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.
Awesome Images of Jennifer Hudson as the Queen of Soul in the Aretha Franklin biopic
Cora Unashamed is a 2000 movie based on the short story by Langston Hughes. Spoilers Following!! The film begins in 1916 Melton, Iowa. Cora is in labor. After she delivers the baby her mother tells her, “Ain’t no good come out of white and colored love, Cora” Cora has just given birth to a bi-racial baby. Instead of letting her mother's words upset her she says, “We don’t care what anyone says, we don’t care at all.” She names the baby Josephine “After her daddy Joe” Cora is a loving and engaging mother who works as a maid and nanny taking care of a white child named Jessie Studevant. Jessie Studevant Cora is a black woman named in a small town. She has put off many of her dreams. She wanted to be a writer but had to leave to work. Her daughter Josephine also has a love for words. She constantly asks Cora what certain words mean. Cora tells Josephine that she'll be able to go to school in the fall with Jessie. Grandmother
The upcoming Netflix series titled, Self Made: Inspired by the Life of Madam C.J. Walker is based on the book, On Her Own Ground: The Life and Times of Madam C. J. Walker by Walker’s great-great-granddaughter A’Lelia Bundles. On Her Own Ground is the first full-scale, definitive biography of Madam C. J. Walker—the legendary African American entrepreneur and philanthropist—by her great-great-granddaughter, A'Lelia Bundles. The daughter of slaves, Madam C. J. Walker was orphaned at seven, married at fourteen and widowed at twenty. She spent the better part of the next two decades laboring as a washerwoman for $1.50 a week. Then—with the discovery of a revolutionary hair care formula for black women—everything changed. By her death in 1919, Walker managed to overcome astonishing odds: building a storied beauty empire from the ground up, amassing wealth unprecedented among black women and devoting her life to philanthropy and social activism. Along the way, she formed frien
I gave the limited series two scores. One for history lovers and one for more casual period film fans. I participated in the watch party that was going on. Viewers watched and tweeted using the hashtag #selfmadenetflix. It was an interesting experience and I really enjoyed watching along with people. It reminded me of how it was during the Roots 2016 premier. Tons of people watching the same thing and having a great time watching period films which is something I love. I had to talk about the series, because I felt a lot of things while watching it and I’ll start with the good. The Good A major part of the period film experience is the costumes and set decorations. These are absolutely amazing. It isn’t very often that we get to see black characters in Edwardian era clothing. The series started in St. Louis in 1908 and ended around 1918. So that is 10 years that are represented in costume. We can see the change in characters through their change in clothing. This is especially i
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