MARY LOUISE KELLY, HOST:
The writer Wil Haygood grew up watching movies with mostly white actors - Elizabeth Taylor, John Wayne, Henry Fonda.
WIL HAYGOOD: They all had one thing in common - they were all white. As a little kid, I never saw a Black actor.
ARI SHAPIRO, HOST:
Black actors were on screen, mostly in the background. So in his new book, "Colorization: One Hundred Years Of Black Films In A White World," Haygood puts them in the foreground, exploring the history of Black artists in Hollywood.
KELLY: He holds up films and the context in which they were released to better show the life of African Americans. And he explores what the movies say and what they don't say, from Woodrow Wilson showing "Birth Of A Nation" in the White House to the use of cameras in nationalizing issues of Black life.
SHAPIRO: We asked Wil Haygood to highlight a few notable films that reveal the United States' ideas on race through their Black characters. Haygood starts with 1959's "Imitation Of Life."
(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC)
HAYGOOD: In reflecting on the movie "Imitation Of Life," it's very important to know that when it came out in 1959, there were no Blacks on weekly TV, other than playing the role of maids or chauffeurs. And so here was a movie that was directed by Douglas Sirk that was ostensibly about a white family. And there was a famous mother who was an actress, and she had a daughter. But Sirk had another plot about a Black family, who was a mother who was the maid living with this famous actress played by Juanita Moore. And she had a daughter who looked very light of skin. And the daughter wanted to pass as white.
(SOUNDBITE OF FILM, "IMITATION OF LIFE")
SUSAN KOHNER: (As Sarah Jane) I'm somebody else. I'm white, white, white. Does that answer you?
JUANITA MOORE: (As Annie Johnson) I guess so.
HAYGOOD: America had never shown on the big screen the psyche and the turmoil that could take place inside of a Black family. And it really went to the roots of raw racism and self-hatred in this country. And it was a searing moment, especially so that Hollywood was very afraid to make movies that involved race and especially to make movies that involved white racism and seeing that up close like that.
(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC)
HAYGOOD: In 1963, "Lilies Of The Field" came out. And it's based on a slim (ph) novel about a handyman looking for work. He comes across a group of nuns from Europe who are here in the U.S.
(SOUNDBITE OF FILM, "LILIES OF THE FIELD")
UNIDENTIFIED ACTOR #1: (As character) We built a chapel.
SIDNEY POITIER: (As Homer Smith) It's very nice. What's a chapel?
HAYGOOD: They hire Homer Smith, the character played by Sidney Poitier.
(SOUNDBITE OF FILM, "LILIES OF THE FIELD")
POITIER: (As Homer Smith) Lots of luck, mother. I ain't building no chapel.
UNIDENTIFIED ACTOR #1: (As character) Yeah, you.
POITIER: (As Homer Smith) Not only am I ain't building no chapel, I'm taking off.
HAYGOOD: It was very difficult for Ralph Nelson, who was the director, to raise the money for this film. He convinced Sidney Poitier to slash his salary, which he wanted to do, and because he loved the script so much.
(SOUNDBITE OF FILM, "LILIES OF THE FIELD")
POITIER: (As Homer Smith) Why take ye thought for raiment? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow; they toil not, neither do they spin. Yet I say unto you, not even Solomon, in all his glories, was arrayed as one of these.
HAYGOOD: To have a Black man who was not speaking in stereotypical patterns was very meaningful and very huge.
(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC)
HAYGOOD: And of course, the following year, 1964, Sidney Poitier became the first Black to win an Oscar for a non-stereotypical role. So this was a big step forward in 1963, when this film came out.
(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC)
HAYGOOD: There was a film that came out in 2014 - "Selma." And it was about the famous March 7, 1965 march led by civil rights workers in Selma, Ala. across the Edmund Pettus Bridge.
(SOUNDBITE OF FILM, "SELMA")
UNIDENTIFIED ACTOR #2: (As character) The troopers continued pushing, using both the force of their bodies and the prodding of their night sticks.
HAYGOOD: For years, the script had been floating around. Filmmakers couldn't get the movie made. And then a wonderful filmmaker by the name of Ava DuVernay decided to make it. And she cast David Oyelowo in the role of Martin Luther King Jr., and he gave a towering performance.
(SOUNDBITE OF FILM, "SELMA")
DAVID OYELOWO: (As Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.) Give us the vote.
UNIDENTIFIED ACTOR #3: (As character) That's right. No more.
OYELOWO: (As Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.) We're not asking we're demanding. Give us the vote.
HAYGOOD: "Selma" was such a huge hit that it really started to wake so many people up.
(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC)
HAYGOOD: Many people had questions - how come we are only just now, in 2014, seeing a big epic film about Martin Luther King Jr.? Why have we had to wait so long? Many people were upset that David or Ava were not nominated for Oscars. And we later had a movement that became known as OscarsSoWhite. And that was spawned in 2015, when there were no Black actors or actresses nominated. And that happened again in 2016.
Which is why we need to know the history. How do these things keep happening? Why do they keep happening to Black filmmakers? Because if you look back 100 years into film, then you see the pain and you see the effort and you see the struggle.
I think that the future for Black film is very bright. Filmmakers like Lee Daniels, like Spike Lee, like Ava DuVernay - I think they are inspired by the struggle that went on before them. And so the pace is sluggish. It's still too sluggish. But thank goodness there are folks out there who want to change things, who want to make things better.
KELLY: That's Wil Haygood walking us through a few of the movies featured in his most recent book, "Colorization: One Hundred Years Of Black Films In A White World."
(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC) Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.