Updates

Hello all,

I wanted to share a few updates with you all. This blog page is officially the Department of Afro American Research, Arts and Culture Archive (DAARAC Archive).

• The web address is https://www.daaracarchive.org.

IMPORTANT: 

• All links that were under SSL https://www.daarac.org no longer work and you will get a connection error.
• All links that are under http://www.daarac.org will be redirected to https://www.daaracarchive.org.
• The http://www.blaxploitationpride.org domain still works, but it will be redirected to https://www.daaracarchive.org. However, I will be ending the use of blaxploitationpride.org soon, so there is no need to use that domain to do any linking.

Our organizational website is now open and we are accepting donations for our mission. 

• The site address is https://www.daarac.ngo.

NGO stands for Non-Governmental Organization. This title legitimizes our status as a 501(c)(3) nonprofit private foundation. We will continue to operate this blog page the same way we have been doing for several years now.

Thanks for your understanding during this transition.

-Dr. James Spinks

President of DAARAC

Major Announcements About DAARAC

Hello Everyone,

Over the last 12 years, our website has been a leading resource for discovering a rich history of African American film and culture through digital preservation. In 2008, we started out as Blaxploitation Pride, in which we concentrated our efforts on preserving movies and soundtracks from the 1970s.

In 2012, we extended our research and preservation efforts to include all of Black Cinema from around the world. This resulted in changing our name from Blaxploitation Pride to the Department of Afro American Research, Arts, and Culture (DAARAC) in 2016.

In April 2019, DAARAC was incorporated as an official nonprofit organization. Now, as of February 11th, 2020, we are pleased to announce that DAARAC is a 501(c)(3) tax-exempt nonprofit organization. This is a monumental achievement for us to continue our efforts to research and preserve a history of Black culture with continued community support.

Everyone needs to know about some significant changes that are about to happen.

• The domain name of this current blog page will be changing from daarac.org to daaracarchive.org.

Over the next 12 months, you will notice all links from this page will be redirected to the new domain name (daaracarchive.org). The reason is that we will be using daarac.org for our new organizational website. The new site will be mainly about the organization, which includes our mission, donations, planned activities, and events. The blog page will remain as a source of archived material. 

At the end of the twelve-month transition phase to daaracarchive.org, all links that are associated with the daarac.org domain name from this blog page will go dead. This is not an ideal situation, but one that is unavoidable as we need the daarac.org domain name for the new organizational website.

We will announce when the new organizational site is live. The new organizational site will be using a temporary domain name until it takes daarac.org in 2021.

As we mentioned before, DAARAC is a tax-exempt organization.

• That means we are allowed to receive tax-deductible gifts and donations under the Internal Revenue Code (IRC) Section 2055, 2106, or 2522.

Any donations made to our organization will have a receipt for the donor that can be used for deductions. We have several projects underway that we will outline to the public once we get the main organizational page running.

We will keep everyone informed as we make changes. Thanks for all your patience and understanding.


Sincerely,
Dr. James D. Spinks
President of DAARAC

Swanee Showboat (1945) [Lost Film]

Tampa Bay Times

St. Petersburg, Florida

Sun, Mar 14, 1948 · Page 3

The Decatur Daily

Decatur, Alabama

Thu, Apr 20, 1950 · Page 11

Starring:

• Nina Mae McKinney
• Dewey 'Pigmeat' Markham
• Mable Lee
• Scott
• Whaley
• Sun Tan Four

Storyline
Unknown storyline.

**This film is considered lost until notified otherwise**

That Man of Mine (1946)

The Daily Times

Salisbury, Maryland

Thu, Nov 27, 1947 · Page 18

The Crowley Post-Signal

Crowley, Louisiana

Sat, Oct 18, 1947 · Page 3

Statesville Daily Record

Statesville, North Carolina

Wed, Mar 02, 1949 · Page 6

Star Tribune

Minneapolis, Minnesota

Sun, Dec 08, 1946 · Page 118

Star Tribune

Minneapolis, Minnesota

Sun, Dec 08, 1946 · Page 118

Star Tribune

Minneapolis, Minnesota

Sun, Dec 08, 1946 · Page 118

Star Tribune

Minneapolis, Minnesota

Sun, Dec 08, 1946 · Page 118

Star Tribune

Minneapolis, Minnesota

Sun, Dec 08, 1946 · Page 118

Star Tribune

Minneapolis, Minnesota

Sun, Dec 08, 1946 · Page 118

Star Tribune

Minneapolis, Minnesota

Sun, Dec 08, 1946 · Page 118

 

"That Man of Mine" (1946) is a musical drama starring Ruby Dee in her first featured film and introduces Anna Mae Winburn's International Sweethearts of Rhythm, an all-black girl jazz band. One of the writers for the movie was Powell Lindsay, who also starred in the film. William Alexander produced the film. He was a producer for several soundies and race films during the 1940s.

The race film era peaked in 1946, with the most all-black cast films made from any year before then. Many opportunities were available for black people looking to make it to Hollywood. However, most black movies in the 1940s were musicals or variety shows. You would find many of the dramatic acting in stageplays, and at the time, Ruby Dee was starring in "Anna Lucasta." The International Sweethearts of Rhythm were breaking ground with their hit single "Jump Children."

Despite the opportunities available for black people, "That Man of Mine" is one of the most extreme cases of colorism. It's noticeable the entire cast is light-skinned. This unfortunate truth existed predominately during the 20s, 30s, and 40s, and many instances of colorism are present today. Colorism primarily affected darker-skinned black women's opportunities as darker-skinned black male performers earned many parts. During the 1940s, white Hollywood executives were the primary producers of race movies. Spencer Williams and Oscar Micheaux were the leading black filmmakers during the 40s, but Micheaux's production significantly declined by this time due to funding and lack of sponsorship.

While "That Man of Mine" consists of a light-skinned cast, it's still a black movie starring black people. Its primary cast are women and one who ultimately became a known legend today. Anna Mae Winburn's International Sweethearts of Rhythm is the movie's highlight, and they perform several numbers, giving you great entertainment and music. There are several other variety acts with a minor storyline about black filmmakers trying to make a hit film.

Director: Leonard Anderson

Writers: Powell Lindsay, Les Hafner

Starring Ruby Dee, Henri Woode, Powell Lindsay, Harold Tillman, Rhina Harris, Betty Haynes, Ann Mae Winburne's International Sweethearts of Rhythm, Billie and Millie, Kenneth Broomes, Flo Hawkins, Tommi Moore

Storyline

A production company is trying to make a feature film starring Joan (Ruby Dee) and music by the International Sweethearts of Rhythm.

The Women's Film Preservation Fund of New York Women in Film & Television, in partnership with HERFLIX, is responsible for the restoration and presentation of this movie.

**Preserved and is archived at the Academy Film Archive in Los Angeles

Information obtained from: Women's Film Preservation Fund**