Ethnic Notions
In his first major work, a brilliant and disturbing deconstruction of the ways in which anti-Black stereotypes have permeated nearly every aspect of popular culture, Marlon Riggs brings viewers face-to-face with the insidious images that have shaped America’s racial mythologies. Through razor-sharp historical analysis and powerfully deployed imagery, Ethnic Notions illuminates, with devastating clarity, how dehumanizing caricatures of Black people—seen everywhere from children’s books to films to household products—have been used to uphold white supremacy and to justify slavery, segregation, and the continuing oppression of African Americans. In its refusal to look away, this Emmy-winning documentary, narrated by actor Esther Rolle, has become an essential text for understanding the origins of American racism.
Available In
Collector's Set
Collector's Set
Cast
- Barbara Christian
- Featuring interviews with
- Jan Faulkner
- George Fredrickson
- Lawrence Levine
- Carlton Moss
- Erskine Peter
- Leni Sloan
- Patricia A. Turner
- Esther Rolle
- Narrator
- Leni Sloan
- Bert Williams monologue written and performed by
- Rene Collins
- Two-man minstrel skit
- Derique McGee
- Ernie Fosselius
- Voices
- Jeffrey Friedman
- Janet Keller
- Marlon Riggs
Credits
- Director
- Marlon Riggs
- Produced by
- Marlon Riggs
- Written by
- Marlon Riggs
- Editor
- Deborah Hoffmann
- Original music
- Mary Watkins
- Associate producer
- Keris Salmon
- Assistant editor and production coordinator
- Isaac Mizrahi
- Videographer
- Calvin Roberts
- Chief research
- Marlon Riggs
- CMX editor
- Laurie Simms/KQED
- Sound mix
- Mark Escott/Robert Berke Sound
- Special thanks
- Jan Faulkner
