The California African American Museum (CAAM) presents opening reception of the exhibition, Coloring Independently: 1940s African American Stills From the Collection of the California African American Museum.  The reception will include a presentation by the New York Museum of Modern Art’s (MoMA) Associate Curator, Department of Film Ron Magliozzi.  Additionally, there will be a screening of the historic film, “Bert Williams Lime Kiln Club Field Day.” 

At a challenging time of segregation in the fall of 1913, a virtuoso cast of African American performers led by famed Caribbean American entertainer Bert Williams (1874–1922) gathered in the Bronx to make a feature-length motion picture. After more than an hour of film was shot, the unreleased project was abandoned by its white producers and left forgotten until today. Found in Museum of Modern Art, New York Biograph Studio collection, the seven reels of untitled and unassembled footage represent the earliest known surviving feature with a cast of black actors. Shot at locations in New York and New Jersey, the comedy centers on Williams’s efforts to win the hand of the local beauty, and boasts among its highlights a two-minute exhibition dance sequence and a cutting-edge display of onscreen affection between its black leads. The Museum’s restoration of this lost landmark of film history contains an hour-long assemblage of daily rushes and multiple takes. Ron Magliozzi, Associate Curator, Department of Film, MoMA, narrates a selection of unique photographs from the pioneering production and present visual material explaining the film’s creation, 101-year disappearance, and ultimate resurrection.

This event is free and open to the public.  Parking is $10 located at 39^th and Figueroa, in the lot adjacent to CAAM.  Take the Los Angeles Metro’s Expo Line and exit the USC/Exposition Park stop. Public RSVP is encouraged at (213) 744-2056.