Making Movies Black: The Hollywood Message Movie from World War II to the Civil Rights Era
by Thomas Cripps
Category: Religion

This is the second volume of Thomas Cripps's definitive history of African-Americans in Hollywood, covering the period from World War II through the civil rights movement of the 1960s. Examining this period through the prism of popular culture, Making Movies Black shows how movies anticipated America's changing ideas about race. Delving into previously inaccessible records of major Hollywood studios, as well as federal records of the Office of WarInformation, the N.A.A.C.P., and interviews with survivors of the era, Cripps reveals the struggle of black actors like Sidney Poitier, leading the way in liberal racial casting as cops and judges, fishermen, and wounded veterans, yet marginalized behind the scenes within the racial ferment of cultural politics.