We've Come a Long, Long Way

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We've Come a Long, Long Way
Directed by Jack Goldberg
Produced byJack Goldberg
Lightfoot Solomon Michaux
Color processblack and white
Production
company
Negro Marches On Inc.
Distributed byState Rights
Release date
  • May 2, 1944 (1944-05-02)(U.S.)
Running time
70 minutes
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish

We've Come a Long, Long Way, [1] is a 1944 American documentary feature-length film about the progress of African Americans and the need to support the United States military during World War II, directed by Jack Goldberg. [2] [3] [4]

Contents

History

We've Come a Long, Long Way was a documentary film designed to convey 75 years of Black American history between the Emancipation Proclamation in 1863 and up to World War II in the 1940s. [5] [6]

This film was loosely based on a pamphlet published by the U.S. Office of War Information in 1943 titled "Negroes and the War". [7] Film production studio Negro Marches On Inc. and Jack Goldberg filed suit in federal court in April 1944 to prevent the distribution of the movie The Negro Soldier (1944) by the United States War Department and the War Activities Committee of the Motion Pictures Industry. [3] Goldberg said the film competed unfairly with his own film released the same year, We've Come A Long, Long Way. [3] [8]

The film premiered in September 1943 at the Church of God, led by Lightfoot Solomon Michaux. [9] The United States national release was on May 2, 1944, and it was re-released on July 1, 1944 at the World Theatre in New York City; the film had a long run on Broadway. [10] [11]

At the 16th Academy Awards in 1943, We've Come a Long, Long Way was selected on the preliminary list of 9 films for the award for documentary (feature), however it was not an official nomination. [12]

Reception

The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) called the film "disgusting and insulting" a few months before its national release and refused to cooperate in distribution. [13] A Daily News film review concluded the movie left its theme of Black American documentary and focused on trying to convince Black Americans to fight Nazis in World War II, with an implied threat of what would happen if the Nazis won the war. [14]

Cast

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 "We've Come a Long, Long Way". Daily News. June 25, 1944. p. 300. Retrieved January 6, 2026– via Newspapers.com.
  2. ↑ "Announce New Film On Negro Race". New Journal and Guide. July 24, 1943. p. 14. Retrieved January 6, 2026– via Newspapers.com.
  3. 1 2 3 "Would Ban Army Film: Negro Marches On, Inc., Sues to Halt Showing 'Negro Soldier'". The New York Times . April 22, 1944.
  4. 1 2 3 4 W., A. (June 26, 1944). "At the World". The New York Times (movie review).
  5. ↑ "Film Marking Dunbar To Show Negro Progress". New Journal and Guide (Norfolk, Virginia). April 20, 1946. p. 20 – via Newspapers.com.
  6. ↑ "Film Marking Dunbar To Show Negro Progress". Newspapers.com. Retrieved January 7, 2026.
  7. ↑ German, Kathleen (June 7, 2017). Promises of Citizenship: Film Recruitment of African Americans in World War II. University Press of Mississippi. p. 106. ISBN   978-1-4968-1236-0.
  8. ↑ Rollins, Peter C. (July 11, 2014). Hollywood As Historian: American Film in a Cultural Context. University Press of Kentucky. p. 126. ISBN   978-0-8131-4864-9.
  9. ↑ "Church To Be Scene Of Film Premiere". Jackson Advocate. September 11, 1943 – via Newspapers.com.
  10. ↑ "Article clipped from The New York Age". The New York Age. June 24, 1944. p. 11. Retrieved January 7, 2026– via Newspapers.com.
  11. ↑ "Hollywood Pictures Corp. To Produce Negro Films; To Star Lena Horne". The New York Age. September 15, 1945. p. 10. Retrieved January 7, 2026– via Newspapers.com.
  12. ↑ "Search Results - Academy Awards Search |". Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences. Retrieved January 9, 2026.
  13. ↑ "Film on Negro Life Is Called Insulting". The Chicago Defender. February 19, 1944. p. 8 – via Newspapers.com.
  14. 1 2 3 4 5 Cameron, Kate (June 25, 1944). "World Theatre Film Wanders From Theme". Daily News (Film review) – via Newspapers.com.
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