When the Academy Museum of Motion Pictures in Los Angeles (or the Oscar Museum for short) opened its doors for the first time in September 2021 with a delay due to the pandemic, the original focus had changed. It should no longer just celebrate cinema itself, but also illuminate filmmaking in a complicated world – as well as the influence of social movements on Hollywood productions, which are often criticized for being too uncritical and commercial.
The museum’s second major exhibition, “Regeneration: Black Cinema, 1898-1971,” now explores and recognizes the contributions of African Americans to film and sheds light on seven tumultuous decades.
Excerpts from films made by African Americans for African Americans as well as photographs, costumes and other artefacts can be seen in seven galleries covering 1,000 square meters – alongside works by contemporary black artists such as Theaster Gates, Glenn Ligon, Gary Simmons and Kara Walker.
The exhibition ‘Regeneration: Black Cinema, 1898-1971’ runs until April 9, 2023
Co-curators Rhea L. Combs and Doris Berger searched archives and contacted relatives of the filmmakers to locate promotional materials, letters and even long-lost works. “We tried to pull it all together to shed light on the rich history of African American participation in the film world,” said Combs, director of curatorial affairs at the National Portrait Gallery at the Smithsonian Museum of Art in Washington. Among other things, collections in the “Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture” at the Public Library in New York were examined.
“Like a Treasure Hunt”
As it turned out during the research for the show, it was not at all easy to find works by black filmmakers or to restore them in fragments. “Even if we want to show a clip of a film in one of our montages, we can’t because it’s just not there anymore,” said Doris Berger, vice president of curatorial affairs for the Academy Museum. “Sometimes there are only certain objects that survived – such as promotional material or a poster, but the film itself no longer exists. On the other hand, we have again discovered works that were thought to be lost and which we were able to restore for our exhibition.”
The 1898 film Something Good – Negro Kiss depicts the first known kiss between black people on screen
This includes Robert L. Goodwin’s 1971 film “Black Chariot”, which is mentioned in books and media of the time but only briefly flickered across the screens. “Except for a handful of people, nobody really saw him,” Combs told DW.
She found the film with relatives of Goodwin, who died in 1983. “It wasn’t completely destroyed, even though it was stored in an apartment building with no air conditioning – it had never seen the light of day,” she says. It was an incredible feeling to hold it in your hands – “like on a treasure hunt.”
Highlight: Louise Beaver in “Reform School”
Another film gem was found in the archives of the Academy itself; “Reform School” has already been shown in one of the museum’s cinemas. The 1939 film – shot the same year as ‘The Wizard of Oz’, ‘Ninotschka’ and ‘Gone with the Wind’ but without Hollywood involvement – criticized the prison system and is still relevant today, Berger said. In addition, the African American Louise Beavers can be seen in a leading role. In the course of her 33-year career, she acted in numerous films, but mostly in small supporting roles; as a rule, she was cast as a servant or domestic worker.
“Reform School” with Louise Beavers (l), who was posthumously inducted into the “Black Filmmakers Hall of Fame” in 1976
In contrast, in the social drama “Reform School,” which only has black cast, Beavers “dominates the story in an impressive way,” according to Doris Berger. The film proves how different her career could have been if she had been given more opportunities in the entertainment industry.
Paul Robeson was under Gestapo surveillance
Although the “Regeneration” exhibition focuses on American films and filmmakers, the curators did not limit their research to the United States. Many of the artists presented sought and found audiences abroad in the course of their careers.
“Black artists from the USA were very successful in Europe, for example in Paris, London or Berlin,” says Berger, who did her doctorate at the Braunschweig University of Art. “I think those cities were really important centers of the entertainment industry at certain times and provided a platform for black artists like Josephine Baker, Nina Mae McKinney and Paul Robeson.”
In Germany, the curators found that the Gestapo had put Robeson under surveillance during his 1937 tour of Europe. The stage and film actor, a self-confessed supporter of the Soviet Union, was marginalized in the McCarthy era in the early 1950s, when anti-communist conspiracy theories shaped the political climate in the USA, because of his work as a prominent civil rights activist and anti-fascist. “He was seen as a threat, not just to the United States,” Combs said. “From the find in the German archive, we know that it didn’t just have this effect in the USA.”
The history of the civil rights movements is given a lot of space in the show
After the division of Germany into West and East Germany, Robeson was a welcome guest of honor in the GDR, who was awarded titles such as an honorary doctorate from the Karl Marx University in Leipzig.
Paul Robeson in The Emperor Jones (1933)
“The way he was treated changed over time. At one point he was watched, then a few years later he was welcomed as a hero,” Combs explains. “And that’s the kind of differential treatment that many black artists have had to deal with. Change was happening out of their control, but they were always trying to be true to their race, gender and national identity. It’s fascinating.”
Persistent in the fight against oppression
The Oscar Museum has one website set up to allow those who cannot make it to Los Angeles to interact with areas of the exhibit.
A staircase labeled ‘Colored’ symbolizes racial segregation in the cinema
The works that might have been exhibited had they not been lost are of course part of the debate – as is the role of the film industry in failing to preserve them. “Despite the ongoing repression and repression, there was a strong commitment from black artists who rebelled against it. And that’s what we’re showing in this exhibition,” says Combs. “Their involvement has always been there, despite the active and sometimes even systematic form of repression.”
The “Regeneration” show features films and related objects that didn’t perish – to honor the people whose perseverance made black American cinema possible. “To be able to uncover black participation in American cinema is a really powerful message,” says Combs. “American film production is more diverse and richer than we might have thought.”
Adaptation from English: Suzanne Cords
