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Our gang : a racial history of The little rascals

Title
Our gang : a racial history of The little rascals / Julia Lee ; foreword by Henry Louis Gates Jr.
Author
Lee, Julia, 1976-
Publication
Minneapolis, MN : University of Minnesota Press, [2015]

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StatusFormatAccessCall NumberItem Location
TextUse in library Sc D 16-355Schomburg Center - Research & Reference

Details

Additional Authors
Gates, Henry Louis, Jr.
Description
xxi, 337 pages, 24 unnumbered pages of plates : illustrations; 22 cm
Summary
"It was the age of Jim Crow, riddled with racial violence and unrest. But in the world of Our Gang, black and white children happily played and made mischief together. They even had their own black and white version of the KKK, the Cluck Cluck Klams--and the public loved it. The story of race and Our Gang, or The Little Rascals, is rife with the contradictions and aspirations of the sharply conflicted, changing American society that was its theater. Exposing these connections for the first time, Julia Lee shows us how much this series, from the first silent shorts in 1922 to its television revival in the 1950s, reveals about black and white American culture--on either side of the silver screen. Behind the scenes, we find unconventional men like Hal Roach and his gag writers, whose Rascals tapped into powerful American myths about race and childhood. We meet the four black stars of the series--Ernie "Sunshine Sammy" Morrison, Allen "Farina" Hoskins, Matthew "Stymie" Beard, and Billie "Buckwheat" Thomas--the gang within the Gang, whose personal histories Lee pursues through the passing years and shifting political landscape. In their checkered lives, and in the tumultuous life of the series, we discover an unexplored story of America, the messy, multiracial nation that found in Our Gang a comic avatar, a slapstick version of democracy itself."--
Subjects
Genre/Form
  • Criticism, interpretation, etc.
  • History.
Bibliography (note)
  • Includes bibliographical references and index.
Contents
Foreword / Henry Louis Gates, Jr. -- Introduction: All of us -- The eternal boy -- A boy and his gang -- 100 percent American -- Sambo's awakening -- Everyman -- The new Negro -- Movie-made children -- The good soldier -- The Little Rascals -- The good old days -- Epilogue: Coming home.
Call Number
Sc D 16-355
ISBN
  • 9780816698219
  • 081669821X
  • 9780816698226
  • 0816698228
LCCN
2015031957
OCLC
919202209
Author
Lee, Julia, 1976- author.
Title
Our gang : a racial history of The little rascals / Julia Lee ; foreword by Henry Louis Gates Jr.
Publisher
Minneapolis, MN : University of Minnesota Press, [2015]
Type of Content
text
Type of Medium
unmediated
Type of Carrier
volume
Bibliography
Includes bibliographical references and index.
Chronological Term
1900-1999
Added Author
Gates, Henry Louis, Jr., writer of foreword.
Research Call Number
Sc D 16-355
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