MISSION
Working to bring cohesion and a unifying voice to the physical exhibit of the George P. Johnson Negro Film Collection, we immersed ourselves in the details of the collection and its historical context, striving to interpret, narrate, and honor the intention of Mr. Johnson and the artists whose work he so meticulously preserved. It is our most sincere wish that our work extends the voices of George P. Johnson, the Lincoln Motion Picture Company and the artists whose efforts established the genres of Race Film and Silent Race Film; from the past, into the present, and forward into the future. To that end, we worked to narrate the exhibition through object placement, sequencing of key themes, and the authoring of thoughtful contextual components to increase accessibility and understanding of these remarkable materials.
TOUR
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Explore the physical exhibition component of The Industry of Uplift that is located in UCLA’s Young Research Library’s Special Collections lobby until Fall 2017 through the following 360 panorama tour.
EXHIBITION PROCESS AND THEMES
To find the focus of our interpretive plan, we first established what was out of scope of the project. We knew we could not replicate the finding aid, or attempt to identify or represent every piece in the collection. We also felt that this exhibition could not be an exhaustive history of race in the U.S. Likewise, we recognized were not seeking to represent a general African American film tradition. Finally, while we wanted to honor the legacy and efforts of George P Johnson, we did not wish to give a full biographical history of George P. Johnson.
With this in mind, we settled on 3 main themes: The Johnson Brothers, The Lincoln Motion Picture Company, and Contributors to Silent Race Film.
Our first assignment in DH150 was to read the transcripts from the oral history done with George Johnson. It was a powerful introduction to him, his family, and his work. We felt it was important to start our audience out in the same way. In our first theme, we wanted to demonstrate George’s passion for collection and preservation. In a paralleled way, we have shared examples of extensive Noble’s work the film industry. By pairing elements of their life’s work side by side, and we hope to introduce our audience to the overall themes of the exhibition though their legacy.
The main theme of our exhibition is the Lincoln Motion Picture Company. Spanning 4 out of 8 cases, we wanted to share with visitors how the company was founded, who was involved, what the company produced, the company’s significance in film history and its legacy. Since most of the films are not extant, we hoped to create encounters with objects that were produced in conjunction with the release of the 4 LMPC non-extant films. We also wished to foster an understanding of the foundational and daily work that went into running the LMPC through business related documentation. Finally, we desired for others to comprehend the uplift inspiration that was essential to the work and products of the LMPC.
Our final theme reflected on other contributors to Race Film, as represented in the archive. It was important for us to give visitors a window into the role race film played in black communities. We also highlighted both the support for and the pushback against the genre that came from outside of the black community to demonstrate the social and political forces at work within the movement of the genre. The Lincoln Motion Picture Company and other Race Film companies pushed beyond entertainment industry stereotypes by producing films for black audiences featuring black casts, and storylines that afforded African-Americans dignity and agency. They produced these films contrary to the prevailing belief that black audiences had no appetite for sophisticated material. Their success changed perceptions of what audiences wanted, understood, and accepted. Black actors found opportunities in this work to pursue roles of depth and complexity. Some of them, such as Evelyn Preer and Noble Johnson, rose to stardom. Our third exhibition theme offers evidence of changing attitudes towards black storytellers working in the motion picture industry.