<I>Of Black America: Black History; Lost, Stolen, or Strayed</I>
date: label: Date
content: 1968
name: label: Written by
content: Andrew Rooney, American, 1919 - 2011
label: Written by
content: Perry Wolff, American, 1921 - 2019
label: Narrated by
content: Bill Cosby, American, born 1937
label: Produced by
content: CBS Broadcasting, Inc., American, founded 1927
label: Subject of
content: Stepin Fetchit, American, 1902 - 1985
label: Subject of
content: Roy Glenn, American, 1914 - 1971
label: Subject of
content: Katharine Hepburn, American, 1907 - 2003
label: Subject of
content: Hattie McDaniel, American, 1895 - 1952
label: Subject of
content: Thelma McQueen, American, 1911 - 1995
label: Subject of
content: Mantan Moreland, American, 1902 - 1973
label: Subject of
content: Sidney Poitier, Bahamian American, 1927 - 2022
label: Subject of
content: Isabel Sanford, American, 1917 - 2004
label: Subject of
content: Bill "Bojangles" Robinson, American, 1878 - 1949
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 “Black History: Lost, Stolen, or Strayed” from the Of Black America television series. It consists of two (2) reels of color 16mm acetate film with optical sound.
label: Description
content: The documentary opens with narrator Bill Cosby discussing contributions that African Americans have made to American Life, such as Norbert Rillieux's contributions to refining sugar; Jan Ernst Matzeliger's contributions to shoe manufacturing; Matthew Henson being one of the first men to successfully make an expedition to the North Pole; and Daniel Hale Williams performing the world's first open-heart surgery. Cosby then questions why these pioneering African Americans were excluded from history textbooks. After discussing the innovations of African Americans, Cosby discusses a study which compares the way white children and black children view and represent the world around them through art.
label: Description
content: The rest of the documentary mostly focuses on African Americans in film. Cosby states that white filmmakers routinely represented black characters in ways that reinforced erroneous stereotypes about black people. He discusses films such as Uncle Tom's Cabin, The Birth of a Nation and Guess Who's Coming to Dinner, as well as African American actors such as Stepin Fetchit, Bill "Bojangles" Robinson, Sidney Poitier and several others. In the final scenes, he comments on beauty culture and the practice of black men chemically straightening their hair, as well as shows footage of a man educating a small class of young children on the importance of black pride.
place: label: Place used
content: Washington, District of Columbia, United States, North and Central America
topic: label: Topic
content: African American
label: Topic
content: Actors
label: Topic
content: Barbershops
label: Topic
content: Children
label: Topic
content: Documentary films
label: Topic
content: Education
label: Topic
content: Entertainers
label: Topic
content: Film
label: Topic
content: Hair
label: Topic
content: Hollywood (Film)
label: Topic
content: Identity
label: Topic
content: Public television
label: Topic
content: Science
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: Portfolio/Series
content: Of Black America
label: Classification
content: Time-based Media - Moving Images
label: Movement
content: BAM (Black Arts Movement 1965-1976)
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: 2017.55.101.1ab
objectType: label: Type
content: sound films
label: Type
content: color films (visual works)
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: acetate film
label: Dimensions
content: Duration (Reel 1): 26 Minutes
label: Dimensions
content: Length (Film): 950 Feet
label: Dimensions
content: Duration (Reel 2): 31 Minutes
label: Dimensions
content: Length (Film): 1100 Feet