The purpose of this blog is to highlight the presence of the people of the African Diaspora in period costume dramas. It is also to provide a historical context to the films featured.
Patina Miller is playing Charlotte Jenkins an abolitionist.
From the PBS website: Charlotte Jenkins is a smart, capable, feisty former slave-turned-activist who comes to Alexandria to help the growing population of refugees newly escaped from bondage (also called “contrabands”) in making the transition to freedom. She soon finds out that they need far more than education. Most contrabands have little more than the rags on their backs and few prospects for employment. The Union Army, tasked with their welfare, does little more than provide basic rations, and those are sporadic at best. (A little-known part of Civil War history, contraband camps existed in a sort of refugee netherworld between free and enslaved, with nowhere to go, no food and no money. Many died of disease due to overcrowding and starvation before ever learning what true freedom meant.) As soon as Charlotte arrives in Alexandria, she sees the magnitude of the crisis, recognizing the onset of a smallpox epidemic in one of the contraband camps. She comes to Mansion House Hospital seeking assistance and support, only to be met with prejudice and a cold shoulder from the administration. Undeterred, Charlotte turns to Mary Phinney and Samuel Diggs (McKinley Belcher, III) for help. Together they embark on a mission to contain the epidemic. Her alliance with Samuel Diggs sparks a friendship that holds potential for something deeper.
Patina looks great as Charlotte Jenkins and the prospect of seeing how the series handles the contraband camps is exciting!
Look at all of these beautiful ladies! The costumes are impeccable. If this photo was in black and white would we know what time period it was actually taken in? The Ladies:
Ledisi
Niecy Nash
Carmen Ejogo
Lorraine Toussaint
Tessa Thompson
Watch this awesome short film Mr. Malcolm's List. Written by Suzanne Allain and based on her script and novel of the same name, the short film is set in early 1800's England.
SUMMARY: The Honorable Mr. Malcolm (played by Sope Dirisu) has a secret. This elusive matrimonial prize, long the target of desperate debutantes and their matchmaking mothers, is well known for his fastidiousness. What is not well known is that he has a list of qualifications for his future bride. Can any woman hope to win the heart of such a hardened critic? Selina Dalton can only try her best. And when she begins to succeed, Jeremy Malcolm is not sure whether he has discovered the perfect woman... Or the perfect hoax.
Of course, many people are super excited at a chance to see a Jane Austen-esque type film set in regency England with Black and Asian main characters. I am of course one of those people. Sope Dirisu has been in tons of period series/films/plays, so this isn't out of the ordinary for …
People was given an exclusive first look at Cynthia Erivo as Harriet Tubman, in the upcoming biopic Harriet. This biopic will is based on the story of iconic freedom fighter Harriet Tubman, her escape from slavery and subsequent missions to free dozens of slaves through the Underground Railroad in the face of growing pre-Civil War adversity.
Cynthia Erivo is set to play the legendary woman. Kasi Lemmons (Eve's Bayou) is the biopics director. There has been some controversy surrounding the fact that such an amazing African American woman would not be played by an African American woman. In an interview with Janell Hobson of Ms. Magazine Lemmons had this to say:
I understand and respect the conversation. It just doesn’t have anything to do with my experience, you know what I mean? [Cynthia Erivo] was attached for years before I came onto the project. But I met her, and I said, “This woman is absolutely right for the part.” I thought, she’s West African, good. So is Harriet Tubman. Sh…
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