Part 2: the 1920’s to the 1940’s
From the 1920’s to the 1940’s some 200 films were produced with all-black casts for African American audiences by such studios as Meteor Productions Inc., Lincoln Motion Picture Co., Norman Film Manufacturing Co., Monarch Productions, Christie Film Co. and Micheaux Pictures Corp. Hollywood took notice and began to recruit stars of the musical stage including Eddie “Rochester” Anderson, Louis Armstrong, Cab Calloway, Lena Horne, Nina Mae McKinney, Fats Waller and Ethel Waters.
In the library collection:
Within Our Gates (1920)
Hallelujah (1929)
The Emperor Jones (1933)
The Green Pastures (1936)
Swing (1938)
Moon Over Harlem (1939)
Way Down South (1939)
Cabin in the Sky (1943)
Stormy Weather (1943)
