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Behind the Slate

14. Melvin Van Peebles Part 1 - Pre-Melvin

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It is our first episode on the life and work of the revolutionary artist, Melvin Van Peebles... only Mr. Van Peebles will not be appearing. In order to understand the themes, imagery and messages within his films, we are going to tell a story of African American representation in American drama. We'll meet a Caribbean immigrant who founds the first black owned theatre in the U.S., a gangly white actor who made one of the most dangerous pieces of art in human history, a lower Manhattan wunderkind who would come to be known as 'King of all Dancers' and of course, the South Dakota Homesteader turned father of African American independent cinema, Oscar Micheaux!


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Producer: Greg Kleinschmidt


Sources:

‘White People Do Not Know How to Behave at Entertainments Designed for Ladies and Gentlemen of Colour’ by Marvin McAllister

'The African Grove Theatre and Company’ by Jonathan Dewberry

‘Stephen C. Foster and Negro Minstrelsy' by Robert P. Nevin

‘Select Committee on the Slave Trade. Evidence by Thomas Trotter'

‘Slave Culture: Nationalist Theory and the Foundations of Black America' by Sterling Stuckey

‘Black Magic a Pictorial History of Black Entertainers in America' by Langston Hughes

‘American Notes' by Charles Dickens

‘Red Summer' by Cameron McWhirter

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