Silent Films Known as Race Films Focused on Improving Race Relations

Film historian Barbara Tepa Lupack explains how motion picture producer Richard Norman made race films with an all-black cast  to both improve race relations in the United States and find a new niche market for his motion picture productions.  A white southerner, Norman produced the silent movie, The Flying Ace,  in 1926. The Flying Ace will be shown this Saturday, October 22nd, at 2 PM at Cinemapolis Theatre in Ithaca.

The screening is sponsored by the Wharton Studio Museum and The History Center of Tompkins County.

This interview with WRFI’s Lori Sonken aired on October 17, 2016.