Reel Freedom: Black Film Culture in Early Twentieth-Century New York City

Reel Freedom intimately captures the relationship between Black film culture and space in New York City. Alyssa Lopez argues that Black film culture, from its origins in the early twentieth century to its firm establishment in the 1930s, was necessarily both entertainment and resistance, connected as it was to Black New Yorkers’ demands for access and equality in the city.

Lopez investigates how ordinary people, labor activists, journalists, filmmakers, theater managers, and owners all shap...