2008 Woodie Awards
Black women's history film series debuts
Susannah Taylor
Issue date: 9/21/06 Section: Culture
- Page 1 of 1
By Susannah Taylor
staff reporter
Students will have a chance to broaden their knowledge about African American women's history through several select films.
Melissa Anyiwo, assistant professor of American history, is showing five films this semester for her Black Women's History course. The films shown will trace many important moments in African American women's history.
The five films shown will be "The Scar Of Shame," " The Imitation of Life," "Foxy Brown," "She's Gotta Have It" and "Akeelah and the Bee."
"I chose the above films because I felt that they represented an excellent cross-section of films that really illustrated the problems faced by black women because of the traditionally denigrating images used to describe them," Anyiwo said.
The course's general theme is to view black women's history as the steady progression of achievement against overwhelming odds. Each film is chosen to help represent this progression.
"Imitation of Life" and "Foxy Brown" were chosen to show both positive and negative historical images of black women. "The Scar of Shame" and "She's Gotta Have It" are examples of how films have represented black women.
Lastly, "Akeelah and the Bee" is shown to present how black women have attempted to overcome these images.
"I've also found, in conversations over the years, that students are so quick to blame white society for these images that they fail to recognize that black culture is equally culpable in perpetuating both positive and negative stereotypes," Anyiwo said. "Hence 'The Scar of Shame' presents a vision of black women that is no less offensive than 'Imitation of Life.'"
Zakiya Blake, an Atlanta senior, said she thinks the film series is something all students could benefit from.
"I think people see these stereotypical images so often that they become desensitized and don't think about whether the images are true or not," Blake said. "Through the film series and discussion afterward, students can learn that they should think twice about these images and question them."
Films will be shown outside of class time and are open to all UTC students. All of the films will be shown in Brock Hall, room 201. The times of each film will be announced a week before the showing of the film by Anyiwo through the UTC mailing list.
staff reporter
Students will have a chance to broaden their knowledge about African American women's history through several select films.
Melissa Anyiwo, assistant professor of American history, is showing five films this semester for her Black Women's History course. The films shown will trace many important moments in African American women's history.
The five films shown will be "The Scar Of Shame," " The Imitation of Life," "Foxy Brown," "She's Gotta Have It" and "Akeelah and the Bee."
"I chose the above films because I felt that they represented an excellent cross-section of films that really illustrated the problems faced by black women because of the traditionally denigrating images used to describe them," Anyiwo said.
The course's general theme is to view black women's history as the steady progression of achievement against overwhelming odds. Each film is chosen to help represent this progression.
"Imitation of Life" and "Foxy Brown" were chosen to show both positive and negative historical images of black women. "The Scar of Shame" and "She's Gotta Have It" are examples of how films have represented black women.
Lastly, "Akeelah and the Bee" is shown to present how black women have attempted to overcome these images.
"I've also found, in conversations over the years, that students are so quick to blame white society for these images that they fail to recognize that black culture is equally culpable in perpetuating both positive and negative stereotypes," Anyiwo said. "Hence 'The Scar of Shame' presents a vision of black women that is no less offensive than 'Imitation of Life.'"
Zakiya Blake, an Atlanta senior, said she thinks the film series is something all students could benefit from.
"I think people see these stereotypical images so often that they become desensitized and don't think about whether the images are true or not," Blake said. "Through the film series and discussion afterward, students can learn that they should think twice about these images and question them."
Films will be shown outside of class time and are open to all UTC students. All of the films will be shown in Brock Hall, room 201. The times of each film will be announced a week before the showing of the film by Anyiwo through the UTC mailing list.
