Aamiah Griffin
Research Mentor(s): Matthew Solomon
Mentor Department: Film, Television, and Media
Authors: Aamiah Griffin, Matthew Solomon
Session: Session 5 (2:00pm – 2:50pm)
Presentation Type: Creative Project
Abstract
The 1920s film industry often refused to acknowledge the work of POC actors and actresses despite their numerous contributions, often leading to their names being unknown throughout history. Along with the lack of credit given to non-white actors, the lack of film preservation efforts of movies released in the past has caused a loss of artistic and cultural history. Such is the case for the film The Big City released in 1928 and set in a fictional version of Harlem, New York. The project intends to highlight various forms of Black creativity dating 100 years ago that are now considered “lost.†This project also intends to address the problem of “lost films.†A lost film is a movie known to have been produced yet no original or copy exists. The project has also worked to uncover the names of some of the Black extras in the film who went previously uncredited, so far locating one of the extra’s biological son, Raymond Turner Jr., who collaborated with a poetry reading filmed in the Duderstadt Center Video Studio. Since joining the project, I have completed research on the impact and career of Aaron Douglas, whose murals will hopefully be featured in the project, as well as researched other possible institutional partners with the goal of incorporating authentic 1920s Black art. This project contributes to the growing conversations relating to the unfair treatment of African Americans in Hollywood not only in the past but present. Additionally, the project lays down the foundation of how to properly acknowledge the work done by Black artists and actors for the modern audience through 3D modeling, VR, XR, streaming video and other forms of media, while touching on the dangers of “lost films†generally which conceals creative history from modern day audiences.
