it,

but it was all around him,
like an aura;

that he was certainly willing
to give up his life

to do what needed to be done.

Jacey: Abbey Lincoln
was very serious

when it came to her emancipation

and the emancipation
of her people.

Tammy: Her apartment became
a meeting place for activists,

and also celebrities
that were activists.

Ruth: She was really
involved in

critiques of colonialism

and really thinking about
black diasporic politics

in, in sophisticated ways.

- For example,
uh, when Patrice Lumumba

was involved in the coup d'état

and Mobutu Sese Seko
overthrew the government.

Well, Abbey Lincoln
and other black entertainers,

as well as black youth
in America,

begged America to help
Patrice Lumumba

protect his country,

and they didn't do a damn thing
about it.

Newsreel: Arrest.
III treatment.

Imprisonment. Death.

Such was the fate
of Patrice Lumumba.

Newsreel 2: The slaying of
the deposed Congo premiere

is violently protested
by students

and left-wing demonstrators
in important world cities.

Newsreel 3: First, in
the United Nations itself,

where a security council meeting

was violently interrupted.

- There was some protest
at the U.N.

- Mm-hmm.
- And there was a picture

on the front page
of the New York Daily News.

And you weren't identified
but you were right there

in the, in the forefront.

Abbey: We were making
armbands for the men

and, uh, veils for the women.

We didn't know there was gonna
be a demonstration like this.

Nobody planned it.

Newsreel 4: Most of the group
are American Negroes,

members of African nationalist
groups in New York.

Abbey: I remember crashing
the gates of security council.

I never was a violent person,

and it was really scary for me.

Newsreel 5:18 United Nations
guards

were injured in making arrests.

- There were a lot of lies
they told

because we didn't
have any weapons

because nobody knew this
was gonna happen.

♪ How you do ♪

♪ Do carry on... ♪

♪♪

Max Roach: Alright. This is
the "Made Him in the Tomb"...

2, 3, 4...

♪ Were you there
when they laid him... ♪

Max: I'm the drummer.
My name is Max Roach.

- ♪ In the tomb... ♪

- This beautiful young lady
is very special to me.

She's my wife, Abbey Lincoln,

the voice of our group.

♪ Were you there... ♪

- Abbey married Max Roach

and the two of them together
became a force

to be reckoned with.

They did the
"Freedom Now Suite",

which is considered to be

one of the greatest records
in jazz, and it truly is.

So, Abbey's voice, Max's band,

Oscar Brown Jr.'s lyrics,

I mean, it was something.
It really was.

♪ Rumors flyin',
must be lyin' ♪

♪ Can it really be? ♪

♪ Can't conceive it,
don't believe it ♪

♪ But that's what they say ♪

- You really hear her being
radical and transgressive

in what she does musically.

The use of the voice
is not that feminine

nuanced sound that we
equate with jazz singers.

♪ Herero, ♪

♪ Grebo, Ibo... ♪

Tammy: It's about
creating sound

that emotes emotion
and experience.

It's embedded in that, right?

It is really clear

that she's engaging in
resistance culture.

♪ Choppin' cotton
don't be slow ♪

♪ Better finish out
your row ♪

♪ Keep a movin'
with that plow ♪

♪ Driva' man'll
show you how ♪

Jacey: This record
in a lot of ways

was a battle cry, you know.

It was a manifesto of, of,
of enough is enough.

Ruth: "We Insist!"
has a photo on the front

of the Greensboro
sit-in activists.

And again,
very explicitly political

in terms of its claims
for black rights.

Tammy: You have black
and white college students

who are beginning to organize.

They're going to spark
the Direct-action campaigns -

the pray-ins, the sit-ins,
the freedom rides -

that are going to propel
the movement

into a new level of activity,

but also bring the movement
to the attention

of white America and the world.

- By the time she's performing
this really radical 'Suite',

she's heralding and harnessing

the long history of black
women's experiences

in the United States.

Ah-ah! Ahhhh!

Ahhhhhhhhhhh!

Ahhhhhhhhhhh!

Ah! Ah! Ah! Ah!
Ah! Ah! Ah! Ah!

Ahhhh!

- Sonically, she's trying
to invoke and imitate

what she imagined enslaved
black women were feeling

under siege, under assault,

and on the plantations.

- Learning to scream
was very good for me

as far as my work is concerned.

It helped to unleash, uh,

to release me, you know.
- Mm-hmm.

- I believe that the role
of the black woman

is the same role
she's always played.

You do whatever is necessary,
you know?

That's what we've always done.

Ruth: What we see black women
entertainers doing

is really forging
what we call today

an intersectional analysis.

They weren't just thinking
about race.

They weren't just thinking
about class.

They weren't just thinking
about gender.

They were engaging in
all of these at once,

simultaneously.

And they were forging kind
of a freedom politics.

♪ Slave no longer,
Slave no longer ♪

♪ This is Freedom Day ♪

♪ Freedom Day ♪

♪ It's Freedom Day ♪

♪ Throw those shackle
and chains away ♪

- And then by the time you get
to the end of the 'Suite',

she's ushering a new moment
of freedom

that's tied to civil rights
initiatives

and equal pay initiatives.

So, she's, she's saying
that in, in song, right?

We need our equal rights,
we need to be given fair wages,

and we need voting rights.

♪ Freedom Day! ♪

- As the civil rights movement

was gaining more and more

momentum and urgency,

African American entertainers

were very much on
the front lines

along with other activists.

Ruth: Lena Horne was one
of the celebrities

that James Baldwin invited
to the meeting

with Robert Kennedy in 1963

along with Harry Belafonte,

Lorraine Hansberry,
the white actor Rip Torn,

as well as some younger
civil rights activists.

- James Baldwin came
to New York,

and I was with him
at a very important meeting

we had with Robert Kennedy
and some other people.

I had to the right to be
with them -

as a black woman.

Not as Lena Horne.

Gail: She said that the most
interesting person

at the meeting was one
of the SNCC members.

- SNCC stands for
the Student Nonviolent

Coordinating Committee.

And it was one of the major
civil rights organizations

of the 1960s,

and was associated with younger,

College-aged activists.

- And that was how she got
really interested in SNCC.

And he told harrowing stories
of what it was like

in Alabama and Mississippi.

And this young man
from SNCC said

he would never go to Vietnam,

but he would fight
in Mississippi.

Lena H.: I went to Medgar Evers
home in Mississippi

and I was driven
around the town.

And that's when he said to me,

"This is where I was born.

This country I love,

and I love Mississippi."

And he was working with people

who were trying to get voter
permission for black people.

I got back to New York,

and the next morning
I was gonna go on NBC

with, uh, Chet Huntley.

And he came in the room
and he said,

"We're gonna be a little
late starting because...

they've just killed
Medgar Evers."

We were all angry.

It wasn't a surprise.

It's never a surprise

when you know what
is going down.

♪ Alabama's got me so upset ♪

♪ Tennessee made me
lose my rest ♪

♪ Everybody knows about
Mississippi Goddam! ♪

♪ Alabama's got me so upset ♪

♪ California has made me
lose my rest ♪

♪ Everybody knows about
Mississippi goddam! ♪

♪ Can't you see it? ♪

♪ I know you can feel it,
It's all in the air ♪

- Six kids were murdered

in Birmingham, on a Sunday

and in Sunday school,

in a Christian nation,
and nobody cares!

- Nina Simone, already feeling
kind of a fury

and sadness of the death
of Medgar,

learns that four girls
were killed

in the church bombing

of the 16th street Baptist
church in Birmingham.

And so, Nina Simone
famously says,

that she tried to make a gun

and she didn't really
know how to do that.

And so, she composes
"Mississippi Goddam"

in under an hour.

- This is a pivotal point
for Nina Simone,

who says that at the,

at the moment in which
that bombing took place,

she had this spiritual
awakening.

♪ Hound dogs on my trail ♪

♪ Little school children
sitting in jail ♪

♪ Black cat cross my path ♪

♪ Think every day's
gonna be my last ♪

Ruth: So, as Nina Simone
went on that show

and she performed
"Mississippi Goddam"

and she talked about it
as a black woman too.

In both performing and talking,

she was able to bring these
issues of race and racism

into the homes of white
Americans across the country.

- First you get depressed,
and after that you get mad.

And when these kids got bombed,

I just sat down
and wrote this song.

And it's a very moving,
violent song

because that's how I feel
about the whole thing.

It's called "Mississippi
blank-blank."

- The first word is, "God,"
and the second word is "damn."

And I think everybody up
this late at night

who can afford to pay
for a television set

is adult enough to recognize

that one not only hears that
expression,

but probably most of you say it

when you hit your thumb
with a hammer.

- In "Mississippi Goddam",

we have Nina Simone pulling
from the past

and invoking it in the present,

but also speaking
to what is yet to come

if America does not enact
real social change.

- Probably no admission of Jesus

has been more difficult
to follow

than the command
to love your enemy.

♪ Lord have mercy
on this land of mine ♪

♪ We all gonna get it
in due time ♪

♪ I don't belong here ♪

♪ I don't belong there ♪

♪ I've even stopped
believing in prayer ♪

- There was an instance
when Nina Simone met Dr. King

and had a meeting
and talked with Dr. King.

And she made it clear to him

that she respected him
and what he was doing,

but that she was not
non-violent.

♪ Mr. Backlash
Mr. Backlash ♪

♪ Who do you think I am? ♪

♪ You raise my taxes
and freeze my wages ♪

♪ Sent my only son to Vietnam ♪

Lou: Nina Simone, one of our
"Say Something singers."

Her music articulates the hopes

and purposes of black people.

And Black Journal recently
accompanied Nina Simone

on a nationwide tour
across the country.

Let's dig it.

- Every song that I sing,
to me, is important;

that it communicates to...
Something to someone.

It is not just a, a song.

It's something that says
something to someone.

It's very much like poetry,
or a good play.

Something that communicates

and gets into the soul
of people.

- Even from the beginning,

when the first enslaved Africans

arrived here in America,

music has been the central
form of resistance.

They've had no political agency,

they've not had money,

they've not had social power.

The only thing they've ever had

is the ability to lift
their voice,

the ability to dance,
and to defy gravity.

The ability to create rhythms,

that can translate word

and stir the soul,

and Nina understood that.

- An artist's duty,
as far as I'm concerned,

is to reflect the times.

That to me is my duty.

A-a-and at this crucial time
in our lives

when everything is so desperate,

when every day is a matter
of survival,

I don't think you can help
but be involved.

Young people, black and white,
know this.

That's why they're so involved
in politics.

We will shape and mold
this country,

I will not be molded
and shaped at all anymore.

♪ Simple walk
to the corner store ♪

♪ Mama never thought
she would be gettin' a call ♪

♪ From the coroner ♪

♪ Said her son's
been gunned down, ♪

♪ Been gunned down ♪

♪ Can you come now? ♪

♪ Tears in her eyes,
can you calm down? ♪

Alicia: If she didn't
choose to speak out

and be an activist,

to know and to feel
what was going on

socially in the world,

what would we have done?

That drives my, my life
right now.

- I'm feeling good now!

♪ To be young ♪

♪ Gifted, and Black ♪

♪ Oh how I've longed
to know the truth ♪

Salamishah: She's making such
a clear indictment

of American racism.

And she's doing it through
really, really different

kinds of musical traditions.

She's coming up
with like the show tune

for "Mississippi Goddam".

She's using a kind
of gospel sound

with "To Be Young, Gifted,
and Black".

♪ To be Young ♪

♪ Gifted and Black ♪

♪ Hey, is where it's at ♪

♪ Is where it's at ♪

♪ Is where it's at ♪

Ruth: Popular culture
is tremendously important

to the politics of civil rights.

People made sense of
the civil rights movement

and engaged with the civil
rights movement in films,

in music, on stage.

- Once you kind of create a lens

for us to see art
and entertainment

as a political act,

then you'll get a deeper
understanding

of the way women contribute.

"The Beulah Show!"

- Well, that looks pretty good!
- Oh, it does, Beulah.

- It ought to.
The prices they're charging,

I didn't know whether
to cook it or deposit it!

- We didn't get to see
colored people.

I can remember always running
to the television

or something
and having somebody say,

"Colored people on TV."
or something.

- Wake up, you loafer!
You hear me, wake up!

- Take a letter, sweetheart!

- I said WAKE UP!

- Oh, Oh, Oh...

Oh, Sapphire!

- We saw "Amos 'n' Andy".

We saw "Rochester"
on "Jack Benny".

- Rochester!
- Yes, boss!

- Rochester, I asked you
a thousand times

to fix that dripping faucet!

- You know, and the occasional
black performer

on Ed Sullivan.

- Sometimes television can
seem superficial to people

or they think,
oh, it's just a TV show.

But when it's us,
it's never just a TV show,

it's never just a movie.

It's more than that.

It's a doorstop
propping up a door

so that way others
can walk through.

♪♪

LaTanya: Then along that
time came, you know,

Diahann Carroll with "Julia".

- I had been a guest
of Jack Valenti

who asked a group of us
to come to lunch

and be introduced to a man
named Roy Wilkins.

And he talked about
the Negroes place

in the entertainment business.

How little they're represented
properly on the air

and backstage
or behind the camera.

And I thought to myself,

there's something more I can do

and try to help the black people

present themselves more,

because after all,
I had done "Amos 'n' Andy"

and I had done "Beluah."

And I felt that
I was partially responsible

for some of the black image

that was prevalent at the time.

- It was known to all
the writers in Hollywood

that everybody was trying
to integrate.

All of the networks,
all of them.

And that's when Hal wrote
"Mama's Man."

That became "Julia".

So, I came to Hollywood
and I listened,

and I heard what
they hoped to do,

hoped to accomplish.

And so, I thought, yeah,
I'd like...

This is something new.

I'd like to try this.

First, we got rid of the name,

which is such a stereotypical
thought,

"Mama's Man".

And that's how "Julia" got born.

- We have dark skin
and people like Mrs. Bennet

think that Afro-Americans
like you, and me,

and Uncle Lou and Aunt Emma,

that we're different.

- Yeah. Mrs. Bennett says
we move into nice, clean places

and make them dirty.

LaTanya: For us,
it was finally!

Because finally we saw
a reference of who we were.

A reflection of what we see
in the mirror every day.

Diahann: Everyone was scared
because, um,

we were saying to the country,

um, we're going to present

a very upper middle-class
black woman,

and her major concentration

will not be about suffering
in the ghetto.

And we don't know
if you're gonna buy it,

but this is what
we're going to do.

- Has Mr. Colton told you?

- Told me what?
- I'm colored?

- What color are you?
- I'm a Negro.

- Have you always been a Negro,

or are you just trying
to be fashionable?

Jacqueline: Diahann Carroll -

she has this quality
of refinement

that really helps to explain
why it is that

she was the one who was cast
in the role of "Julia'.

This first, you know, uh,

television program centered on,

you know, a black woman
lead character.

- Merry Christmas, Julia!
Merry Christmas!

- Julia was a nice lady
who had a little boy,

lost her husband during
the war. Smart.

Great sense of humor.

She was great fun to play too.

The fact that Julia
was a nurse in a huge hospital

that had all sorts of people
of many races, colors, and...

but it was maybe something
that the American audience

had not, uh, seen before.

- And besides, when you go
on a trip like that,

there are too many things
to do to get ready.

There are plane tickets,
hotel reservations...

car rental.
- Car rental.

Ruth: Julia lived
in this integrated,

middle-class neighborhood
in California.

She was really, um,

not only integrating the show,

but she was integrating
the living rooms

of the white people who
would be watching the show.

- Mrs. Baker, I've been
a very stupid woman.

You've opened my eyes.

I hope you can open your heart
enough to forgive me.

Jacqueline: There was a lot
of criticism

of the way that the show
did not take up

social and political issues.

Julia is not shown picketing
and protesting.

She's not, you know,
putting her son to bed

and then going to
a Black Panther rally.

Male Voiceover: I do not object

to white people being
in the cast.

What I do object to is
selecting the black cast

from people who are
so white oriented,

that everyone has
a white mentality.

Female Voiceover: Your show is
geared to the white audience,

with no knowledge
of the realness

of normal Negro people.
"Julia" is unreal.

To repeat again,
Julia is no Negro woman.

- Some of the criticism
of course was valid,

but that’s not
what we were doing.

And we were of a mind
that was a different show.

We were allowed
to have this show.

We were allowed to put this
point of view on the air.

We were allowed to have a comedy

about a black middle-class
family.

- And then, we get into a lot
of debates about realism.

You know, like, uh,

how, how much can we expect,

of, you know, white writers,
producers

to develop worlds
for black characters,

worlds that they don't know?

- Here's what I say, man,
this is logic to me.

- Okay.

- Here we have a beautiful
nurse,

wearing $300 gown.

And I just said,

"She got to be selling dope
out to hospital to folk."

- He's so bad,
I love you anyway!

He is just so bad!

I think everyone was very proud
that they put Julia together

and put it on the air.

And the reception was wonderful,

we had great ratings.

- I thought that "Julia",

because it was such
a popular show,

was going to catapult
that whole,

whole situation -

the genre of, of black women

in those professional positions

that you would have seen
more of that.

But it didn't happen, you know.

- In the 1960s,
you saw the gates open again,

and that was pressure
from the NAACP saying,

"You need to see us."

And the white creators
created "Julia".

And so, there was a little bit
of space. It did well.

People enjoyed it. There was
a little bit of controversy,

and the gate shut again.

- The reality is there are
not a lot of parts

for leading ladies,
for women of color.

We really have to get behind
the scenes

and create these projects

and tell our stories
for ourselves.

Cicely: We are not just
considered actresses.

For instance, I would be up

for the same role as Jane Fonda.

If I were considered an actress

rather than a black actress,

which limits my ability to work.

Ruth: From the start
of her career,

Cicely Tyson was very,
very selective

about what parts she would
and wouldn't accept.

Her support for civil rights
came through the ways

in which she performed
black womanhood.

- I have the reputation
in my business

for working every few years.

And it's every two or three
years when a role comes along

that appeals to me, uh,

that speaks for me,

that deals with what
I would like to project

to my audiences.

♪ Will you come by here ♪

♪♪

♪ Now is the needed time
Oh, now... ♪

Sharon: When I saw "Sounder"
with Cicely Tyson,

it changed everything.

It was a beautiful relationship

between a black man
and black woman.

- Where was it you went
last night, Nathan?

- I did what I had to do,
Rebecca.

- She plays the mother
in a working-class

sharecropping family,

um, set in the depression.

- Now you took some food
and stuff

from Jamie's smokehouse
last night.

My deputy and me,

we gotta' take you down
to the county house.

- What they doing, Mama?
- Quiet, son! Quiet!

- Her husband is arrested
for having stolen ham

to feed this hungry family.

And she along with her children

get the family through
their struggles

and work the land while
her husband is in jail.

- Ready to go, Mama!

- Well, tuck that shirt in,
David Lee.

When you get out of that school,

you come straight on home,
you hear?

- We got to see them relate
to each other

in terms of daily struggles.

You know, what it was
to feed your family,

what it was to connect
romantically,

what it was to have
a community around you.

- The two of you could sit
under a shaded tree,

drink ice cold whiskey,
and shoot the breeze!

- Well, I hope you told him
I's too busy

for that kind of stuff?

Sharon: It was black love.
It was beautiful.

It was political

because we weren't allowed
to have that.

We weren't given the freedom

to actually be full human
beings,

and Cicely Tyson
brought that to us.

- Oh, my God.
It's Nathan.

Nathan!

- She was amazing.
Her running - just-

her acting had such breath in it

that I think we realized

that you could actually
blow it out of the water.

- Daddy!

- There's something about us

that always made us
want to close in.

And it was because of how
we had been treated.

Cicely was like,
"Let's open it up!"

Let's break it all open.

- This happened in Los Angeles,

and this was a journalist
who said to me,

"I'm glad I saw
the movie, Cicely,

because I never really thought
that a black man and woman

related to each other that way.
I thought that the thing

that existed between them
was just a lust or a sex;

that they never really
had love." And I said,

"You know what you're saying?
You're saying that

we're not human beings.

She said, "The only way
I get my education

is through the film media,
through books,

and through one or two black
people that I meet in business.

But I don't really know them,

so I don't know their lifestyle.

I don't know what their
home life is like."

Well, in that case, then,

it's serving as an education
to many whites.

Alicia: There's nothing
more powerful

than being able to speak the
truth of what you're living.

When it's not easy, by the way,

to stand for stuff.

To stand up in front of all
these people telling you that,

you know, "You shouldn't,
you couldn't, you wouldn't.

They'll kill you.
You won't have a career.

You won't feed your family."

You know, it is not easy.

♪♪

Gail: My mother realized that

she wasn't going to go far
in Hollywood,

so nightclubs were really where
it was going to be for her.

♪♪

Lena H.: I had hoped
for a while

to have my own television
series.

But the time wasn't right
yet for that.

And so, it made me begin
to think

that probably it
would never happen.

Ruth: She couldn't really
advance in Hollywood

because she became more
increasingly associated

with the Left.

And so that proved particularly
problematic for her

and she was blacklisted.

Gail: "Red Channels"
was published by a man

who was the biggest
black-lister in Hollywood.

And he put out this booklet

in which he listed
all of the actors

and actresses and performers

who he thought were
Communist sympathizers.

In those days
if you were even listed,

you were considered a communist.

And she did not make
a movie for six years.

The nightclub bosses wanted
her off the blacklist.

What you had to do was
you had to write a letter

to this union.
This union was mobbed up.

My mother wrote saying
she was not a communist

and that Paul Robeson had
not influenced her politics

even though he was
a family friend,

and that she would not give up
speaking out for her race,

but certainly would not
get involved

with any communist
organizations.

And then she had to go and see
a man called George Sokolsky

in New York, who was a big
Right-wing columnist.

And he could clear you.

It was all crooked.

He said to her,
"Well, I'm sure these are

all your youthful indiscretions
and you're cleared."

And she got cleared.

She saved her career.

♪♪

Salamishah: Abbey Lincoln
is a good example of an artist

who pays for her political voice

and is censored,

as a result of her deep
political engagement.

- She makes the controversial
album "Straight Ahead".

♪ Straight ahead ♪

♪ The road keeps winding ♪

♪ Narrow, wet ♪

♪ And dimly lit ♪

- We have Abbey Lincoln,

who is projecting to us
the anger,

the outrage, right,
that's been simmering,

but she has the audacity
to articulate it.

- That's an album for which she
was criticized a great deal.

A very influential jazz critic
for the journal "Downbeat"

lambasted the album
and accused Lincoln

of being a "Professional Negro",

infusing jazz too much
with politics

and really deriding her
for that reason.

Announcer: Downbeat conducted
a roundtable discussion

to air the situation.

Much of the following
conversation

revolved around Gitler's review
of Abbey Lincoln's album

"Straight Ahead".

Abbey: It's impossible for me
to be "a professional Negro"

because I am a black woman.

Ira: I meant by that,
using the fact that

you were a Negro
to exploit a career,

in particular...
Abbey: Exploit a career?

How can I sing as a black
woman, as a Negro,

if I don't exploit
the fact that I'm a Negro?

Ira: Yes, but I thought
you were overdoing it.

- They attack her in a way they
cannot attack Max Roach.

Max: If anybody has a right
to exploit the Negro,

it's the Negro.

Ira: I felt she was leaning
too much

on her negritude in this album.

- They attack her in a way
that they will not attack

a Miles Davis,
or a John Coltrane.

Abbey: Everybody is not black
in this society,

and the people who are,

are the only ones
who are qualified

to say how it feels.

And I, Abbey Lincoln,

sing about what's most
important to me.

You know, when I wasn't
a Professional Negro,

nobody seemed to mind.

I was capitalizing on the fact
that I was a Negro

and I looked the way Western
people expect you to look.

I was not an artist.
I had nothing to say.

And as soon as I said,

"I don't want to do
this anymore,"

they came down on me
with all four feet.

Ruth: And you can see her
changed appearance

in terms of her commitment
to representing herself

as a certain kind of black woman

and defining herself as
beautiful on her own terms.

Jacey: The permed hair and
perfectly quaffed do's -

gone. Gone.

Afros and braids came.

Abbey: I started to wear
my hair natural

and that spooked a lot
of people.

It's amazing what'll spook
people.

They said I was a rebel.

♪ Black is Beautiful ♪

♪ Don't you see ♪

♪ Black... ♪

♪♪

♪ Took a trip to Paris... ♪

Salamishah: The ways in which
black women performers

have always had to navigate,
push back,

redefine a cultural aesthetic
tied to their beauty,

that's where you can see
how politics

and racial and gender wars

are really being played out.

♪ Come home to see
the promised land ♪

Jacey: Blacks are saying,

"Don't buy Abbey Lincoln's
records.

Don't listen to her music
because she's a troublemaker."

Because of her hair.
You know?

How ridiculous is that?
You know?

But before you knew anything,
everybody was wearing afros.

Sharon: Every time we wear
an afro or every time,

we wear our hair naturally,

it is a huge statement

against 400 years of oppression,

telling us that
that's not beautiful.

Yolonda: Who is the hair
police?

You know, who says that
your straight, fine hair

is the way that
my hair should be?

If it grows from my head
a certain way,

that's the way it should be.

You know, if I choose
to put a chemical in it

to straighten it, or use a hot
comb to straighten it,

that's my choice.

♪ Oh... ♪

♪♪

Jacey: Abbey is considered,
by some,

to be the first artist
to wear an afro.

Some people say
it's Cicely Tyson.

Some people it's Abbey Lincoln.

Either way, both of them
wore afros.

They were the ones
that started it.

- Cicely, yet another
spectacular hairstyle.

What do you call that?

- Well, I-I don't know that
this one has any specific name,

but my hairdresser, Ouma,

refers to it as African
hair sculpture.

- I had the great fortune
of playing opposite Ms. Tyson

in a play called
"The Blacks" by Jean Genet.

- Oh my heavens, yes.

- And you had one of the first
naturals or Afros then.

- Yes.
- But then,

you took it into a modern
character on television.

- Yes on television,
"East Side, West Side".

♪♪

- Do you have an apprentice
program?

- Why yes.
- Could a Negro get into it?

- If he we're qualified.

- Could a man with a certificate

from a trade school,

a registered trade school
like this, qualify?

- This isn't exactly
precision instrument.

- But he could get into
your training program

with that kind of background?

If not, Mr. Stone,

maintenance work is all
that will ever be open.

- As a matter of fact,
it brought about

a great deal of feeling
amongst hairdressers

because I began
to get a lot of mail

stating that they were
losing their customers

because they were beginning
to cut off their hair

because this actress was quote,

"wearing her hair nappy."

It is nappy, right.

Lena W.: Her deciding
to wear her hair,

in its natural state
was almost a form of protest.

♪ Save Me ♪

♪ Somebody save me ♪

Salamishah: Nina Simone,
for example,

is a progenitor for a kind
of black aesthetic,

um, that black women
would really take up

in the late 1960s and mid-1970s,

that we think of as like
afros and dashikis-

a Black Power aesthetic.

And so for someone
like Nina Simone

who was highly conscious
of the fact

that she was already
marginalized

because she was a dark brown
skinned woman,

and then marginalized because
her hair wasn't straight,

and marginalized because
her features didn't fit

the kind of stereotype
of European beauty.

For her to embrace her beauty,

and not just embrace it,

but also render her beauty
as glamorous,

was really, really political.

- Four Negro women.

One...

each one with a different color.

Each one with a different
grade of hair.

And one of the women's
hair is like mine.

Each one with
a different background.

Four women...

Salamishah: Nina Simone
composes a song

called "Four Women".

She was really, really was
putting forth a narrative

of black women
that was broken down

by different color categories,

as well as different
historical conditions.

♪ My skin is tan ♪

♪♪

♪ My hair is fine ♪

Tammy: "Four Women"
is a pivotal song

because I think it really
brings to the forefront

how black women
visualize themselves

within this larger narrative
of liberation.

♪ My skin is black ♪

Tammy: It looks at how
black women,

and their bodies...

♪ And my arms are long ♪

Tammy: and their skin color
has been used

to shape their lives.

♪ My hair is like wool ♪

Tammy: But it is also
the transformation

of the word "black"
from something that

was seen as an insult

to something that is
about empowerment.

♪ Strong enough ♪

♪ To take all this pain ♪

♪ That's been inflicted ♪

♪ Again and again
and again and again ♪

Tammy: Black radio refused
to play that particular song,

saying that Nina Simone
is perpetuating racism

because of her advancement
of a conversation

about colorism, and how
that impacted black women.

♪ My skin is brown ♪

Salamishah: And then also I
think it becomes the blueprint

for burgeoning generation
of black feminist writers

like Toni Morrison,

Alice Walker, Ntozake Shange.

They all say that Nina Simone
kind of gave them permission

to be the kind of writers
that they are.

Toni Morrison even says
Nina Simone saved our lives.

So, "Four Women"
and Nina Simone's

really complicated discussion
of color,

and gender, and race
in that song;

you can think of it
as a precursor to, um,

Toni Morrison's 1970 novel,

"The Bluest Eye",
her debut novel.

Lena W.: Even though I'm not
a musician,

her music is very influential

in how I want to tell stories,

and how I want to make art

because she knew that

every time she sat down
at a piano

or stepped in front
of a microphone,

it was an opportunity to,

to really speak
to her community.

And yes, she was speaking
to the world,

but she was also speaking
specifically to us

as a people.

Tammy: Nina Simone
and Abbey Lincoln,

they were both situating
their bodies

and their voices in this
spectrum of resistance culture.

Jacey: Abbey, she lost a lot
of work because of that.

She really did.

I mean, it, uh,
that transformation

hit her in the wallet.

And, you know, because of that,

Abbey couldn't get another
record deal for a long time.

It was like 12 or 13 years.

- She actually just leaves
that part of her life behind,

in terms of recording
studio albums, right,

and begins to focus
on activism and acting.

Ruth: She was in
the independent,

very low budget film,
"Nothing But A Man".

- It ain't gonna be easy, okay?

But it's gonna be alright.

Jacey: It's a love story.

Blue collar guy falls in love
with a preacher's daughter,

who's a schoolteacher.

This love helps him
move forward.

And he truly becomes a man.

- How would you like
to have a baby, Duff?

- Huh?
You jivin' me?

- Well, I haven't come around.

- Wow. Ain't that somethin'.

- We'll be alright.

- Abbey was very proud
of that film.

- I saw this film and I saw
subsequent appearances.

Uh, I was just convinced that,
that you were it.

You were-you were going
to be up there on top,

- Mm-hmm.

- And uh,
and it didn't happen, and...

- It hasn't happened for anybody

who is female and black
on stage.

A lot of women would like
to be actresses,

and to work all the time
in films.

Including Diana Ross,
and Cicely Tyson,

Ruby Dee.

You know, Dorothy Dandridge
passed away

waiting for a film -
it's why I sing.

Because we have a war here
in this country.

It's for who's going to be
on top.

And the black woman has
to suffer. I know that.

She always has.

- Are you ready black people?
Crowd: Yeah!

- Are you ready black people?
Crowd: Yeah!

- Are you ready to call
the wrath of black Gods?

♪ Black magic,

to do your bidding?

Salamishah: The Harlem Cultural
Festival took place in 1969.

It's kind of famously
dubbed "Black Woodstock",

but Nina Simone stands out
as like the artist

that everyone was paying
attention to.

- Are you ready to smash
white things?

♪ Crowd: Yeah!

- To burn buildings,
are you ready?

Crowd: Yeah!
- Are you really, really,

really, ready?
Crowd: Yeah!

♪

Salamishah: She's reciting
radical

black nationalist poetry,

galvanizing the crowd
to kind of believe

in their blackness
and to harness the power

of the Black Power movement.

♪♪

- During the late 1960s,

there is a rising militancy.

Kathleen: The Black Panther
Party overlooks nothing,

is afraid of nothing,

and is able to resolve
the major contradiction

of our time.

Salamishah: The Black Power
Movement

and the Black Panther Party
have risen.

Angela: If keeping my job means

that I have to make any
compromises

in the liberation struggle
in this country,

then I'll gladly leave my job.

Salamishah: And the women's
liberation movement

is in full bloom.

- Bring him down!
Bring him down!

- And so, there's, a desire
to see a different

kind of black representation.

- He has to see the people
that stays here.

Her, me her,
and the people out here.

Jacqueline: There is an
increasing appetite

for characters on screen

who are willing to fight
for themselves

and for their communities.

Salamishah: And you have
these films,

we know as the Blaxploitation
film genre.

♪♪

Jacqueline: Blaxploitation
is one of,

I think, the most
fascinating chapters

in American film history,

because black people saved
the film industry.

- My name is John Shaft.

Jacqueline: Hollywood
studios were suffering

because of television.

Because of white flight
to suburbs.

So, the industry picks up
on the fact

that if we make films that
are about black characters,

that tell black stories,

that we can make some pretty
big and quick money

in these downtown theaters,

and that's exactly
what happened.

♪♪

- Some of the criticism that
leaders of the civil rights era

got was that they did not
represent all black people.

They did not represent the
black people of the street.

So, you have something
like Blaxploitation

which is about that.

♪ Foxy lady,
Foxy lady ♪

Announcer: Pam Grier -
that one chick hit squad

who creamed you as Coffy

is back to do a job
on the mob as "Foxy Brown".

- You tell me who you want done,

and I'll do the hell out of him.

Announcer: A chick with drive
who don't take no jive.

Foxy Brown!

Salamishah: Pam Grier
becomes the most visible,

uh, female face in the
Blaxploitation genre.

She's the person who's fighting
back against authority,

and she's taking down the man.

- Oh, you son of a bitch!

You had to tell them,
didn’t you?

- The first time I saw
Pam Grier on screen,

I, for lack of a better word,
I was in awe.

- What are you trying to do,
kill me?

- I damn well ought to,
you rotten bastard!

And If I don't,
you better thank the Lord

you're my brother 'cause
there's no other reason.

Meagan: She was just so
powerful and so intentional,

and so unapologetic,
and so sexy,

and, um so badass.

- I don't know what you
talkin' about.

Agh!

- Now, I only got so much
control.

And I'm liable to put one of
these right between your eyes,

no matter what Mama'd say.

Meagan: A lot of times
you'd see movies

and women are always
the damsel in distress.

She's never the hero.
She's never the one who's,

you know, is beating someone up

and getting whatever
needs to be done.

So for me, the first time that
I saw her in "Foxy Brown",

I was just like,
"Who is this woman?"

- I'm O.G.

Pam Grier.

The ass-kicking roles.

It comes from
my own empowerment.

- Wait! Wait! What do you
wanna go and do this for?

Why? Why? Look here,
I got your fix.

Don't you want your fix?
- No!

Salamishah: The Black Panther
Party

is by then majority women.

So, she's really representing
all these different movements

in which black women's power

is being harnessed
for public good.

Pam: I had such a positive
response

from the Black Panthers.

They, it was,
they were so supportive

because the Black Panthers
allowed women

to be fighters and warriors.

♪ The Revolution has come ♪

- We make no distinction
whatsoever.

Women hold, uh, ranking
positions in the party.

They are all military trained.

♪ No more brothers in jail ♪

- What is it you really want?
- Justice.

- For whom, your brother?

- Why not? It could be your
brother too,

or your sister,

or your children.

I want justice for all of them.

Meagan: She was a vigilante.
She was someone who was like,

"Justice for the people."

Someone who protected
the underdog.

Yolonda: As much as I wanted
to be like Cicely Tyson,

I wanted to be Pam Grier,
you know,

because she was the, you know,

the epitome of the gorgeous
black woman

who wasn't gonna take any shit.

- The thing that upsets me most
about those films

is that they are shown
all over the world.

And if there is no other way
of educating whites...

- Girls, this motherfucker's
got rhythm.

All:

- This is the opinion
that they have of us.

And what we have to do
is balance the scale

so people will get a realistic
view of what we're like.

Salamishah: Blaxploitation
films

have a kind of complicated
history.

In one hand, they are seen
as these films

with a really important
political message.

- But I don't know.
Vigilante justice?

- It's as American as apple pie.

- But they're also seen as,
you know,

sometimes troubling around

what kind of images
they were putting forth.

- Hey look, I want you
to meet somebody.

This here is, uh, Mystique.

Cicely: They're definitely
exploitation of blacks.

Mystique: Hmm. Quite an
assortment you have here, man.

Cicely: Simply because they
do not project

a real slice of black life.

They say that we're all whores,

we're all drug users,

we're all drug pushers.

We're con men,
we're super studs.

We're, we're just unreal!

- This is the end
of your rotten life,

you mother-fuckin' dope pusher.

Pam: My agents are calling me,

and I got a three-picture deal.

Jacqueline: She was like this
extraordinary sex symbol.

She's pushing so hard against

the history of limitation

on the way that black women
could express their sexuality

on screen and off screen.

Radheyan: This is the first
time we're really seeing

black actors on screen being
able to own their sexuality,

'cause that didn't happen
with Sidney Portier.

That didn't happen
with Harry Belafonte.

They had to be neutered
for white audiences.

Pam: The 70s really the basic
rewards for the 50s and 60s

political gains.
So, we went crazy with music,

and afros, and hair,
and we were part of

the sexual movement
and the women's movement.

My movies were doing so well,

the audiences would see the
movie three and four times.

Then it would stay
in the theatres too long,

which caused, you know,
the majors to get upset.

And so, that's when they
started the multi-theaters

because one theater
wasn’t enough.

♪♪

- It let Hollywood know that
that was an audience for,

you know, hot, black women
that would, you know,

spend their money to go
in there,

sit in the theater
and watch them.

- Why don't we go and, uh,

adjudicate this matter
in chambers, as they say,

and maybe we can make
a few motions or something?

- We also found out black women
are very vindictive, you know.

And when revenge is in play,

they get revenge,
which is awesome.

This ain't gonna hurt!

Samuel: They also found out
that they were professional

and able to carry a storyline.

And were important in terms
of how we wanted

to perceive ourselves on screen.

- I got her!
Get the other one!

- Ah!
- Get her!

Quentin: Pam's star was
an action female hero.

She really owned the spot
for women in the 70's

with those films that America
had really never seen before

or since.

Bunyon! Ah!

Pam: It was fun.
Just go out, jump around,

fall off buildings into bags.

You know, I love flying,
I love scuba diving,

I love, you know being outdoors.

I love action.
And a lot of women said,

"Oh my God, my daughter
was so inspired."

- Have I bruised your
masculinity?

- You're sexy.

Pam: It wasn't called
Blaxploitation

until a woman walked
in the shoes of a man.

- I ought to take you.
- Try me.

Pam: And a woman whistled
at a man's behind

in some tight pants.
And a woman flirted,

and a woman held a gun,
and she did what men did,

then it's exploitation -
but it wasn't.

It was what, from a woman's
perspective, liberation.

I called it black liberation.

- What are you crazy?

- He's ready sister.
- No, you...!

Halle: I really understand how
important those movies were,

especially for a black artist.

We had no opportunities.
Those were our opportunities

and I know during the time
they took a lot of hits.

People today still get caught
in their feelings

about those movies,
but the reality is,

as artists we needed outlets.

Director: Cut! Hold on the top!

Roll it! Action!

Lena H.: So, we had to take
the bitter with the sweet,

you know? We had to take
the exploitation

because it employed a lot
of actors in Hollywood

wishing they had something
to do.

- Ah!

- If Blaxploitation gives us
Pam Grier,

I'll take it any day.

- I'm not gonna deal with any
of the criticisms of "Sounder",

but I'm going to deal
with awards.

Do you think it would be
of any significant value,

say you were to win
an Academy Award

for your portrayal of Rebecca?

- Well, I overheard several
times of producers

and directors say, uh,

"Blacks don't want to see
themselves that way."

Well, I was incensed
because, you know,

my whole feeling is
let me make my decisions

about what I want to see.

And we were not given a choice.

We were given one specific
type of film and that was all.

Nobody said,
"Well, this is 'Sounder',

and this is whatever
the other film is."

You have your choice.

I demand a choice
as a human being.

And I think that
the success of "Sounder"

has proven them wrong so far.

And I hope that it will
continue to do so.

Now, if I win it, it will be
the first time in the history

of the academy that a black
woman wins the award.

- The truly talented
ladies nominated

for Best Performance
by an Actress are:

Raquel: Liza Minnelli
in "Cabaret".

Gene: Diana Ross in
"Lady Sings the Blues".

- Maggie Smith in
"Travels with My Aunt".

Gene: Cicely Tyson
in "Sounder".

Raquel: Liv Ullman
in "The Emigrants".

Gene: And the winner is...

Raquel: I hope they haven't
got a cause...

Liza Minelli!

- Cicely Tyson has a series
of really significant roles

in the 1970's.

The first is in
the film "Sounder",

which comes out in 1972.

The second is
in the television film,

"The Autobiography
of Ms. Jane Pittman",

which comes out in 1974.

And then she has a small
but quite significant role

in the opening episode

of the television
mini-series, "Roots",

in 1976.

- We have a very strong son.

Ruth: All of these productions
were critical,

and commercial successes.

- I understand you were a slave.

- These productions tell stories

of African American history.

- Lots of peoples were slaves.

- Well, I thought maybe
you could tell me

what things were like
in those days.

Ruth: And she portrays
black women who are...

- In those days...?

Ruth: poor yet dignified.

Hardworking,
committed to family,

who are helping
the race survive.

- It was time for the black
woman to appear

on the screen as a human being,

rather than as a Barbie doll,

a sex symbol, or addict,

all of the things that we
have been forced to deal with

in the past few years in films.

Ruth: Cicely Tyson's roles
really affirmed the strength,

and the power, and the love

that were central
to black families,

and really pushed back against
a widespread demonization

that circulated about
black family since 1965,

when Daniel Patrick Moynihan,

who was then an assistant
secretary of labor,

wrote what became known
as the Moynihan report.

This was a document in which
he was trying to diagnose

what was wrong
with black families.

Moynihan argued
that the main problems

that black families were facing,

had to do with matriarchal
households

in which mothers were too strong

and were the cause of a lot
of dysfunctional behavior.

- Ma! Ma! The social
worker's here!

- Oh shit!

Ruth: The Moynihan report
contributed to critiques

of welfare saying that black
women were promiscuous...

- Honey, get rid
of the TV and hide!

Ruth: and trying to scam
the government

and just trying to get more
and more money

from the federal government

so that they wouldn't
have to work.

- So you're the gentleman

that's been keeping
company here.

Ruth: The movie "Claudine"

was a direct assault
on the underlying logic

of the Moynihan report,

and on the welfare system
itself,

and the ways in which it policed

and sought to control black
women's reproductive lives

as well as their work lives.

- But the Welfare is supporting
Mrs. Price.

- Supportin'?
Supportin' shit!

He gave me this.
He gave me this.

Yes, he gave it to me.

And he gave me this.

Now we have to hide this shit.

You believe - yes, he gave me
this, we have to hide this.

He gave us this too,
but it don't work.

- That's right and I have to
hide my man in the toilet.

Miss Kabak, do you hide
your man in the toilet?

Jacqueline: In "Claudine",
Diahann Carroll plays

a welfare mother living
in Harlem.

She's got this kind of like
slew of children and,

and she's engaged
with the real struggle

with the welfare state.

- The film exposes
the inequities

of the welfare system.

- What is this?
Am I not supposed to see a man?

What am I? A damn nun?

- No, but if you've been
sleeping with a man

and he's been giving you things,

I'm sorry but I have to know.
- Do you sleep with a man?

- Now that's none
of your business!

- It's none of your business
either.

- You're wrong Mrs. Price!
It is our business!

- "Claudine" to me is such an
important piece on cinema

just because of how grounded
it is in the story telling,

in the fabric of it, and the,

the, the, the humanity in it.

And I think that's because
James Earl Jones

and Diahann Carroll
are such dignified people

that they can't help
but bring dignity

to these roles
and these characters.

- We'd love to see
you get married.

- Yeah, I'm hip you would!

It would take the government
off the hook and put me on.

Jacqueline: When Diahann
Carroll makes "Claudine",

in many ways, it seems as
though she's trying to respond

to some of the criticism
that she received for "Julia".

Playing a welfare mother,
in Harlem,

rendering some of the challenges

that poor women face.

- Fighting!
Beating up on somebody!

That makes you a man, right?

Screwing all the broads
and making babies,

that makes you a man!
Big man!

Jacqueline: She wanted to
demonstrate to the public

that she had the capacity
to stretch in that way,

but then also wanting
to be responsive

to the frustrations
of the black community

with regard to a kind
of whitewashing

of black characters in media.

- I loved doing "Claudine".

It was demanding to reach
a little further

and away from glamor.

Being flirted with by someone
that I like very much,

and how do I hold that in place

while raising my children?

Jack: Diahann Carroll
For "Claudine".

And Faye Dunaway
for "Chinatown".

Valerie Perrine for "Lenny".

Genna Rowlands for "A Woman
Under the Influence".

And the winner is...
Ellen Burstyn in

"Alice Doesn't Live
Here Anymore".

Diahann: It was, uh,
fabulous to learn

that I had been nominated.

It was almost unbelievable
in the beginning.

There's so few black actors,
actresses

who were nominated ever,

and I felt it was a blessing
from above.

I am bursting with pride

because I think maybe
this is the beginning

of roles that have
a little more dimension

than we've been exposed
to before.

I hope so.

- Well, after "Claudine",

we don't see Diahann Carroll
on screen for a long time.

She is victim of a larger
kind of pull back

on black representation in film

that happens after the fall

of the so-called
Blaxploitation cycle.

As Hollywood interest
in serving black audiences

began to wane in the mid
to late 1970s.

♪♪

She comes up again
in the amazing role

of Dominique Deveraux
on "Dynasty" in the 1980s.

- I saw Jane Wyman,

who was nasty and mean
and rich and powerful.

And I saw Joan Collins,

who was nasty and mean
and rich and powerful.

And I said, "You know
what I wanna be?

I wanna be nasty, and mean,
and rich, and powerful!"

Right?
Audience:

- What's wrong with that?
- That's the American Dream!

That's the American Dream!

- Absolutely.

- Welcome to La Mirage Ms...?
- Deveraux.

Let's see.

Yes, we have a beautiful
junior suite

ready for you
on the second floor.

- Junior suite?

I specifically asked
for a two-bedroom suite.

I don't sleep in my clothes,

nor do I sleep with them.

I require one bedroom for my
wardrobe and one for myself.

- Dominique Devereaux

is really a white man.

She lives in that world

and it's primarily about money.

- Do your lies never stop?

- Are you calling me a liar?

Oh, I find that very amusing.

Well, I suggest
that you check it out

with Garrett Boydston yourself

because he gives a new meaning
to the word liar.

- Alexis?
- Yes.

- I didn't thank you
for your present.

Ow!

Diahann: I wanted
the audience to say,

"Who is this mean woman?"

I didn't want to like
my children;

I didn't want to have a good
relationship with my husband.

I thought it was nice
for a change

to see someone who was not
wonderful who was black.

♪♪

- When we tell our stories,

we get to be the hero.

And, but we also get
to be the villain,

and I think both are important.

- You are not fit to be a king!

Ha!

Pam: The studios wanted me
to do the same thing,

be redundant. I said,
"I can't."

I don't want to bore
my audience,

I got to give them something
different.

Something that shows
that we can do anything.

I really wanted to bring
the Dorothy Dandridge story

to screen, but then
the studio were saying,

"If no one knows of her,
then no one's going to come."

So, okay. Next.

Mary Fields, the first black
female stagecoach driver.

It's action - we make it like
a Clint Eastwood movie.

"Good, Bad, and the Ugly".

"Oh, that sounds kind of - nah".

No one's gonna believe
that there was

a black female stagecoach
driver.

We went through Ella Fitzgerald,

women's jazz bands,
women airline pilots.

You know, we went to all of
them who have my catalogue,

who produced for me.
And they said,

"No, that's, keep doing
what you're doing."

- We are going to see
the senator.

I wanna ask him a few questions,

and I want some no jive answers.

- To what?

- To where are all
the black leaders?

- I was happy to see
Pam Grier make it out of,

you know, the blaxploitation
section of film.

- We're going to have a baby.
- That's good.

- You're not mad, are you?
- I love you Mary.

- If you had the chance
to walk away

with a half million dollars,
would you take it?

Yolonda: To have Quentin
Tarantino make a film with her,

that was the epitome right there

'cause she, showed herself to...

to carry this film,
to play this part.

Jacqueline: When Quentin
Tarantino does his homage

to Pam Grier in the film
"Jackie Brown",

that gives us a sense
of how important it is

to recognize that these films...

- Are you scared of me?

Jacqueline: have an impact
beyond the audiences

that they were primarily
made for.

- Ehh...

Jacqueline: It also kind
of gives us a sense

of what these actors
have the capacity to do.

- You think you're smart!
Huh? Do you? Do you?

Jacqueline: One wonders,
what could've happened

if she was able to
kind of demonstrate that

in a larger body of work.

Russell: And the Oscar
goes to...

Halle Berry in "Monster's Ball"!

♪♪

Woman: This is the first
Oscar for Halle Berry!

Halle: I am an actress who now
lives and works in an industry

that was far better than
when I started 20 years ago.

This moment
is for Dorothy Dandridge,

Lena Horne,

Diahann Carroll.

It's for every nameless
faceless woman of color

that now has a chance

because this door tonight
has been opened.

But I've struggled since
I'd won that Academy Award

to back that up

because there's just
a lack of material

and roles for women like me.

You know, we celebrate the
black stories that we have,

but if you had any idea
how many people try

after year after year
after year and fail,

I think it would be staggering.

Samuel: It's changed so much.

I mean Hattie McDaniel
went to the Oscars

and they sat her by
the kitchen, and she won.

You know, now,
if I go to the Oscars,

they put me in the front row.

They won't put me
by the kitchen.

It doesn't mean they don't
feel the same way.

Jacqueline: Filmmaking has been
a nepotistic profession.

If you're already sort
of inside of the network,

then you have opportunities.

And of course, this means
that African Americans

have had a tremendously
difficult time

breaking into the industry.

Many of the great black writers

who were interested
in Hollywood.

Zora Neale Hurston
wanted to write for film.

Langston Hughes
wanted to write for film.

- You don't really
have a choice, do you?

You don't really got
no choice though, do you?

- And take out, "Y'all the
ones who killed the cop."

Lena W.: I always wanted to be
a television writer -

adding a voice and being a part

of a sea of voices

on a TV. show.

But then as I got older,
I started to dream bigger.

You know, when I saw people
like Shonda Rhimes,

and Debbie Allen,

I wanted to be calling
the shots,

and so I was able to dream
a bigger dream because of them.

I was very impacted by
"A Different World".

And it was a great moment
for me when, uh,

Jada Pinkett's character
was introduced on

"A Different World",
and her name was Lena James,

and she was named
for Lena Horne,

and Lena Horne came and did
a guest spot on the show

and it felt like a sign

that I was on the right path.

- Lena's in the building!
Lena's in the building!

- Lena? Oh!

- I'm Whitley Gilbert-Wayne,

the head of the student
welcoming committee, Ms. Horne.

- Honey get up off the floor.

I'm not the Queen of England.

- Hi, my name is Lena,

and I'm so proud
to be named after you.

- Thank you.

- And you're still as beautiful
as my father said.

- Oh please.

Jacqueline: It's absolutely
crucial

to have more artists of color

working behind the camera

who can reflect the broad
experiences of people of color,

- Get on the ground now!
Get on the ground!

Jacqueline: and of African
Americans, in particular.

- Black storytellers have
a right to tell their story.

Uh, "Pariah" is through
the lens of Dee Rees.

"Twenties" is through
the lens of me.

"I May Destroy" you is through
the lens of Michaela.

"Insecure" is through
the lens of Issa Rae.

- All this sounds bad,
but it's actually really good.

- Cut! Close up!

- The exposure of art
transforms people;

reaches into you

and can change you.

Diahann: It's exciting
to watch black women

in the practical side
of business today.

The words were not even
in our sentences

when I was coming along.

Alicia: We wanna see truth.
- Congratulations!

Alicia: We wanna see
a variety of it,

and we're gonna have to
continue to fight for it

by the way.

- Next month on December 19th,

I'm going to be 94-years-old.

This is the culmination
of all those years

of have and have-not.

♪ I wish I knew how ♪

♪ It would feel
to be free ♪

Lena W.: All of these women
knew

that they were doing it

for those that were coming
behind them.

That we would be freer-er
than they would be.

- The kind of strength that
these young people have

is so fearless that it's
so strong and so beautiful.

- And what we do with
that freedom is very important,

because we need to free up those

that come after us as well.

Salamishah: Black women artists
mustered the courage

to use their platform
to make a difference

and are really carrying
the torch.

- We are artists!
We are activists!

We are entrepreneurs!

We rise!

♪ I found out ♪

♪♪

♪ How it feels ♪

♪ I know how it feels ♪

♪ To be free ♪

♪♪

♪♪

♪♪

♪♪

♪♪

♪♪