(USA/1933—directed by Dudley Murphy)  

The Emperor Jones is an early sound film based on Eugene O’Neill’s groundbreaking 1920 theater work. The story follows a Black Pullman porter accused of murder, who evades prison by escaping to a remote Caribbean island where he sets himself up as the titular emperor.

The play toured New York and London in 1925 with a young Paul Robeson in the lead, delivering searing performances that made him an international star. The film adaptation — Robeson’s most important screen role — was made outside the prevailing restrictions of the Hollywood studio system by avant-garde director Dudley Murphy (Ballet Mécanique).

Had it come out a year later, O’Neill’s transgressive themes on race and critiques of colonialism would have been censored by the puritanical Motion Picture Production Code. (72 min.) 

Made prior to the implementation of the Motion Picture Code, The Emperor Jones remains a potent parable about power, exploitation, and race. This original, uncensored version of the film includes language, racial epithets and cultural characterizations that may be offensive and disturbing to viewers today, as they were in 1933.

This screening will be introduced by Sam White, founding Artistic Director of Shakespeare in Detroit, who will discuss the legacy of Paul Robeson’s performance and the connection to Eugene O’Neill’s original stage production of The Emperor Jones.

This program is part of a companion series of film and music events presented in celebration of Regeneration: Black Cinema, 1898–1971, on view at the Detroit Institute of Arts Feb. 4–June 23, 2024. Regeneration is organized by the Academy Museum of Motion Pictures.   

(USA/1941—directed by Spencer Williams)  

Actor and film director Spencer Williams (1893-1969) began his career in New York theater circles, where he worked as a stagehand for Oscar Hammerstein I and was mentored by the great Black vaudevillian Bert Williams in the art of comedy. After serving in the Army in France during WWI, he went to Hollywood, landing stereotyped roles in silent film comedies such as Buster Keaton’s Steamboat Bill, Jr. (1928).

Williams’ first feature, The Blood of Jesus, is a singular work that draws from two very different traditions: Southern Baptist spirituality, and the surreal imagery of silent Expressionist films. Cathryn Caviness plays a young woman who suffers a personal tragedy and dreams she is suspended between life and death, at the crossroads of heaven and hell. (57 min.)  

This program is part of a companion series of film and music events presented in celebration of Regeneration: Black Cinema 1898–1971, on view at the Detroit Institute of Arts Feb. 4–June 23, 2024. Regeneration is organized by the Academy Museum of Motion Pictures.   

In honor of Martin Luther King Jr. Day, revered Detroit musicians and mentors Wendell Harrison (clarinet and tenor saxophone) and Pamela Wise (piano) will perform in Kresge Court from noon until 3 p.m.

Free with museum admission. 

(USA/1925—directed by Oscar Micheaux)

The actor Paul Robeson (1898-1976) first rose to fame as an ensemble member of the Provincetown Players in New York City, starting in 1916. Robeson’s motion picture debut came in Oscar Micheaux’s silent feature Body and Soul as Reverend Isaiah Jenkins, an escaped prisoner masquerading as a clergyman in a rural Georgia church to exploit the most vulnerable members.

The Motion Picture Production Code censored the film, citing its “sacrilege” based on Jenkins' mental abuse of a single mother played by Mercedes Gilbert. Micheaux was able to appease the ruling by re-editing the film with fantasy scenes suggesting any resemblance between the situations in Body and Soul and real life was imaginary. (82 min.)

Presented with a live musical score composed and performed by Rodney Whitaker. 

This program is part of a companion series of film and music events presented in celebration of Regeneration: Black Cinema, 1898–1971, on view at the Detroit Institute of Arts Feb. 4–June 23, 2024. Regeneration is organized by the Academy Museum of Motion Pictures.   

(USA/1930—directed by James Gist and Eloyce Gist)  

Eloyce Gist studied piano at Howard University during the late 1920s where she met and married James Gist, a devout Christian evangelist. Hellbound Train was made as part of their mission to spread messages of morality and personal responsibility to Black communities, and was presented at churches, schools, and tent revival meetings throughout the South.

Shot on 16mm film with an all-Black cast, the train ride is conducted by Satan who entices passengers with jazz music, gambling, and adultery. Each car of the train presents these seductive sins using surreal imagery, enhanced in their public screenings by live narration and a piano score performed by Eloyce. (60 min.) 

This program is part of a companion series of film and music events presented in celebration of Regeneration: Black Cinema, 1898–1971, on view at the Detroit Institute of Arts Feb. 4–June 23, 2024. Regeneration is organized by the Academy Museum of Motion Pictures.   

Create a pencil drawing to take home while taking a closer look at the collection. No experience necessary. All supplies provided. For ages 6 and up (children ages 12 and younger should be accompanied by an adult).
 

Create a pencil drawing to take home while taking a closer look at the collection. No experience necessary. All supplies provided. For ages 6 and up (children ages 12 and younger should be accompanied by an adult).

Create a pencil drawing to take home while taking a closer look at the collection. No experience necessary. All supplies provided. For ages 6 and up (children ages 12 and younger should be accompanied by an adult).
 

Detroit-based textile artist Najma Ma’at Wilson will demonstrate how to make stitched collages. Participants will use basic stitching techniques with needles, thread, and a variety of interesting fabrics. Materials are provided.

Ma’at’s love of fiber arts was inspired by her mother. She has a degree in fiber design from the Center for Creative Studies, and a master’s degree in education from Boston College. She taught for 20 years in locations as close as Cass Technical High School and as far as Cotonou Benin, West Africa.

After retiring, Ma’at and a lifetime friend co-owned Detroit Fiber Works for 8 years, selling and showing works of local Detroit artists and providing a space for community conversations until 2020. She is returning to creating her own work from her home studio.

Fold, snip, unfold, snowflake! Bring the beauty of winter indoors as you learn to make old-fashioned paper snowflakes. No experience necessary. All supplies provided. Free with admission.