A research guide to books, articles, and resources on selected topics relevant to the study of Black diasporic film and television in the United States.
As a wildly popular local dance show, Soul Train provided a venue for Chicago's soul singers and political activists and gave African American teenagers their first significant chance to see and identify with their peers on television. The subsequent national series garnered even more popularity, establishing producer and host Don Cornelius as one of the most successful pioneers of African American television production. This work discusses Cornelius's role in the evolution of his groundbreaking series from a small, all-black 1970s television show to a lucrative brand name applying not only to the program, but also to awards and various merchandise in the present day.
An authoritative history of the groundbreaking syndicated television show that has become an icon of American pop culture, from acclaimed author and filmmaker Nelson George.
Love, Peace, and Soul tells the story of the television phenomenon known as Soul Train , a show created in the land of bell bottoms, afros, and soul power; a show that became the touchstone of the Baby Boomer generation.
From Ahmir "Questlove" Thompson of the award-winning hip-hop group the Roots, comes this vibrant book commemorating the legacy of Soul Train--the cultural phenomenon that launched the careers of artists such as Tina Turner, Stevie Wonder, the Jackson 5, Whitney Houston, Lenny Kravitz, LL Cool J, and Aretha Franklin.
In Making "Roots," Matthew F. Delmont looks at the importance, contradictions, and limitations of mass culture and examines how Roots pushed the boundaries of history. Delmont investigates the decisions that led Alex Haley, Doubleday, and ABC to invest in the story of Kunta Kinte, uncovering how Haley's original, modest book proposal developed into an unprecedented cultural phenomenon.
This wide-ranging interdisciplinary collection-the first of its kind-invites us to reconsider the politics and scope of the Roots phenomenon of the 1970s. Alex Haley's 1976 book was a publishing sensation, selling over a million copies in its first year and winning a National Book Award and a special Pulitzer Prize. The 1977 television adaptation was more than a blockbuster miniseries-it was a galvanizing national event, drawing a record-shattering viewership, earning thirty-eight Emmy nominations, and changing overnight the discourse on race, civil rights, and slavery.
One of the most popular shows to come out of Shondaland, Shonda Rhimes's production company, is ABC's political drama Scandal (2012-18). This volume, named for both Olivia's team and the show's fans, analyzes the communication, politics, stereotypes, and genre techniques featured in the television series while raising key questions about the intersections of race, gender, sexuality, and viewing audiences.
Medial Afterlives of H.P. Lovecraft brings together essays on the theory and practice of adapting H.P. Lovecraft's fiction and the Lovecraftian. Book chapter titled "Lovecraft Country: Horror, Race, and the Dark Other."
This volume examines the use of Black popular culture to engage, reflect, and parse social justice, arguing that Black popular culture is more than merely entertainment. Moving beyond a focus on identifying and categorizing cultural forms, the authors examine Black popular culture to understand how it engages social justice, with attention to anti-Black racism. Chapter titled "39 Lovecraft Country and the (Re)construction of Black Womanhood."