HERSKOVITS AT THE HEART OF BLACKNESS | Documentary Film | Independent Lens

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Who has the right to define a culture? When a white, Jewish intellectual named Melville Herskovits asserted in the 1940s that black culture was not pathological, but in fact grounded in deep African roots, he gave vital support to the civil rights movement and signaled the rise of identity politics. But what does it mean that his subjects had little or no say in the academic discourse about them?

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			The Making Of: "We want to challenge our audience with questions about how we create understanding about each other." More >>


	The Filmmakers: “On each production we’ve had signature foods. For HERSKOVITS it was chocolate — 65 percent cacao at minimum — and Manischewitz matzos.” More >>

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funded by

Corporation for Public Broadcasting, a private corporation funded by the American people

with additional support from

PBS is a 501(c)(3) not-for-profit organization.

The Making Of:

The Filmmakers: