In 2020, a series of insurrections reverberated out of Minneapolis, Minnesota, following the murder of George Floyd. The uprisings enlivened many communities facing the harsh grips of a global pandemic. Even during times of cresting revolution, though, the focus can’t be all political. People need ways to sustain themselves. For writer Maya Cade, film was already a source of refuge. But what started as a small effort to share her passion in a June 2020 Twitter thread has since evolved into the Black Film Archive, a curation of Black films from 1915 through 1979.
Launched in August 2021, the Black Film Archive’s internal origins are simple, Cade tells Mic: “It began as an exploration of what brings me joy. And Black film has always been [that] for me.” In her original thread, Cade shared films made before 1959 that were publicly available through services like YouTube and Amazon. It included works like Native Son, a 1951 drama starring Richard Wright based on his international bestseller, and Anna Lucasta, a 1958 drama starring Eartha Kitt as the titular character kicked out of her family home.
