Souls of Sin | |
---|---|
Directed by | Powell Lindsay |
Written by | Powell Lindsay |
Produced by | William D. Alexander |
Starring | Savannah Churchill Jimmy Wright Billie Allen |
Cinematography | Louis Andres |
Edited by | Walter Kruder |
Production company | |
Release date |
|
Running time | 64 minutes |
Country | United States |
Language | English |
Souls of Sin is a 1949 American race film written and directed by Powell Lindsay, and produced by William D. Alexander. [1] [2] [3] [4] [5] [6] [7] [8]
One of the last of its kind, Souls of Sin has been described as a landmark film of the genre. [9] [10] Generally regarded as the last all-black film with a black producer, [11] it was producer Alexander's final feature before his move to London, where he began making documentaries (he produced one further film with The Klansman in the 1970s). [4]
Dollar Bill Burton, a gambler, lives in a Harlem basement apartment with Roberts, a hard-luck writer, and Alabama, a talented guitarist-singer. At a local bar, Bill is hired by Bad Boy George to sell stolen jewelry and takes an interest in Regina, George's girlfriend who helps Alabama get a break in television. Bill dies of gunshot wounds, but the other characters realize personal success.
— Southern Methodist University Libraries [4]
Songs featured in the film include: [2]
Souls of Sin screened at the 1989 Galveston Film Festival. [8]
Juneteenth, officially Juneteenth National Independence Day, is a federal holiday in the United States. It is celebrated annually on June 19 to commemorate the ending of slavery in the United States. The holiday's name is a portmanteau of the words "June" and "nineteenth", as it was on June 19, 1865, when Major General Gordon Granger ordered the final enforcement of the Emancipation Proclamation in Texas at the end of the American Civil War. In the Civil War period, slavery came to an end in various areas of the United States at different times. Many enslaved Southerners escaped, demanded wages, stopped work, or took up arms against the Confederacy of slave states. In January 1865, Congress finally proposed the Thirteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution for national abolition of slavery. By June 1865, almost all enslaved were freed by the victorious Union Army, or abolition laws in some of the remaining U.S. states. When the national abolition amendment was ratified in December, the remaining enslaved in Delaware and in Kentucky were freed.
The Holiness movement is a Christian movement that emerged chiefly within 19th-century Methodism, and to a lesser extent influenced other traditions such as Quakerism, Anabaptism, and Restorationism. Churches aligned with the holiness movement teach that the life of a born again Christian should be free of sin. The movement is historically distinguished by its emphasis on the doctrine of a second work of grace, which is called entire sanctification or Christian perfection. The word Holiness refers specifically to this belief in entire sanctification as an instantaneous, definite second work of grace, in which original sin is cleansed, the heart is made perfect in love, and the believer is empowered to serve God. For the Holiness movement, "the term 'perfection' signifies completeness of Christian character; its freedom from all sin, and possession of all the graces of the Spirit, complete in kind." A number of Christian denominations, parachurch organizations, and movements emphasize those Holiness beliefs as central doctrine.
Ishmael Scott Reed is an American poet, novelist, essayist, songwriter, composer, playwright, editor and publisher known for his satirical works challenging American political culture. Perhaps his best-known work is Mumbo Jumbo (1972), a sprawling and unorthodox novel set in 1920s New York.
William Garfield Greaves was an American documentary filmmaker and a pioneer of film-making. After trying his hand at acting, he became a filmmaker who produced more than two hundred documentary films, and wrote and directed more than half of these. Greaves garnered many accolades for his work, including four Emmy nominations.
The Blind Boys of Alabama, also billed as The Five Blind Boys of Alabama, and Clarence Fountain and the Blind Boys of Alabama, is an American gospel group. The group was founded in 1939 in Talladega, Alabama, and has featured a changing roster of musicians over its history, the majority of whom are or were vision impaired.
Kendleton Independent School District was a public school district based in Powell Point, unincorporated Fort Bend County, Texas, United States, north of the city of Kendleton. The district served Kendleton and Powell Point. Powell Point is among the oldest historically black schools in the state.
Savannah Churchill was an American rhythm and blues singer in the 1940s and 1950s. She is best known for her number-one R&B single "I Want To Be Loved ."
That's Black Entertainment is a 1989 documentary film starring African-American performers and featuring clips from black films from 1929–1957, narrated and directed by William Greaves. The clips are from the Black Cinema Collection of the Southwest Film/Video Archives at Southern Methodist University in Dallas, Texas. It is 60 minutes long and was distributed by Video Communications of Tulsa, Oklahoma.
Arthur Powell Davies was the minister of All Souls Church, Unitarian in Washington, D.C. from 1944 until his death in 1957. A prolific author of theological books and sermon collections, he came to national prominence in the U.S. through his liberal activism advocating civil rights for African-Americans and women and ethical stands against post-war nuclear proliferation and the methods employed by the American government during the era of McCarthyism.
William Brevard Hand was a United States district judge of the United States District Court for the Southern District of Alabama.
The 1921 SMU Mustangs football team was an American football team that represented Southern Methodist University (SMU) as a member of the Southwest Conference (SWC) during the 1921 college football season. Coach J. Burton Rix resigned after the first two games and Bill Cunningham took over as the interim coach for the remainder of the season. The team compiled an overall record of 1–6–1 record with mark of 0–4–1 in conference play, placing last out of seven teams in the SWC. The Mustangs were outscored by a total of 92 to 15. The team played its home games at Armstrong Field in Dallas.
Miracle in Harlem is a 1948 American musical melodrama film, directed by Jack Kemp, and starred an all African American cast. It has been considered one of the best all-black independent films of the 1940s.
Kemp Powers is an American playwright, screenwriter, and director. He is best known for his play One Night in Miami and the 2020 film adaptation of the same name, as well as for co-directing the animated films Soul (2020) and Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse (2023). His screenplay for One Night in Miami... earned him a Best Adapted Screenplay nomination at the 93rd Academy Awards, while his work on Soul made him the first African-American to co-direct a Disney animated feature.
Carla Blank is an American writer, editor, educator, choreographer, and dramaturge. Based in the San Francisco Bay Area, for more than four decades she has been a performer, director, and teacher of dance and theater, particularly involved with youth and community arts projects.
Powell Lindsay was an actor, born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, on stage and film as well as a director and writer of theatrical productions in the United States. He's been described as the "muse of black social realism on film." He was friends with Langston Hughes and produced works highlighting the work of Hughes.
William Henry Powell was an American Negro league pitcher for the Birmingham Black Barons between 1946 and 1948.
Personal Problems is a 1980 film described as a "meta soap opera" directed by Bill Gunn and written by Ishmael Reed that depicts the life and personal relationships of an African American nurse living in Harlem. The film was originally intended to be broadcast on television, but the public television network PBS and others did not pick up the soap opera. It was shown across the United States at smaller screenings throughout the 1980s until it found renewed popularity after a screening in the late 2000s at the Brooklyn Academy of Music. The film was restored in 2018 by Kino Lorber and re-released at the Metrograph theater in New York City.
Jimmy Wright was an American stage and film actor. A member of the all-black cast of the Voodoo Macbeth production directed by Orson Welles in 1936, Wright went on to star as 'Dollar Bill' Burton in Souls of Sin, a 1949 feature directed by Powell Lindsay and produced by William D. Alexander that has been described as the last race film from a black producer. In 1980, credited as "Jim Wright," he played Father Brown in Personal Problems, a "meta soap opera" directed by Bill Gunn and written by Ishmael Reed, but died between production of the first and second episodes.
The 1946 Texas gubernatorial election was held on November 5, 1946.