Season one of Directora is all about foundations. We've talked about the first female director ever, and we talked about Hollywood's first successful female director. Today, we ask the question: who was the first Black female filmmaker?
Well, this is actually a difficult question to answer. There is no one answer. There are a couple of early contenders, but the answer also depends on what you’re asking. In this episode, we'll talk about several Black female pioneers in film, from Madame Welcome to Tressie Souders to Eloyce King Patrick Gist to Zora Neale Hurston to Jessie Maple, and more!
This episode originally aired with Grab Bag Collab. Thank you to Amanda Rossman, Daisy Eagan, and Amber Hunt. Thank you to Brock Alter for sound help and podcast artwork. Follow us on Instagram and TikTok to see clips and stills from the topics talked about in this episode.
Sources used for this episode:
Abbot, Robert. S. “Among the Movies,” Chicago Defender, 20 November 1915, p. 5.
Baker, Christina N. Black Women Directors. Rutgers University Press, 2022.
Bobo, Jaqueline. Black Women Film & Video Artists. AFI Film Readers. Routledge, 1998.
The Billboard, NY Digital Library, 31 Dec. 1921, p. 43. www.fultonhistory.com/newspaper
Black Film Archive - 1920s. https://blackfilmarchive.com/1920-s
“I Invest in Myself and I Make My Films: Jessie Maple on Breaking Boundaries in Filmmaking”. NU Block Museum. February 6, 2020.
https://nublockmuseum.blog/2020/02/06/i-invest-in-myself-and-i-make-my-films-jessie-maple-on-breaking-boundaries-and-filmmaking-audio/
Jackson, Ashwanta. “Black Camerawoman Jessie Maple’s Fight to Join a Union”. JSTOR Daily. May 13, 2021. https://daily.jstor.org/black-camerawoman-jessie-maples-fight-to-join-a-union/
Knuppel, Jennie. “The First Black Woman to Write and Produce and Act in Her Own Film”. Saturday Evening Post. February 29, 2024. https://www.saturdayeveningpost.com/2024/02/the-first-black-woman-to-write-produce-and-act-in-her-own-film/
Morgan, Kyna; Aimee Dixon. "African-American Women in the Silent Film Industry." In Jane Gaines, Radha Vatsal, and Monica Dall’Asta, eds. Women Film Pioneers Project. New York, NY: Columbia University Libraries, 2013. https://doi.org/10.7916/d8-vt0f-1758
Stratton, L.E. “How White Women’s Patronage of Black Artists Exposed Racial Fault Lines.” Lit Hub. June 13, 2024. https://lithub.com/how-white-womens-patronage-of-black-artists-exposed-racial-fault-lines/
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