African American Culture Films

Blues Like Showers of Rain

Blues Like Showers of Rain

Blues Like Showers of Rain

Fannie Bell Chapman: Gospel Singer

Fannie Bell Chapman: Gospel Singer

Fannie Bell Chapman: Gospel Singer

Film of the singer/faith healer and folk artist Fannie Bell Chapman from Centreville, Mississippi. Footage includes Chapman and her family singing and praying during church…

Steppin‘

Introduces viewers to the step show, an exciting dance style popular today among black fraternities and sororities. In addition to many rousing, crowd-pleasing performances, the…

Quilts in Women‘s Lives

Quilts in Women‘s Lives

Quilts in Women‘s Lives

Quilts was a ground breaking film used by folklorists, anthropologists and historians of art and womens history that presented the lives, art, work and philosophy of ordinary…

Dry Wood

A glimpse into the life, food, and Mardi Gras celebrations of black Creoles in French Louisiana, featuring the stories and music of "Bois Sec" Ardoin and Canray Fontenot. Dry Wood…

Gravel Springs

Othar Turner, a fife-maker and musician, owns his farm in the Gravel Springs community in northwest Mississippi. The rhythmical music he and his friends play is called "fife and…

Angel That Stands By Me: Minnie Evans‘ Paintings

Angel That Stands By Me: Minnie Evans‘ Paintings

Angel That Stands By Me: Minnie Evans‘ Paintings

A portrait of the African-American visionary artist Minnie Evans from Wilmington, N.C., by Academy Award winning filmmakers Irving Saraf and Allie Light.

Made in Mississippi

Made in Mississippi

Made in Mississippi

A 1975 Bill Ferris film that features artists from a number of different craft traditions discussing and demonstrating their work, including quilting, sculpting, house building,…

Give My Poor Heart Ease

Give My Poor Heart Ease

Give My Poor Heart Ease

A 1975 account of the blues experience through the recollections and performances of B.B. King, James "Son" Thomas, Shelby "Poppa Jazz" Brown, James "Blood" Shelby, Cleveland…

Black Delta Religion

Black Delta Religion

Black Delta Religion

This film was made from b/w Super 8mm footage that William Ferris gathered in rural Mississippi in 1968. The film includes footage from rural church services and a full immersion…

Sonny Ford, Delta Artist

Sonny Ford, Delta Artist

Sonny Ford, Delta Artist

B/w 16mm documentary film based on fieldwork Ferris conducted with Leland, Mississippi, bluesman and folk artist James "Son" Thomas. Included is footage of Thomas performing at…

Gandy Dancers

Musical traditions and recollections of eight retired African-American railroad track laborers whose occupational folk songs were once heard on railroads that crisscross the South.

Jazz Parades

Alan Lomax's overview of the Jazz scene in New Orleans with interviews and performances by Majestic Band, the Preservation Hall Band (Willie Humphrey, James "Sing" Miller, Emanuel…

Dreams and Songs of the Noble Old

Dreams and Songs of the Noble Old

Dreams and Songs of the Noble Old

Alan Lomax\'s examination of the talents and wisdom of elderly musicians, singers, and story-tellers, who perform not for fame or fortune but to preserve and share their culture.

Learned it in Back Days and Kept It

Learned it in Back Days and Kept It

Learned it in Back Days and Kept It

Portrait of Lucreaty Clark (1903 - 1986), an African American oak basket maker from rural Florida. Clark embraced a wide repertoire of traditional African American songs, games…

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