Updated to include the entire 20th century, this new fourth edition covers directors, stars, and films including "Summer of Sam", "Jackie Brown", "The Best Man", and "The Hurricane". From "The Birth of a Nation" - the groundbreaking work of independent filmmaker Oscar Micheaux - and "Gone with the Wind" to the latest work by Spike Lee, John Singleton, Denzel Washington, and Will Smith, Donald Bogle reveals the ways in which the depiction of blacks in American movies has changed - and the shocking ways in which it has remained the same.

Author Biography

Donald Bogle is one of the foremost authorities on African Americans in film and the arts. He is the author of the classic "Toms, Coons, Mulattoes, Mammies, and Bucks: An Interpretive History of Blacks in American Films, " which is published by Continuum. His best-selling "Bright Boulevards, Bold Dreams: The Story of Black ""Hollywood" received the Hurston/Wright Finalist Legacy Award in Non-fiction. His other books include the critically acclaimed "Dorothy Dandridge: A Biography; Blacks in American Films and Television: An Illustrated Encyclopedia;" and "Primetime Blues: African Americans on Network Television." He has appeared on such television programs as "Entertainment Tonight; Today; Good Morning, America;" and "Nightline;" and has served as a commentator on such documentaries as Spike Lee's "Jim Brown: All-American, "American Movie Classics' "Small Steps . . . Big Strides, " and TV Land's three-part series on African Americans on television. He also co-hosted Turner Classic Movies' award-winning series "Race and ""Hollywood"." "The first edition of the present book, "Brown Sugar, " covered eighty years of America's black female superstars, and was turned into the highly successful four-part PBS documentary series by Mr. Bogle.