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:...

Beloved i s a  beautiful cla s sic film ba sed on the 1987 novel of the same name by Toni Morri son ( she authored one of my favorite s , The Blue st Eye). A s with all of her novel s Beloved deal s with situation s and experience s of tho se in the Black American Community. Beloved take s place after the Civil War (after 1865). Thi s novel wa s in spired by Margaret "Peggy" Garner. Margaret i s infamou sly known for killing her daughter so that she would not be taken back into slavery. The ca st i s amazing featuring: Oprah Winfrey, Thandie Newton, Kimberly Eli se, Danny Glover, and Li sa Gay Hamilton. They more than deliver. The co stume s and location s are beautiful. Everyone' s hair looked reali stic and matched the period and culture of the character s. The entire time I watched the film I wa s completely immer sed in that time period. Thi s film wa s al so wonderful in that it stirred up emotion s and conver sation . My si ster, younger brother, a...