<I>A Question of Color </I>
date: label: Date
content: 1993
name: label: Directed by
content: Kathe Sandler, American, born 1959
label: Produced by
content: St. Clair Bourne, American, 1943 - 2007
label: Written by
content: Kathe Sandler, American, born 1959
label: Written by
content: Luke Harris, American
label: Subject of
content: Tuskegee Institute, American, founded 1881
label: Subject of
content: Booker T. Washington, American, 1856 - 1915
label: Subject of
content: Dr. Benjamin Franklin Payton, American, 1932 - 2016
label: Subject of
content: Johnny L. Ford, American, born 1942
label: Subject of
content: Vertamae Smart-Grosvenor, American, 1937 - 2016
label: Owned by
content: D.C. Public Library, American, founded 1896
notes: label: Caption
content: This film was a part of the Washington D.C. Public Library's circulating 16mm film collection housed at the Martin Luther King Jr. Central Library. The collection is particularly noted for the wide variety of African American and African diaspora content.
label: Description
content: A documentary film with the title A Question of Color. It consists of a single reel of color 16mm polyester film with optical sound.
label: Description
content: The film explores feelings many African Americans harbor about themselves and their appearance. It opens with a quote by author bell hooks about how black people can change the way they are seen by themselves and others before segueing to a scene in which a young woman (Curtina Jones) relates her experience dating a man whom she describes as "very dark skinned" but who refused to allow her to meet his mother because she was too dark. In the next scene, a chorus rehearses various words and idioms used to refer to skin color and hair texture such as ebony, coal black, tar baby, red, red bone, chocolate, nappy, good hair etc.
label: Description
content: Later in the film, Dr. Benjamin Franklin Payton, then president of Tuskegee University, discusses his experience as the institution’s first dark-skinned president, while tracing the origins of color discrimination back to slavery. Other prominent individuals featured in the film include Johnny L. Ford, then mayor of Tuskegee; artist and commentator Vertamae Smart-Grosvenor; prominent Tuskegee banker Bobby Davis and other members of the Davis family. The film also explores issues such as the resentment some light-skinned people believe darker people harbor towards them; the discontent some light-skinned people experience because of how they are perceived within the black community; as well as the strain colorism precipitates within relationships.
label: Description
content: In the closing scenes, filmmaker Kathe Sandler relates an experience in which she and her mother were featured on the cover of Essence magazine, but her darker sister was not invited to the photoshoot. As she walks down a busy street, her own voiceover narration describes the sense of isolation she feels being a biracial light-skinned black woman, despite recognizing the privileges this confers.
place: label: Place used
content: Washington, District of Columbia, United States, North and Central America
label: Place depicted
content: Tuskegee, Macon County, Alabama, United States, North and Central America
label: Place depicted
content: Crown Heights, New York City, Kings County, New York, United States, North and Central America
topic: label: Topic
content: African American
label: Topic
content: Beauty culture
label: Topic
content: Colorism
label: Topic
content: Documentary films
label: Topic
content: Education
label: Topic
content: Film
label: Topic
content: Identity
label: Topic
content: Politics
label: Topic
content: Race discrimination
setName: label: See more items in
content: National Museum of African American History and Culture Collection
label: Collection title
content: DC Public Library Film Collection
label: Classification
content: Time-based Media - Moving Images
creditLine: label: Credit Line
content: Collection of the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture, Transferred from the DC Public Library
dataSource: label: Data Source
content: National Museum of African American History and Culture
identifier: label: Object number
content: 2017.55.16.1a
objectType: label: Type
content: sound films
label: Type
content: color films (visual works)
label: Type
content: short subjects
label: Type
content: 16mm (photographic film size)
objectRights: label: Restrictions & Rights
content: Restrictions likely apply. Proper usage is the responsibility of the user.
physicalDescription: label: Medium
content: polyester film
label: Dimensions
content: Duration: 31 Minutes
label: Dimensions
content: Length (Film): 1100 Feet