African American Studies

A collection of three award-winning films. This compilation is designed to increase awareness of how black writers, artists and freedom fighters contributed to the American cultural tradition.Paul...

A collection of three award-winning films. This compilation is designed to increase awareness of how black writers, artists and freedom fighters contributed to the American cultural tradition.Paul Laurence Dunbar (1973) 23 minutes A collage of pictures, African art, dramatizations, poetry and story readings, this film biography is a tribute to the first black American to become a recognized poet. As it describes his life and his methods for coping with the many problems he faced, the film also...

Scott Joplin's ragtime piano roll music swept the world at the turn of the century. This dramatized biography of the originator of the ragtime rhythm traces the sources of black music in the New...

Scott Joplin's ragtime piano roll music swept the world at the turn of the century. This dramatized biography of the originator of the ragtime rhythm traces the sources of black music in the New Orleans and Mississippi River life and sets the background from which Scott Joplin emerged. It follows his life from his discovery in a dance-hall by a music publisher, through to the failure of the opera "Treemonisha," and his early death in poverty and obscurity. Narrated by Eartha Kitt.