The mission of The Department of Afro-American Research Arts and Culture to identify the global significance of the creative contributions pioneered by an international diaspora of Blackness
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Saturday, August 20, 2016

Reverend S. S. Jones - Home Movies [1924-1928]















Reverend Solomon Sir Jones documented African-American life, culture, and success in Oklahoma a few years after the Tulsa Race Riots. His films demonstrate the nuance and diversity of the Black community during the period. His camera captures children, deacons, young professionals, homemakers, businessmen, community leaders, landowners, field workers, students, and neighbors. Some of his subjects included formerly enslaved men and women and their descendants who built these thriving towns. Together, these communities worked, worshiped, played celebrated, loved and mourned together. Jones takes considerable care to illustrate how they built something special - self-sustaining and self-determined societies.

-Mary N. Elliot, Museum Specialist at the National Museum of African-American History and Culture


This film was restored by Kino Lorber which was archived in the Library of Congress and released in a 5 disc box set: Pioneers of African American Cinema.

Firehouse (1973)





















Starring:


Storyline
The first African-American assigned to an all-white firehouse, rookie firefighter Shelly Forsythe must battle both blazes and racism as the fire department hunts for a serial arsonist in 1973 New York. The house's senior firefighter is hostile to Forsythe at first but eventually comes to respect him and is forced to make a dangerous choice between his orders and his duty to a fellow firefighter. 

Thursday, August 18, 2016

Black Dragon vs. Yellow Tiger [a.k.a. The Growling Tiger] (1976)


















Starring:




Storyline
Starring Tong Lung playing the cousin to Bruce Lee's character in Way Of The Dragon. The thugs from Rome are back and ready to take it out on anyone that knows Kung Fu. Tong Lung does an over the top Dragon Lee like imitation of Bruce Lee! Fun to watch! The finale is a reminiscence of Bruce Lee/Chuck Norris finale in Way of the Dragon, this time against a tall Black fighter (Grandmaster Clint Robinson) looking like a TaeKwonDo stylist. A true hidden classic in bruceploitation movies following Bruce Lee’s death in the mid 1970s.