eBook

Making a Promised Land

Massood, Paula J

2013,2020

Overview

Making a Promised Landexamines the interconnected histories of African American representation, urban life, and citizenship as documented in still and moving images of Harlem over the last century. Paula J. Massood analyzes how photography and film have been used over time to make African American culture visible to itself and to a wider audience and charts the ways in which the \"Mecca of the New Negro\" became a battleground in the struggle to define American politics, aesthetics, and citizenship. Visual media were first used as tools for uplift and education. With Harlem's downturn in fortunes through the 1930s, narratives of black urban criminality became common in sociological tracts, photojournalism, and film. These narratives were particularly embodied in the gangster film, which was adapted to include stories of achievement, economic success, and, later in the century, a nostalgic return to the past. Among the films discussed areFights of Nations(1907),Dark Manhattan(1937),The Cool World(1963),Black Caesar(1974),Malcolm X(1992), andAmerican Gangster(2007). Massood asserts that the history of photography and film in Harlem provides the keys to understanding the neighborhood's symbolic resonance in African American and American life, especially in light of recent urban redevelopment that has redefined many of its physical and demographic contours.

• Publisher: Rutgers University Press
• Subject: 1907 / 1930s downturn / 1937 / 1963 / 1974 / 1992 / 2007 / 20th century / African American culture / African American neighborhoods / African American neighborhoods -- New York (State) -- New York / African American representation / African American Studies / American aesthetics / American Gangster / American politics / American Studies / ART / Techniques / General / artistic / artists / Black Caesar / black urban criminality / citizenship / Communications / Dark Manhattan / demographic / economic success / education / Ethnic Studies / Fights of Nations / Film & Video / Film Studies / gangster film / Harlem / Harlem (New York, N.Y.) / Harlem (New York, N.Y.) -- History -- 20th century / Harlem (New York, N.Y.) -- In motion pictures / History / History & Criticism / identity / In motion pictures / Literary Studies / Malcolm X / Mecca of the New Negro / Media Studies / moving images / New York / New York (State) / nostalgic return / Paula J. Massood / PERFORMING ARTS / photography / photojournalism / SOCIAL SCIENCE / SOCIAL SCIENCE / General / SOCIAL SCIENCE / Sociology / General / SOCIAL SCIENCE / Sociology / Urban / Social sciences / sociological tracts / Sociology / still images / symbolic resonance / The Cool World / urban life / urban redevelopment / visibility / visual media
• ISBN: 9780813555898, 0813555892, 0813555876, 9780813555874, 0813555884, 9780813555881