Transcending the "Dust": African American Filmmakers Preserving the "Glimpse Of the Eternal"

Abstract

This paper explores Julie Dash's Daughters of the Dust and Zeinabu irene Davis's Mother of the River. Both films utilize materials obtained from oral tradition, which have been preserved through generations of African Americans whose forebears were forcefully carried away from Africa due to the Trans-Atlantic slave trade. In these films, we see a reaffirmation of African dignity through a commemoration of African culture and its continuing relevance in the lives of Africans in the Diaspora. The paper examines the stereotype question, and how filmmakers like Julie Dash and Zeinabu irene Davis who belong to the L.A. Rebellion school use their films to combat these stereotypes and engage their viewers in new images.