African American Film Materials

Promotional photo for
The Harlem Globetrotters, 1951

Still from A Soldier's Story, 1984

Muhammad Ali in The Greatest,
1977

Promotional photo from
The Liberation of L.B. Jones, 1970

Richard Pryor pressbook,
"Live on the Sunset Strip," 1982

Promotional photo for 1967's
Guess Who's Coming to Dinner

About the Collection

Holding library: DeGolyer Library

View more collections held by DeGolyer Library.

Overview

The African American Film Materials digital collection provides a sample of photographs and pressbooks from films featuring African American actors. The collection is from SMU's DeGolyer Library, and includes 4,254 film stills, lobby books, pressbooks, posters, and related items from motion pictures spanning nearly 40 years.

Highlights and Holdings

This digital collection is remarkable for the variety of film genres and the caliber of talent represented. One of the most notable actors of his generation, Sidney Poitier appears in more than half a dozen films in the collection, including works like Guess Who's Coming to Dinner and To Sir, with Love.

The collection also includes images of other renowned actors like Ben Vereen (All that Jazz), Ruby Dee (A Raisin in the Sun), Billy Dee Williams (Brian's Song), Richard Pryor (Stir Crazy), Harry Belefonte (Buck and the Preacher), Denzel Washington (A Soldier's Story), Ossie Davis (Countdown at Kusini), Muhammed Ali (The Greatest), the Harlem Globetrotters, and many more.

Acknowledgements

Thanks to the generous permission of Sony Pictures Entertainment, 422 items in the DeGolyer Library’s African American Film Materials accession have been made available to the general public via this digital collection.