Reid, Chapter 1

After reading Chapter 1 of Black Lenses, Black Voices, I found myself impressed by the versatility of Black directors, actors, and crew members. Many directors have appeared as actors, or have worked on crews, or both. This seemed to be the case not just in the 1980s and 1990s with Spike Lee and Forest Whitaker, but also at the onset of Black motion pictures, with Oscar Micheaux. In later chapters, Reid lists individuals who had "graduated" from crew member to director and/or writer. I was impressed by this work ethic, especially by those directors in the earlier years. They likely were not given much room to be creative, nor would they have been given much money by the individuals funding their work, so they had to perform a variety of jobs on the film.