Collection: Soul on Screen: Black Visions in Motion Picture History

Welcome to “Soul on Screen”, a sacred space where we honor the bold, brilliant, and brave Black visionaries who used cinema to tell our truth when the world would rather we stayed silent. From the earliest days of American film, our people were present; yet too often portrayed as buffoons, servants, or threats. Icons like Stepin Fetchit and Butterfly McQueen were forced into roles crafted to entertain white audiences, not empower us. But even in the middle of those shadows, our light shined through. Hattie McDaniel, despite the controversy of her role in Gone with the Wind, became the first Black person to win an Academy Award in 1940; and she walked into that room carrying not just her own dream, but the weight of a people long denied dignity on screen.

As we moved into the 1970s, the rise of Blaxploitation films like Shaft, Super Fly, and Coffy gave us a new kind of hero; strong, unapologetic, and rooted in the Black experience, though not without criticism. Still, they cracked the door wider for a new generation. From Denzel Washington, Angela Bassett, and Spike Lee, to today’s cinematic giants like Viola Davis, Chadwick Boseman, Ava DuVernay, and Jordan Peele, Black storytellers have transformed Hollywood; not just by being seen, but by controlling how we are seen. This exhibit reminds us that the screen is more than entertainment; it’s a battleground for our image, our identity, and our liberation. And make no mistake: when we tell our own stories, the world listens differently.