Focusing on a much-neglected area of film experience in America, Black Cinema Treasures furthers the preservation of America’s cultural and historic heritage, especially its African-American heritage as seen through the eyes of the African-American independent filmmakers of the 1920s through the 1950s. Ossie Davis says that the collection is one of the best sources of black "self-consciousness" in America during those decades.
" . . . an extremely important addition to the literature on black film . . . a necessary acquisition for any collection which addresses cinema."—Library Journal
"Brief biographies and filmographies of the pioneers of black filmmaking—Oscar Micheaux, Spencer Williams, William Alexander, and George Randol—are included as are film synopses and frame blowups. An invaluable resource."—Booklist
"The very existence of these films constitutes an impressive achievement, given the hostile climate of the time . . . the audiences of these films could see blacks as lawyers, detectives, and cowboys. For anyone with an interest in the social history of the movie industry."—The San Francisco Review of Books
" . . . bound to take its place among notable books on films and the black experience in America."—Register of the Kentucky Historical Society
"A handsome book, full of vintage photographs and lobby cards . . . As Ossie Davis says, this book is important because it ‘gives us a chance to satisfy even further that great need among us Americans to know all we can about each other.'"—Marc Wanamaker, The Californians