African American Actresses: The Struggle for Visibility, 1900–1960

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Indiana University Press, Jun 14, 2010 - Biography & Autobiography - 405 pages

Nine actresses, from Madame Sul-Te-Wan in Birth of a Nation (1915) to Ethel Waters in Member of the Wedding (1952), are profiled in African American Actresses. Charlene Regester poses questions about prevailing racial politics, on-screen and off-screen identities, and black stardom and white stardom. She reveals how these women fought for their roles as well as what they compromised (or didn't compromise). Regester repositions these actresses to highlight their contributions to cinema in the first half of the 20th century, taking an informed theoretical, historical, and critical approach.

 

Contents

Introduction
1
The Struggle for Visibility
19
Early Success and Tumultuous Career
40
Negotiating Racial Difference
72
The Masquerades and the Masks
107
Centering the Margin
131
Actress and Activist
174
Resistance to Othering
215
Personification of Otherness
244
Intertwining the Reel and the Real
282
Conclusion
326
Notes
333
Bibliography
381
Index
391
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About the author (2010)

Charlene Regester is Associate Professor of African and Afro-American Studies at the University of North Carolina Chapel Hill. She is co-editor of the Oscar Micheaux Society Newsletter and serves on the editorial board of the Journal of Film and Video.