The Birth of African American Cinema Studies: 1980s-1990s

This talk explores the crucial period of the 1980s and 1990s as a pivotal moment for studies in African American Cinema, tracing the intersections of filmmaking, institutional activism, and scholarship. Building upon the groundwork laid by the diversification of university film programs and cultural organizations in the 1970s, this era witnessed a surge in film and television productions, academic research, and institutional infrastructures (festivals, community screenings, journals, and training programs). While figures from the period like Spike Lee and Julie Dash are well-documented, I will highlight underrecognized contributors-like Michelle Materre and Peggy Pinn, who worked in distribution, education, and institutional advocacy, playing critical roles in building networks of support that extended beyond the screen. While a generalized Black cinema had long been a subject of cultural analysis, this period marked specific shifts in structured academic engagement with African American films, informed by interdisciplinary developments in Africana Studies, Women's Studies, Queer Studies, and Cultural Studies.

As African American filmmakers expanded their work across independent, experimental, and mainstream productions, a similar struggle for recognition, institutional support, and documentation unfolded in academia. I argue that African American Cinema Studies, as a discipline, emerged in response to archival and scholarly neglect, a form of critical gatekeeping that ultimately shaped the field's scope and methodologies. I believe that this period was transformational in the intellectual history of African American Cinema, as scholars worked to define the field, negotiate the risks of canon formation, and push for sustained engagement with overlooked films, figures, and movements.

Bio: Franklin Cason, Jr. is an Assistant Professor of the Practice in the Department of Art, Art History & Visual Studies at Duke University. In 2019-2020 He earned a Ph.D. from the University of Florida and an MFA from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. He was visiting professor at Franklin Humanities Institute at Duke University (2019-2020). His research explores aesthetics and pragmatism in African-American cinema.