What three films and their Black characters reveal about America's ideas on race
A new book Colorization: One Hundred Years of Black Films in a White World unpacks the lens through which Black characters have been seen. Will Haygood, the author, explores this using three movies.
The writer Wil Haygood grew up watching movies with mostly white actors — Elizabeth Taylor, John Wayne, Henry Fonda.
"They all had one thing in common — they were all white. As a little kid, I never saw a Black actor," Haygood said.
Black actors were on screen, but mostly in the background.
So, in his new book, , Haygood puts them in the foreground, exploring the history of Black artists in Hollywood.
