The Wake

At the entrance of the Atrium Gallery in the Andersen Library, an old-fashioned marquee reads: “Now Playing: Blackface(s) in Film, The Givens Collection of African-American Literature.” The exhibit celebrates black film pioneers like actor Sidney Poitier and directors Oscar Micheaux, Spike Lee and Gordon Parks, who became Hollywood’s first major black director with The Learning Tree, 1969, and also happens to have spent some of his life in St. Paul, Minn.

I walk the miniature red carpet into the exhibit and am greeted at the end by a mannequin, dressed like a ticket-taker in black pants and a gray suit jacket with gold buttons. Movie posters line the wall, some of which include Mo’ Better Blues, 1990, and Shaft, 1971. Exhibit curator Karla Davis says that she hopes the exhibit’s design adds to a visitor’s overall experience. “Rather than just a static display with books and scripts in a case, visitors get to walk a red carpet and are greeted by an usher,” she says.

Once inside the exhibit, I immediately feel like I’m in a movie set. On both sides of the exhibit are huge film lights. On the back wall of the exhibit sits a stilted camera behind a red director’s chair. On the floor next to the chair is a white megaphone and a pile of shiny, silver movie reels. On the left wall of the exhibit are three black and white photographs, one of Dorothy Dandridge, one of Oprah Winfrey, and one of Spike Lee on posters as tall as the room itself.

Hanging from the ceiling are five movie reels, each one designating a distinct part of the exhibit. Reel 1, “Directors,” features screenplays and press kits from many popular black film directors. In wooden display cases covered with thick glass lies a collection of the work of these directors. One case holds some of the images and text from the press kit of Spike Lee’s Malcolm X, 1992, with Denzel Washington and Angela Bassett, as well as images and text from the press kit of Jungle Fever, 1991. A copy of Spike Lee’s That’s My Story and I’m Sticking to It also rests in this case.

Reel 2 showcases books made into films. The display cases in this part of the exhibit features, among many, Amistad, by Alexs Pate, which is based on the screenplay by David Franzoni. The book To Sir, with Love, by E.R. Braithwaite and the screenplay by James Clavell is also on display here. “We’ve all had the experience of seeing a movie that couldn’t capture the spirit of the book it was based on. And sometimes the movies are indeed better than the books,” Davis says.

Reel 3, “Pulitzer Prize Winners Made into Films,” holds Beloved by Toni Morrison, The Color Purple by Alice Walker, and several others. Reel 4, “Other Scripts of Interest,” contains Belafonte, 1960, and Lena, 1965. In Reel 5, “Biographies of Film Stars,” you can find The Measure of a Man: A Spiritual Autobiography by Sidney Poitier and Nobody: The Story of Bert Williams by Ann Charters.

Davis says that through the exhibit she hopes people might learn of the many ways in which African Americans have contributed to the film industry. “Too often the focus is on actors and actresses, but African-Americans contribute to the scripts and directing duties too,” Davis says. She knows that when most people think of black directors, Spike Lee is the name that comes to mind. But directors like Micheaux and Parks paved the way for him, which is something many people don’t know.

“Blackface(s) in Film” is open now until February 28. Normal hours are Monday through Friday from 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., but Davis is happy to make other arrangements with interested parties.