UMass Boston

Course Overview

Description

This course explores the history and development of how Africans and African Americans are depicted on stage, on the movie screen, and in television. Starting in the days of Shakespeare (Othello, Aaron in Titus Andronicus) the course will take a path that includes the days of minstrel shows, Race movies, Magic Negroes, Blacksploitation, The Black Arts Movement, the "post-racial" age, and on into the images of tomorrow. By the end of the course, students will not only have the knowledge of how racial identities develop through media such as television and motion pictures, but will also be able to view future depictions of blacks and other persons of color on stage with a critical eye to certain stereotypes.