Campus Resources

Race/Film Study Group

The Race/Film Study Group was founded in 2000 by faculty and graduate students interested in collectively viewing and reading works related to the relations between race and media. The group has sponsored a wide range of events, from small discussions to large public events, including:

The Oscar Micheaux Lectures on Race and Media (2004-)
Annual lecture series featuring filmmakers and scholars working at the intersections of race and media.

The Oscars Revisted: Training Day and Monster's Ball (May 2003)
Panel discussion and screening of Halle Berry 's and Denzel Washington's Academy Award-winning performances. The panel included Prof. Jacqueline Stewart, Prof. Danielle Allen, and graduate students William Orchard (English), Sheldon Lyke (Sociology) and TreaAndrea Russworm (English).

Contestations of Identity and the Reception of Silent Film in India : 1910-1935 (April 2003)
Presentation of dissertation research by Babli Sinha, graduate student in English.

The Devil Finds Work: Sidney Poitier and Cinema of the Civil Rights Era (Winter 2003)
Doc Films series reflecting on Poitier’s best-known work and other important films of the era. The Race/Film Study Group also hosted a series-closing discussion and reception.

That's All Folks! Race and Animation (January 2003)
Discussion and presentation of clips of racialized figures in animation by Julia Gibbs, Assistant Director of the Film Studies Center.

Race Movies: Black Cinema Before 1950 (Winter 2002)
A series at Doc Films featuring live jazz musical accompaniment for silent Black-cast films, as well as lively post-screening discussions between students, faculty, and diverse community members.

Christopher Harris (filmmaker, University of Central Florida, Winter 2002)
A screening of Harris’ film still/here, a meditative examination of the urban decay and the dissolution of North St. Louis neighborhoods, followed by a discussion with the filmmaker (MFA, School of the Art Institute of Chicago).

Songs in the Dark (Spring 2001)
A series at Doc films series exploring the relationship between race and the musical genre. Films included The Jazz Singer (1927), Show Boat (1951), West Side Story (1961), Zoot Suit (1982), Latcho Drom (1993), and Buena Vista Social Club (1999).

Isaac Julien (Fall 2000)
A quarter-long viewing of Julien’s works -- including Frantz Fanon: Black Skin, White Mask (1996); Young Soul Rebels (1991); Looking for Langston (1988); This is Not an AIDS Advertisement (1988) -- scheduled in conjunction with his visit to Chicago and talk/show at the Museum of Contemporary Art.

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