WHOOPI GOLDBERG and BLACK FILMS SUMMARY

                                                                                          

In 1990 Whoopi Goldberg became the first African American woman nominated for both Best Actress (1985) when she portrayed Celie in The Color Purple and Best Supporting Actress (1990), which she won, and for playing Oda Mae Brown in Ghost.  She is also the only Black woman to have hosted the Academy Awards and qualify for the prestigious status of “EGOT” for having won an Emmy, a Grammy, an Oscar, and a Tony.  Needless to say, I had no difficulty finding movies that featured her.  The problem was that people know most of her films and it seemed unnecessary to share them.  At the end of the day, I decided to focus on her activism for human rights, opting for The Long Walk Home, Sarafina, and Liberation.

The Long Walk Home takes place in Montgomery, Alabama in 1955 when Blacks boycotted city buses for over a year in response to Rosa Parks’ arrest for refusing to surrender her seat to a White man.  Twenty years before Octavia Spencer and Viola Davis portrayed maids that rebelled against their bosses in The Help, Whoopi played a servant named Odessa Cotter who defied Jim Crow laws by walking five miles to work every week for over a year.  As both a witness and a narrator (Mary Steenburgen), Mary Catherine Thompson (Lexi Randall), the youngest child in the household, relates events that were indelibly etched on her memory when she was seven years old. 

As the story unfolds, Black women enter the front of a city bus to pay their fair, then walk to the back door to climb in.  Odessa, who has been a maid for Miriam (Sissy Spacek) and Norman Thompson (Dwight Schultz) for ten years, has to stand since all the rear seats are taken, and she can’t sit in the White section which is nearly empty.  She calmly puts up with it though because her employer has a full social calendar and needs the help.  On this day, for instance, Miriam is getting her hair done for a dinner party she’s throwing for her husband’s family that evening.  She has Odessa pack a picnic for Mary Catherine and two of her friends, then drops them off at the city park, saying she’ll come back later.  While the girls play on the swing sets, Odessa begins to set the table for lunch, but a police officer (Haynes Brooke) approaches, tells her that no n-----s are allowed in the park, then makes her gather the children and leave.  

When Miriam learns about this, she calls a city councilman to complain; not wanting to upset a member of the town’s elite, he sends the policeman by to apologize to her.  At dinner Norman’s mother Sara (Crystal Robbins) and brother Tucker (Dylan Baker), who are unapologetic racists, hear about the incident, voice insulting comments about Odessa within her earshot, and tell Miriam to fire her.

That evening the maids at the bus stop are abuzz about Ms. Parks’ arrest, but Odessa is only interested in getting home to her family and doesn’t pay much attention.  Upon arriving at the house, however, she finds that her children received flyers at school calling for all Montgomery Blacks to boycott the city transportation system the next day.  An ordinarily law-abiding citizen, Odessa doesn’t give the strike any more thought until the next morning when the buses roll down her street empty.  Afraid to oppose her friends and neighbors, Odessa calls the Thompson’s to say that she won’t be able to come to work, but Miriam counters by offering to pick her up.  Miriam says she can drive Odessa a couple of times a week if need be, but she’ll have to figure out what to do on other days (which include weekends).  As a final caution, she confides that her husband needn’t know about their arrangement, 

That night Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. speaks at the Holt Street Baptist Church and asks people to continue the boycott.  Many accede to his request and by Christmas the tension that already existed between Whites and Blacks in the city has reached a boiling point.  In the Thompson house, however, Christmas is like any other day for maids, so after opening presents from her family, Odessa leaves for work.  During dinner Norman joins her in the kitchen to ask how she gets there.  Although his tone implies concern, Odessa knows that his real purpose is to determine whether she is using the carpool that has evolved between the African American community and White sympathizers. Although her response is vague, his relatives suspect that the maid is hiding something and again encourage Miriam to let her go. 

One day when she’s having lunch with friends, Miriam slips and mentions that she’s been ‘carrying’ Odessa to work a couple of days a week.  It isn’t long until word gets back to Norman, who forbids his wife to drive the maid again.  Instead of capitulating, however, Miriam says that it is her job is to get things done, and how she accomplishes that is none of his business.  Not realizing that he has lost control of his wife, Norman orders her to live like he does if she wants to stay married to him.  For a frightening moment, he appears to be on the verge of hitting her, then he gathers his things and moves into the spare bedroom.  Rather than changing his wife’s mind, however, the ploy only makes her more determined to do what she knows is right.

Soon Miriam starts treating Odessa more like a friend than an employee and in one of their conversations she casually asks about the carpool.  After describing how it operates, Odessa cautions her to consider carefully because once she crosses the line that divides Blacks and Whites, she can never go back.  Ignoring the warning, Miriam joins the carpool and is soon driving people to jobs, stores, and doctors’ offices.  Meanwhile, Tucker invites Norman to join a local organization that is similar to the KKK but is made up of prominent members of the community.  When the men invade a local lot to roust the drivers that have been congregating there, Norman accompanies them.  However, he loses momentum when he sees that his wife is one of the drivers and that Mary Catherine with her.  As some men start beating a Black man, others begin attacking Miriam’s car and ordering the Blacks to leave.  Instead of obeying, however, they peacefully resist by grasping hands and singing “I’m Going Through”, a song specifically written for the film by George Fenton, with Miriam and Mary Catherine joining in.

The bus boycott in Montgomery, Alabama, which lasted from December 1955 to December 1956, sought to enforce the 1954 Supreme Court decision that outlawed racial segregation.  The strike brought Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr to the forefront of the Civil Rights Movement, legitimized the concept of peaceful protest as a catalyst for change, and ended segregated seating on public buses.  A good overview that not only informs about the boycott but also includes its precursors and aftermath, can be found in an article from the Stanford University Martin Luther King, Jr. Research and Education Institute entitled, “Montgomery Bus Boycott”.  The web address is: https://kinginstitute.stanford.edu/encyclopedia/montgomery-bus-boycott.

Two years after starring in The Long Walk Home, Whoopi appeared in the musical Sarafina! which was based on a play written by Mbongeni Ngema that memorialized the Soweto Uprising where thousands of school children marched to protest the White government’s treatment of the African people.  Although it is now part of the metropolitan area, at the time Soweto (an abbreviation for South Western Townships) was a collection of townships on the outskirts of Johannesburg that were primarily populated by destitute Blacks.  The real subject of the protest was a law that changed the language used to instruct African students from their native tongue to a 50/50 combination of Afrikaans (a derivative of Dutch) and English, which few of the children understood.  In the movie, however, they are angry that their classes don’t teach African culture, that the colonial military spies on them, and that native police officers employ corporal punishment as a means of control.

The story is about Sarafina (Leleti Khumalo), her family, classmates, and history teacher, Mary Masembuko (Whoopi Goldberg).  Sarafina is a naïve girl who dreams of becoming a famous singer one day and believes that once the state releases Nelson Mandela from prison, he will return to Soweto and save his people from the evil Whites.  In the opening number, classmates celebrate the protagonist by carrying her on their shoulders while singing in their native language and dancing through a slum of shanties surrounded by piles of garbage.  The contrast between the girl’s imagination and reality is made even more stark by the fact that someone burned the school down, and Afrikaner Lieutenant Bloem believes that students and teachers were behind the arson.  His primary suspect is Mary because one of the students has denounced her as a political agitator.

Even though Sarafina’s mother Angelina (Miriam Makeba) has to live with a White family in the city to support her children back in Soweto, the girl staves off depression by talking with her friends about the bright futures they will have.  The boys, on the other hand, embrace their anger and plot ways to overthrow the White people that are to blame for their hardships.  They aim most of their animosity at Lieutenant Bloem (Tertius Meintjes) because he spies on Mary’s classes and harasses her students, especially Sarafina who is close to the teacher.  The tipping point comes when the Lieutenant arrests Mary in front of her class, and she reminds her students them that, “People can defeat the armies,” as she is led away.  

One day Sarafina sees the African policeman who is known for collaborating with the Whites talking to her classmate Guitar and realizes he must be the snitch.  When she tells her friends, they corner the boy intending to beat him up but stop when he explains that the cop threatened to hurt his disabled father if he refused.  Unable to stand more, the students form a mob and confront the soldiers by throwing rocks and setting fires.  In response, the army brings in tanks and guns injuring many protestors and killing others.  While the military is occupied elsewhere, Sarafina and her friends chase down the policeman who threatened Guitar and burn him alive.

As a result of the police officer’s death, the government arrests the children and takes them to jail where they are interrogated; those who refuse to talk are tortured.  Eventually, most are released, but the die has been cast and Sarafina is no longer an innocent girl who thinks Nelson Mandela can magically save her and her people.  Instead, she is an angry young woman who hates the Whites but has learned she must fight them without violence.  She has no way of knowing that in fourteen years Nelson Mandela will finally be set free, succeed in ending apartheid, and be elected president of South Africa through a democratic election.

Sarafina carves out a small sliver of the social unrest that existed in South Africa as a result of racial discrimination in the 1970s and beyond.  Along with the students’ protest, that year alone saw many acts of resistance which included boycotts and cases of arson in various South African communities.  A good overview can be found on the web at South African History Online:  www.sahistory.org.za/article/june-16-soweto-youth-uprising-timeline-1976-1986.

Although many of Whoopi’s movies concentrate on what it means to be both Black and female in American society, some of her work has gone further.  One example is the documentary Liberation which I chose as the final film in this series.  Produced by Moriah Films which is a division of the Simon Wiesenthal Center, this film spans the entire European conflict of World War II from 1939 when Great Britain and France entered the war to 1945 when Germany surrendered.  Juxtaposed against military action is footage of the Final Solution that was taking place in the background.  The documentary is narrated by well-known actors like Ben Kingsley and Patrick Stewart who describe the course of the war from the European point of view.  Speaking for the United States, Whoopi discusses the contributions made by African American pilots and foot soldiers who encountered racial discrimination from the people they were risking their lives to save.  She also describes the critical role that American women, the so-called “Rosie Riveters”, played when they left their children in the care of others to serve in the Red Cross or toil in military factories.   I think it is important to mention that she and other cast members participated without remuneration.

Woven throughout depictions of military successes and failures in Liberation are testimonies by Jews who either lived to bear witness regarding the treatment their people suffered at the hands of the Nazis or died but left behind documentation of what it was like to be marked for death and unable to escape.  Particularly poignant is a reading from Anne Frank’s diary where she rejoices over the arrival of allied forces and expresses a fervent hope that the world will soon return to normal, so she can join her classmates at school in the fall.  Equally heartbreaking is the footage which shows defeated German soldiers hustling to annihilate the concentration camp victims before allied forces can save them.    

According to an article published by the Jewish Telegraphic Agency, Liberation, like other films made by Moriah, was meant to help Jews gain a better grasp of their place in history.  Oscar winner Rabbi Marvin Heir produced and co-wrote this film with noted historian Martin Gilbert.  The director was Academy Award winner Arnold Schwartzman, and Carl Davis composed the musical score.  Whoopi, who was named Caryn Johnson at birth but took the stage name Goldberg from Jewish ancestors, falls into the unenviable situation of being a member of three minorities, race, sex, and ethnicity.  This undoubtedly led to concern with accomplishing equality for all minorities and explains her willingness to donate both time and talent to the film.  The movie was first shown at the Deauville Festival in France before premiering in Los Angeles, London, and Paris.  At the time of its opening the Center had already received requests for copies from places like New York, Mexico City, and Buenos Aires.  Though the film has not been reviewed professionally, it received an extremely positive synopsis from Variety which you can view at: https://variety.com/1994/film/reviews/liberation-1200438862/.

Although I think some dates are incorrect, you can also check out: https://www.moriahfilms.com/film-library/liberation.html.

The Long Walk Home, which has an overall rating on Rotten Tomatoes of 85% and a score of 7.7 on IMDB, is streaming for free on many channels including History, Roku, Family, and Film Rise.  You can also purchase the DVD at eBay or Amazon for a good price, although you’ll probably have to pay shipping.  The 1992 version of Sarafina only received a 6.4 on IMDB and wasn’t much liked by Rotten Tomatoes critics, but audiences gave it an overall score of 87%.  I watched it on TV, but it doesn’t appear to be streaming anymore, so you’ll have to either wait until it comes back or buy it on Amazon or eBay.  It’s reasonably priced but might take a while to get to you.  Liberation has not been reviewed or rated on Rotten Tomatoes, but viewers on IMDB gave it an overall score of 6.6.  Amazon is streaming it for $1.99 or you can watch it for free on The Archive if you have that service.  It is also available for purchase for $19 from The Moriah Films Collection at the Simon Wiesenthal Center.

                                                                        SUMMARY

My choices over the last few posts serve as examples of the work that African American actors have done since the 1960s and explicate ways the entertainment industry reacted to their work.  One of the first things I noticed was that one performer might receive a pile of accolades rather than the recognition being spread around.  Take for example Sidney Poitier who appeared in so many1960s movies that had parts for Black men it was difficult to find one he wasn’t in, or Whoopi Goldberg who received all four of the most prestigious awards given in the media.  I am not suggesting these actors did not deserve the honors they received, but that so many others were overlooked.  My most-loved performers and their films include: Will Smith (I Robot), Danny Glover (The Color Purple), Morgan Freeman (The Shawshank Redemption), Laurence Fishburne (Miss Evers’ Boys), Samuel L. Jackson (Unbreakable), Jamie Fox (Dream Girls), Kerry Washington (Miracle at St. Anna), Alfre Woodard (Crooklyn), Viola Davis (Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close), Jennifer Hudson (Dream Girls), Queen Latifah (The Secret Life of Bees), Octavia Spencer (The Help), and almost anything written or directed by Spike Lee (Black Klansman, Malcolm X, Do the Right Thing).

Although the Academy began giving awards for outstanding performances in 1929, it wasn’t until 1936 they first recognized Best Actors in Supporting Roles.  Thus, it was probably very surprising when Hattie McDaniel won the Oscar for her role as Mammy in Gone With The Wind only three years later.  However, a Black woman wouldn’t be nominated again for another decade and it would be an incredible fifty years until Whoopi Goldberg took home the statue for portraying Oda Mae Brown in Ghost.  Black men had an even harder time gaining recognition for their work as supporting actors, waiting until 1969 for a nomination and another thirteen before Lou Gossett, Jr. won for playing Gunnery Sergeant Emil Foley in An Officer and a Gentleman in 1982. 

The Academy’s track record for awarding Best Actor in a Leading Role is even more bleak as it didn’t recognize a Black man until Noah Cullen was nominated for his work in The Defiant Ones in 1958, an honor that Sidney Poitier would achieve a year later for playing Homer in Lilies of the Field.  In fact, in the ninety years between 1929 and 2019 the award only went to four African American men.  Black women have been even less equitably represented.  Twenty-five years passed before a woman was nominated for Best Actress and another forty-seven before Halle Berry was handed the only Oscar an African American woman has ever been awarded for her portrayal of Leticia Musgrove in Monster’s Ball. 

Although there are slightly more females than males in the United States, Sociologists classify women as a minority because they trail behind males in important characteristics like income.  Overall, in 2018 female workers took home only 80 cents for every dollar that White non-Hispanic men earned.  If filtered by race, the results show that not only did an income gap exist between Black women and White Non-Hispanic males, but between Black males and females.  For instance, while Black men earned seventy-four cents compared to a White man’s dollar, Black women received ten cents less.  Further, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, even in 2020 Black females only receive eight-eight cents for every dollar their male counterparts earn.  This means African American women hold minority statuses in both race and gender, making them a double-minority, a trend that is greatly magnified in the film industry. https://www.infoplease.com/us/society-culture/gender-sexuality/wage-gap-gender-and-race, https://www.census.gov/prod/2005pubs/censr-25.pdf, https://www.bls.gov/news.release/pdf/wkyeng.pdf.

This is my last post in 2020, a year I am glad to see ending.  When I come back in 2021, I will take up where I left off by looking at films featuring two other minorities, Hispanics, and Native Americans.  Until then, have a wonderful holiday season.  Peace out.