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Junius Griffin
Junius Griffin (January 13, 1929 – June 1, 2005) was an African American Civil Rights activist working as the President of the Beverly-Hills Hollywood chapter of the NAACP, who is best known for his work alongside Martin Luther King Jr. as well as for coining the term “Blaxploitation” in regard to the African American film industry of the 1970s. Early life Junius Griffin was born in Stonega, Virginia, on January 13, 1929. Not much is known about Griffin's childhood, however by age 16 it is recorded that he decided to leave Stonega and go to Bluefield College in Virginia. After a short time there he found it not to be a good fit and decided to enlist in the United States Marine Corps. Though little is known of his social life during his 12 years in the Marines, there is a later record of his parents being happily involved in his later life. Career When Griffin enlisted in the United States Marines, he worked as a journalist and became well known for his writing, workin ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
NAACP
The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) is an American civil rights organization formed in 1909 as an interracial endeavor to advance justice for African Americans by a group including W. E. B. Du Bois, Mary White Ovington, Moorfield Storey, Ida B. Wells, Lillian Wald, and Henry Moskowitz (activist), Henry Moskowitz. Over the years, leaders of the organization have included Thurgood Marshall and Roy Wilkins. The NAACP is the largest and oldest civil rights group in America. Its mission in the 21st century is "to ensure the political, educational, social, and economic equality of rights of all persons and to eliminate race-based discrimination". NAACP initiatives include political lobbying, publicity efforts, and litigation strategies developed by its legal team. The group enlarged its mission in the late 20th century by considering issues such as police misconduct, the status of black foreign refugees and questions of economic dev ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Coretta Scott King
Coretta Scott King ( Scott; April 27, 1927 – January 30, 2006) was an American author, activist, and civil rights leader who was the wife of Martin Luther King Jr. from 1953 until his assassination in 1968. As an advocate for African-American equality, she was a leader for the civil rights movement in the 1960s. King was also a singer who often incorporated music into her civil rights work. King met her husband while attending graduate school in Boston. They both became increasingly active in the American civil rights movement. King played a prominent role in the years after her husband's assassination in 1968, when she took on the leadership of the struggle for racial equality herself and became active in the Women's Movement. King founded the King Center, and sought to make his birthday a national holiday. She finally succeeded when Ronald Reagan signed legislation which established Martin Luther King Jr., Day on November 2, 1983. She later broadened her scope to includ ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Detroit 9000
''Detroit 9000'' is a 1973 American action film directed by Arthur Marks from a screenplay by Orville H. Hampton. Originally marketed as a blaxploitation film, it had a resurgence on video 25 years later. Plot Street-smart white detective Danny Bassett ( Alex Rocco) teams with educated black detective Sgt. Jesse Williams ( Hari Rhodes) to investigate a theft of $400,000 at a fund-raiser for Representative Aubrey Hale Clayton ( Rudy Challenger).Van Gelder, Lawrence (October 9, 1998)FILM REVIEW; Detective Buddies and Racial Boundaries.''The New York Times'' Cast * Hari Rhodes as Sergeant Jesse Williams * Alex Rocco as Lieutenant Danny Bassett * Vonetta McGee as Ruby Harris * Ella Edwards as Helen Durbin * Scatman Crothers as Reverend Markham * Herbert Jefferson Jr. as Ferdy * Robert Phillips as Captain Chalmers * Rudy Challenger as Aubrey Hale Clayton * Council Cargle as Drew Sheppard Filming Actor Alex Rocco was cast as a result of director Arthur Marks' positive experien ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Blackenstein
''Blackenstein'' (also known as ''Black Frankenstein'' on its theatrical release poster and whose actual on-screen title is ''Blackenstein the Black Frankenstein'') is a 1973 American blaxploitation horror film directed by William A. Levey, and starring John Hart, Ivory Stone, Andrea King, Roosevelt Jackson, Joe De Sue, Nick Bolin and Liz Renay. It is loosely based on Mary Shelley's 1818 novel '' Frankenstein; or, The Modern Prometheus''. Released on August 3, 1973, it was made in an attempt to cash in on the success of '' Blacula''; released the previous year by American International Pictures. However, ''Blackenstein'' fared poorly in comparison to its predecessor, with most reviews agreeing that the film was "a totally inept mixture of the worst horror and blaxploitation films". Plot Big and burly African American soldier Eddie Turner stepped on a land mine while serving in Vietnam and lost both arms and both legs. His physicist fiancé Doctor Winifred Walker thinks she has ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Blacula
''Blacula'' is a 1972 American blaxploitation horror film directed by William Crain. It stars William Marshall in the title role about an 18th-century African prince named Mamuwalde, who is turned into a vampire (and later locked in a coffin) by Count Dracula in the Count's castle in Transylvania in the year 1780 after Dracula refuses to help Mamuwalde suppress the slave trade. The film co-stars Vonetta McGee, Denise Nicholas, Gordon Pinsent and Thalmus Rasulala. The film was released by American International Pictures on August 25, 1972. ''Blacula'' was released to mixed reviews in the United States, but was one of the top-grossing films of the year. It was the first film to receive an award for Best Horror Film at the Saturn Awards. It was followed by the sequel '' Scream Blacula Scream'' in 1973 and inspired a wave of blaxploitation-themed horror films. Plot In 1780, African prince Mamuwalde goes to Transylvania to seek the help of Count Dracula in suppressing the slave ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Super Fly (1972 Film)
''Super Fly'' is a 1972 American blaxploitation crime drama film directed by Gordon Parks Jr. and starring Ron O'Neal as Youngblood Priest, an African American cocaine dealer who is trying to quit the underworld drug business. The film is well known for its soundtrack, written and produced by soul musician Curtis Mayfield. It was released on August 4, 1972. O'Neal reprised his role as Youngblood Priest in the 1973 film '' Super Fly T.N.T.'', which he also directed. Producer Sig Shore directed a second sequel, '' The Return of Superfly'', released in 1990, with Nathan Purdee as Priest. A remake was released in 2018. In 2022, the film was selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry by the Library of Congress as being "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant". Plot Youngblood Priest, an African-American cocaine dealer, enjoys a luxurious lifestyle in Harlem. He yearns to go straight, despite the fortune he makes. One day, Priest confront ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Sweet Sweetback's Baadasssss Song
''Sweet Sweetback's Baadasssss Song'' is a 1971 American independent blaxploitation action thriller film written, co-produced, scored, edited, directed by, and starring Melvin Van Peebles. His son Mario Van Peebles also appears in a small role, playing the title character as a young boy. The film tells the picaresque story of a poor black man fleeing from the white police authorities. Van Peebles began to develop the film after being offered a three-picture contract for Columbia Pictures. No studio would finance the film, so Van Peebles funded it himself, shooting it independently over 19 days, performing all of his own stunts and appearing in several sex scenes, some reportedly unsimulated. He received a $50,000 loan from Bill Cosby to complete the project. The film's fast-paced montages and jump-cuts were unique features in American cinema at the time. The picture was censored in some markets, and received mixed reviews. However, it has left a lasting impression on Americ ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Black Power Movies
Black is a color that results from the absence or complete absorption of visible light. It is an achromatic color, without chroma, like white and grey. It is often used symbolically or figuratively to represent darkness.Eva Heller, ''Psychologie de la couleur – effets et symboliques'', pp. 105–26. Black and white have often been used to describe opposites such as good and evil, the Dark Ages versus the Age of Enlightenment, and night versus day. Since the Middle Ages, black has been the symbolic color of solemnity and authority, and for this reason it is still commonly worn by judges and magistrates. Black was one of the first colors used by artists in Neolithic cave paintings. It was used in ancient Egypt and Greece as the color of the underworld. In the Roman Empire, it became the color of mourning, and over the centuries it was frequently associated with death, evil, witches, and magic. In the 14th century, it was worn by royalty, clergy, judges, and government off ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Blaxploitation
In American cinema, Blaxploitation is the film subgenre of action movie derived from the exploitation film genre in the early 1970s, consequent to the combined cultural momentum of the black civil rights movement, the black power movement, and the Black Panther Party, political and sociological circumstances that facilitated black artists reclaiming their power of the representation of the black ethnic identity in the arts. The term ''blaxploitation'' is a portmanteau of the words ''Black'' and ''exploitation'', coined by Junius Griffin, president of the Beverly Hills–Hollywood branch of the NAACP in 1972. In criticizing the Hollywood portrayal of the multiracial society of the US, Griffin said that the ''blaxploitation'' genre was "proliferating offenses" to and against the black community, by perpetuating racist stereotypes of inherent criminality. After the cultural misrepresentation of black people in the race films of the 1940s, the 1950s, and the 1960s, the Blaxploi ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Black Power Movies
Black is a color that results from the absence or complete absorption of visible light. It is an achromatic color, without chroma, like white and grey. It is often used symbolically or figuratively to represent darkness.Eva Heller, ''Psychologie de la couleur – effets et symboliques'', pp. 105–26. Black and white have often been used to describe opposites such as good and evil, the Dark Ages versus the Age of Enlightenment, and night versus day. Since the Middle Ages, black has been the symbolic color of solemnity and authority, and for this reason it is still commonly worn by judges and magistrates. Black was one of the first colors used by artists in Neolithic cave paintings. It was used in ancient Egypt and Greece as the color of the underworld. In the Roman Empire, it became the color of mourning, and over the centuries it was frequently associated with death, evil, witches, and magic. In the 14th century, it was worn by royalty, clergy, judges, and government off ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Blackout Tuesday
Blackout Tuesday was a collective action to protest racism and police brutality. The action, originally organized within the music industry in response to the murder of George Floyd, the murder of Ahmaud Arbery, and the killing of Breonna Taylor, took place on Tuesday, June 2, 2020. Businesses taking part were encouraged to abstain from releasing music and other business operations. Some outlets produced blacked out, silent, or minimal programming for 8 minutes and 46 seconds, the originally reported length of time that police officer Derek Chauvin compressed Floyd's neck. Background Blackout Tuesday stemmed off of the original initiative created by music executives Brianna Agyemang and Jamila Thomas, Senior Director of Marketing at Atlantic Records. Agyemang and Thomas have since noted that "These injustices we are facing in America are not limited to just our community. This is a global initiative and our efforts will include members worldwide". Businesses participated ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ewart Abner
Ewart Gladstone Abner, Jr. (May 11, 1923 – December 27, 1997) was a major American record company executive who was President of Motown Records from 1973 to 1975 and was personal and business manager for Stevie Wonder for 10 years. In his executive roles at Motown, he helped direct careers for Marvin Gaye, Smokey Robinson and the Miracles, The Temptations, and the Jackson 5. Career Ewart Abner, the son of a minister, was born in Chicago and graduated from Englewood High School in 1939. He went to Howard University and studied pharmacy but dropped out and served in the military. After the war, he obtained a degree in accounting from DePaul University in 1949. Between 1950 and 1954, at Chance Records he was in charge of finances. Vee-Jay Records In 1954, Abner became part owner and general manager of Vee-Jay Records. He was appointed president of Vee-Jay in 1961 and with the addition of artists such as Jerry Butler, the Four Seasons, Gene Chandler, Holly Maxwell, ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
