Monica J. Freeman (born 1947) is an independent Black feminist filmmaker and arts administrator.
Freeman earned her MFA from Columbia University. According to one article, "In the early '70s, Monica Freeman's documentaries heralded a new generation of Black women producing independent films about Black women." [1]
Freeman began her career with Nafasi Productions, a Black filmmaking collective under the tutelage of John Wise, where she directed Valerie: A Woman, An Artist, A Philosophy of Life (1975). This film serves an important role in the canon of biographical films among Black female artists. The 1977 documentary A Sense of Pride: Hamilton Heights featured an all-women crew, including Ayoka Chenzira.
In 1976, under artist Faith Ringgold's suggestion, she programmed films for the Sojourner Truth Festival of the Arts, Focus on Film, which is believed to be the first Black women's film festival in the United States. [2]
She later lived in Houston [3] and served as Program Coordinator for the Atlanta African Film Society.
Toni Cade Bambara, born Miltona Mirkin Cade, was an African-American author, documentary film-maker, social activist and college professor.
The Black Arts Movement (BAM) was an African-American-led art movement that was active during the 1960s and 1970s. Through activism and art, BAM created new cultural institutions and conveyed a message of black pride. The movement expanded from the incredible accomplishments of artists of the Harlem Renaissance.
The Studio Museum in Harlem is an American art museum devoted to the work of artists of African descent. The museum's galleries are currently closed in preparation for a building project that will replace the current building, located at 144 West 125th Street between Adam Clayton Powell Jr. Boulevard and Lenox Avenue in Harlem, Manhattan, New York City, with a new one on the same site. Founded in 1968, the museum collects, preserves and interprets art created by African Americans, members of the African diaspora, and artists from the African continent. Its scope includes exhibitions, artists-in-residence programs, educational and public programming, and a permanent collection.
Northside is one of the 52 neighborhoods of Cincinnati, Ohio. Northside was originally known as Cumminsville, but the construction of I-74 in 1974 divided Cumminsville into North and South Cumminsville, and by the 1980s, North Cumminsville became known as Northside.
Sugar Hill is a National Historic District in the Harlem and Hamilton Heights neighborhoods of Manhattan, New York City, bounded by West 155th Street to the north, West 145th Street to the south, Edgecombe Avenue to the east, and Amsterdam Avenue to the west. The equivalent New York City Historic Districts are:
Visual Communications –– is a community-based non-profit media arts organization based in Los Angeles. It was founded in 1970 by independent filmmakers Robert Nakamura, Alan Ohashi, Eddie Wong, and Duane Kubo, who were students of EthnoCommunications, an alternative film school at University of California, Los Angeles. The mission of VC is to "promote intercultural understanding through the creation, presentation, preservation and support of media works by and about Asian Pacific Americans."
International Documentary Association (IDA), founded in 1982, is a non-profit 501(c)(3) that promotes nonfiction filmmakers, and is dedicated to increasing public awareness for the documentary genre. Their major program areas are: Advocacy, Filmmaker Services, Education, and Public Programs and Events.
Yvonne Welbon is an American independent film director, producer, and screenwriter based in Chicago. She is known for her films, Living with Pride:Ruth C. Ellis @ 100 (1999), Sisters in Cinema (2003), and Monique (1992).
Sylvia D. Hamilton is a Canadian filmmaker, writer, poet, and artist. Based in Grand Pre, Nova Scotia, her work explores the lives and experiences of people of African descent. Her special focus is on African Nova Scotians, and especially women. In particular, her work takes the form of documentary films, writing, public presentations, teaching, mentoring, extensive volunteer work and community involvement. She has uncovered stories of struggles and contributions of African Canadians and introduced them to mainstream audiences. Through her work, she exposes the roots and the presence of systemic racism in Canada. She aims to provide opportunities for Black and Indigenous youth through education and empowerment.
Atlanta's mild climate and plentiful trees allow for festivals and events to take place in the city year-round. One of the city's most popular events is the Atlanta Dogwood Festival, an arts and crafts festival held in Piedmont Park each spring, when the native dogwoods are in bloom. Atlanta Streets Alive, inspired by the ciclovía in Bogotá, Colombia, closes city streets to car traffic to allow people to participate in health and community-oriented, such as bicycling, strolling, skating, people-watching, tango, yoga, hula hooping, and break dancing.
Camille Josephine Billops was an African-American sculptor, filmmaker, archivist, printmaker, and educator.
Valerie Jean Maynard was an American sculptor, teacher, printmaker, and designer. Maynard's work frequently addressed themes of social inequality and the civil rights movement.
Michelle Parkerson is an American filmmaker and academic. She is an assistant professor in Film and Media Arts at Temple University and has been an independent film/video maker since the 1980s, focusing particularly on feminist, LGBT, and political activism and issues.
Voza Rivers is an American producer and co-producer of theater, film, music, and live events, born in Harlem, New York. River's work as a theater producer, music executive, event producer, and documentary filmmaker has been presented in the United States, Japan, South Africa, Togo, Nigeria, Cuba, Canada, and the United Kingdom.
Barbara McCullough is a director, production manager and visual effects artist whose directorial works are associated with the Los Angeles School of Black independent filmmaking. She is best known for Water Ritual #1: An Urban Rite of Purification (1979), Shopping Bag Spirits and Freeway Fetishes: Reflections on Ritual Space (1980), Fragments (1980), and World Saxophone Quartet (1980).
Janet Henry is a visual artist based in New York City.
Ja'Tovia Gary is an American artist and filmmaker based in Brooklyn, New York. Her work is held in the permanent collections at the Whitney Museum, Studio Museum of Harlem, and others. She is best known for her documentary film The Giverny Document (2019), which received awards including the Moving Ahead Award at the Locarno Film Festival, the Juror Award at the Ann Arbor Film Festival, Best Experimental Film at the Blackstar Film Festival, and the Douglas Edwards Experimental Film Award from the Los Angeles Film Critics Association.
Sue Perlgut is a second-wave feminist who was a central figure in It's All Right To Be Woman Theatre, a women's theater collective founded in 1970 in New York City that operated without a director.
Gylbert Coker is an African-American art historian, artist, and curator who has worked to establish Black artists and art in the canon of American art.
Fighting Woman News was an American feminist periodical founded in December 1975 by Valerie Eads. This newsletter grew out of Eads's regular column in Black Belt Woman. This magazine focused on martial arts, self-defense, and combative sports for and by women. It published news and articles on techniques, workshops, and events. Fighting Woman News also regularly sent representatives to women's conferences to promote self-defense and martial arts literature for women.