Black Cinema's Golden Era... the 70's

I'm very fortunate to have been exposed to the arts at a young age, and being an inner city kid in the 80's-90's meant I was surrounded by creativity everywhere.

Surrounded by teachers who genuinely cared about expanding my mind and helping me develop my own perspective on the world.

While I caught many of these incredible films later on TV or YouTube as an adult, the 70's was such a magical time when everyone seemed accessible. An era that unleashed a tidal wave of powerful stories and groundbreaking art that still resonates today.

Here are my personal Top 5

1. Lady Sings the Blues featured Diana Ross's stunning debut as Billie Holiday, and I remember being deeply moved by the raw portrayal of her vulnerability and struggle with addiction.

   

   Billy Dee Williams and Richard Pryor rounded out a cast that brought both heartbreak and humanity to this jazz legend's story.

2. Claudine gave us Diahann Carroll and James Earl Jones in a refreshingly authentic look at working-class Black life in Harlem, complete with Curtis Mayfield's unforgettable soundtrack.

   

   A welfare recipient falling for a garbage collector while raising six kids showed us love and struggle with equal parts humor and heart.

3. Sounder stood apart from the blaxploitation era with its dignified portrayal of a sharecropper family's resilience during the Depression.

   

   The film's focus on family bonds, education, and hope symbolized by their loyal dog earned four Academy Award nominations and showed Hollywood that Black stories could be both serious and deeply moving.

4. Mahogany had Diana Ross serving high fashion glamour as a model-turned-designer,

   

   and while critics called it melodramatic, audiences loved every fabulous, campy moment of it. I always thought this was loosely based on Iman's life, though her career didn't actually take off until 1975!

5. The Wiz reimagined Oz as a gritty 1970s New York with Diana Ross as Dorothy alongside Michael Jackson's Scarecrow, creating a visual feast of Black culture and Afrocentric pride.

   

   Though critics initially panned it, the film's themes of self-worth and resilience, plus that incredible aesthetic, have earned it a devoted cult following.

Honorable Mention: Alex Haley's Roots (1977).

Roots wasn't just a television event it was a seismic cultural shift that brought over half of America to their screens for eight consecutive nights.

This groundbreaking miniseries traced the generational saga of Kunta Kinte and his descendants from capture in Africa through emancipation, forcing a national reckoning with slavery's brutal reality in a way mainstream media never had before. The series sparked an unprecedented interest in genealogy among African Americans and led to the creation of Black studies programs across the country, winning nine Emmys and forever changing what stories television could tell.

Despite later controversies about historical accuracy and plagiarism accusations that led to a settlement with author Harold Courlander, Roots remains a watershed moment in American culture, it humanized the enslaved experience for millions and presented Black perspectives with a power and scope that had never been seen on screen. Till this day, Roots is a really difficult movie for me to get through, but its impact on how we understand and discuss our shared history cannot be overstated.