African American actresses : the struggle for visibility, 1900-1960 / Charlene Regester.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Regester, Charlene B., 1956-

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

African American women in motion pictures.

African American motion picture actors and actresses--Biography.

African American motion picture actors and actresses.

Actors--United States--Biography.

Actors.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (436 p.)

Edition:

1st ed.

Place of Publication:

Bloomington : Indiana University Press, 2010.

Language Note:

English

Summary:

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

Madame Sul-Te-Wan : the struggle for visibility

Nina Mae McKinney : early success and tumultuous career

Louise Beavers : negotiating racial difference

Fredi Washington : the masquerades and the masks

Hattie McDaniel : centering the margin

Lena Horne : actress and activist

Hazel Scott : resistance to othering

Ethel Waters : personification of otherness

Dorothy Dandridge : intertwining the reel and the real

Conclusion.

Notes:

Bibliographic Level Mode of Issuance: Monograph

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN:

1-282-66329-1

9786612663291

0-253-00431-4

OCLC:

646068248