This expansive three-volume set investigates racial representation in film, providing an authoritative cross-section of the most racially significant films, actors, directors, and movements in American cinematic history.

Hollywood has always reflected current American cultural norms and ideas. As such, film provides a window into attitudes about race and ethnicity over the last century. This comprehensive set provides information on hundreds of films chosen based on scholarly consensus of their importance regarding the subject, examining aspects of race and ethnicity in American film through the historical context, themes, and people involved.



This three-volume set highlights the most important films and artists of the era, identifying films, actors, or characterizations that were considered racist, were tremendously popular or hugely influential, attempted to be progressive, or some combination thereof. Readers will not only learn basic information about each subject but also be able to contextualize it culturally, historically, and in terms of its reception to understand what average moviegoers thought about the subject at the time of its popularity-and grasp how the subject is perceived now through the lens of history.









Views the films via a historical approach in which every subject is considered both through a contemporary lens and in terms of the time of its production and initial reception



Provides up-to-date information on recent movies such as Selma (2014), The Fast and The Furious (2001-2015), 12 Years a Slave (2013), Django Unchained (2012), and Lone Survivor (2013)



Provides readers with the information and background necessary to form informed views about racial representation in film-still an important "hot-button" subject today



Edited by top scholars in the field, Daniel Bernardi and Michael Green, and contains entries by other important experts, such as Andrew Gordon and Priscilla Ovalle