Afro Promo

Co-curated by Karl Knapper and Jenni Olson, "Afro Promo" is a feature-length compilation of one-of-a-kind archival coming-attractions trailers from Black films of the 1940s, '50s, '60s, and early '70s. This historical overview scans the social-issue films, plantation dramas, and African-safari movies of the 1950s and '60s, blaxploitation, music and sports biographies, and other genre examples of the '70s, as it tracks the burgeoning careers of such popular stars as Sidney Poitier, James Earl Jones, Billy Dee Williams, Bill Cosby, and Diana Ross. Entertaining and educational, "Afro Promo" provides a compact glimpse at the representation of African Americans through 30 dynamic years of American cinema history.