# Hollywood Black: The Stars, the Films, the Filmmakers - Hardcover

by **Donald Bogle** (Author), **John Singleton** (Foreword by)

**The films, the stars, the filmmakers-all get their due in _Hollywood Black_, a sweeping overview of blacks in film from the silent era through _Black Panther_, with striking photos and an engrossing history by award-winning author Donald Bogle.**

  
The story opens in the silent film era, when white actors in blackface often played black characters, but also saw the rise of independent African American filmmakers, including the remarkable Oscar Micheaux. It follows the changes in the film industry with the arrival of sound motion pictures and the Great Depression, when black performers such as Stepin Fetchit and Bill "Bojangles" Robinson began finding a place in Hollywood. More often than not, they were saddled with rigidly stereotyped roles, but some gifted performers, most notably Hattie McDaniel in _Gone With the Wind_ (1939), were able to turn in significant performances.

In the coming decades, more black talents would light up the screen. Dorothy Dandridge became the first African American to earn a Best Actress Oscar nomination for _Carmen Jones_ (1954), and Sidney Poitier broke ground in films like _The Defiant Ones_ and1963's _Lilies of the Field_. _Hollywood Black_ reveals the changes in images that came about with the evolving social and political atmosphere of the US, from the Civil Rights era to the Black Power movement. The story takes readers through _Blaxploitation_, with movies like _Shaft_ and _Super Fly_, to the emergence of such stars as Cicely Tyson, Richard Pryor, Eddie Murphy, and Whoopi Goldberg, and of directors Spike Lee and John Singleton.

The history comes into the new millennium with filmmakers Barry Jenkins (_Moonlight_), Ava Du Vernay (_Selma_), and Ryan Coogler (_Black Panther_); megastars such as Denzel Washington, Will Smith, and Morgan Freeman; as well as Halle Berry, Angela Bassett, Viola Davis, and a glorious gallery of others.

Filled with evocative photographs and stories of stars and filmmakers on set and off, _Hollywood Black_ tells an underappreciated history as it's never before been told.

### Author Biography

**Donald Bogle** is one of the foremost authorities on African Americans in films and entertainment history. His nine books include the groundbreaking _Toms, Coons, Mulattoes, Mammies, and Bucks_; the award-winning _Bright Boulevards, Bold Dreams_; the bestselling _Dorothy Dandridge: A Biography_; and _Brown Sugar_, which the author adapted into a PBS documentary series. Bogle has appeared on numerous television and radio programs; and in such documentaries as Spike Lee's _Jim Brown: All-American_. He was a special commentator and consultant for Turner Classic Movies' award-winning series _Race and Hollywood_. Bogle teaches at the University of Pennsylvania and New York University's Tisch School of the Arts. He lives in Manhattan.

**Number of Pages:** 264

**Dimensions:** 1.3 x 9.2 x 7.4 IN

**Illustrated:** Yes

**Publication Date:** May 07, 2019

## Details

- **Price:** 35.0 USD
- **Vendor:** Books by splitShops
- **Type:** Books
- **Tags:** Books by splitShops, Shopify Collective

## Variants

| Variant | Price | Available |
|---------|-------|-----------|
| Default Title | 35.00 USD | In stock |

## Images

- Hollywood Black: The Stars, the Films, the Filmmakers - Hardcover

---

> Source: [Smart supply deals](https://smartsupplydeals.com/products/hollywood-black-the-stars-the-films-the-filmmakers-hardcover)
> Updated: 2026-07-21