Hollywood's Systemic Exclusion of Black Actors and Racist Caricature

Throughout the 1920s and 1930s, Hollywood films almost universally depicted Black people as comic servants, criminals, or buffoons, while significant Black roles were often played by white actors in blackface. D.W. Griffith's Birth of a Nation (1915) remained a touchstone, regularly screened at universities and by the Klan. Black actors like Lincoln Perry ('Stepin Fetchit') were typecast in degrading roles or excluded entirely. The National Association of Black Actors organized but had no market leverage. Black film companies including Oscar Micheaux's studio produced counter-narratives for segregated audiences.