POSTPONED: Los Angeles Harper Lecture: Recovering Black Love on Screen: Unearthing Lost Films and the Traces of Alternative Histories

Featuring Allyson Nadia Field

In 2017, a film archivist at the University of Southern California discovered a circa-1900 nitrate print of an African American couple laughing and embracing repeatedly in a naturalistic and joyful manner—an incredible departure from the racist caricatures prevalent in early cinema. After some detective work, the film was identified as Something Good-Negro Kiss, made in Chicago in 1898 by William Selig with well-known vaudeville performers Saint Suttle and Gertie Brown. The film was named to the National Film Registry in 2018 and received widespread attention, leading to further rediscoveries of black performance in early films. Join Allyson Nadia Field to explore how these early film artifacts require a radical rethinking of the relationships between race, performance, and the emergence of American cinema. And they have much to tell us about the cinematic expression of African American affection and how it can serve as a powerful testament to black humanity at a time of rampant misrepresentation.

The event will begin with a 30-minute welcome reception, followed by the lecture presentation and a postevent reception.

Event Details

2:00 p.m. Registration and networking
2:30 p.m. Presentation and discussion
3:45 p.m. Reception

$20/person
$10/Maroon Loyalty Society member or recent graduate (College alumni of the past 10 years and graduate alumni of the past five years)
Free for current academic year graduates and current students
Two complimentary registrations for members of the Chicago, Harper, Odyssey, and Phoenix philanthropic societies

Register here

Questions?
Contact alumni@uchicago.edu or 773.702.2150.