Black in Period Films

We discussed A House Divided  before , here is a full review. A House Divided tells the story of real woman named Amanda America Dickson. Dickson is the pampered and dotted-on daughter of David Dickson a wealthy and respected cotton farmer and Julia Frances Lewis Dickson an enslaved girl. In 1885, Amanda became one of the wealthiest African American women when she inherited her father’s estate at his death. Unhappy with their inheritances, Amanda’s uncle and contests the will. A House Divided is based on the 1995 biography by Kent Anderson Leslie titled Woman of Color, Daughter of Privilege: Amanda America Dickson, 1849-1893. Costumes The entire look of the film was accurately lush. The costumes were period accurate and beautiful. A House Divided doesn’t make the mistake of blurring the fashion into one block of unrecognizable historical fashion. However, the fashion accurately portrays the period that the story occurs in. As time progresses and the characters gro...

Jennifer Beals as Amanda Dickson  Doesn't Jennifer look beautiful! I would very much love to review this film for you all but unfortunately I can not find it anywhere! I have looked everywhere for it. I am glad however that there are pictures that I can enjoy! I will speak on the casting of Jennifer Beals and LisaGay Hamilton as mother and daughter. I think the casting is brilliant as both actresses are wonderful.    One of the things I really appreciate is how Jennifer Beals is a bi-racial woman playing a bi-racial woman. Furthermore she is a bi-racial actress that could pass as white during that time. I really dislike films that have white women playing bi-racial women or black/biracial women playing bi-racial women that can't pass as white. That was one of my pet peeves with the film Queen. Halle Berry could not pass as a white woman in any context but Jennifer Beals can.  IMDb describes A House Divided as:...