Monday, February 15, 2010

Passing, Hollywood Style!

Hi, class,

Here are the presentations scheduled for this week:


Tuesday, 2/16
Michelle Johnson: Ferdinand Barnett, "Race Unity" (1879)
Zandra Thomas: Lucy Parsons, "I Am an Anarchist" (1886)

Thursday, 2/18
Janere Davis: Frederick Douglass, "On Woman Suffrage" (1888)
Allyssa Bell: Anna Julia Cooper, "Women's Cause is One and Universal" (1893)
William Snell: Ida B. Wells, "Lynch Law in All Its Phases" (1893)

What follows are two scenes from the film adaptations of novelist Fannie Hurst's Imitation of Life (clip misspells "imitation"). The first version, made in 1934, stars African American performers Louise Beavers (Delilah) and Fredi Washington (Peola) as the mother and daughter, respectively. The second adaptation, filmed in 1959, features Juanita Moore (Delilah) as the long-suffering mother, and Susan Kohner (Sarah Jane) as her daughter. Interestingly, Susan Kohner is a white actress passing as a black woman passing as a white woman in this version.



Imitation of Life, 1934. Delilah (Louise Beavers) and Peola (Fredi Washington).



Imitation of Life, 1959. Annie (Juanita Moore) and Sarah Jane (Susan Kohner).

3 comments:

Amatullah said...

Professor, I wasen't able to see the clips. It just is not coming up at all.....

Curline said...

I was unable to see the clips to maybe because i was trying on the school computer:<(

Rebecca Williams said...

I will double-check the links!