Search Results

Names:

Andrade-Watkins, Claire  Search this

Bambara, Toni Cade  Search this

Dash, Julie  Search this

Gerima, Haile  Search this

Greaves, William, 1953-2005  Search this

Gunn, Bill, 1934-1989  Search this

Jafa, Arthur  Search this

Jones, Robert Earl, 1904-2006  Search this

Massiah, Louis  Search this

Micheaux, Oscar, 1884-1951  Search this

Moses, Ethel  Search this

Robeson, Paul, 1898-1976  Search this

Sanchez, Sonia, 1934- (poet, reader)  Search this

Snead, James A., 1953-1989  Search this

Spence, Louise, 1945-  Search this

Tucker, Lorenzo  Search this

Donor:

Bowser, Pearl, 1931-  Search this

Extent:

approximately 100 Motion picture films

213 Sound cassettes (7 boxes)

Type:

Collection descriptions

Archival materials

Motion picture films

Sound cassettes

Sound cassette

Oral histories (document genres)

16mm motion picture film

Vhs (videotape format)

Place:

England

Harlem (New York, N.Y.)

Roanoke (Va.)

Memphis (Tenn.)

Date:

bulk 1920-2001

Biographical / Historical:

Pearl Bowser is a filmmaker, producer, author, lecturer, and highly acclaimed scholar of African American film who is recognized as an authority on the works of Oscar Micheaux, a noted writer, director, and producer of race films from 1919 to 1948.

Born Pearl Johnson on June 25, 1931, in Sugar Hill, Harlem, New York, she was named after her mother (also Pearl Johnson), a domestic worker who had been raised in a Catholic nunnery. On occasional Saturdays, the younger Pearl would accompany her mother to work in apartments in lower Manhattan, where she would assist her by folding handkerchiefs for a small allowance. After moving to a lower part of Harlem when she was about four years old, she met Harlem entrepreneur "Bumpy" Johnson, for whom she and other children in the neighborhood did odd jobs such as counting coins or attending to his ice-cream stand. Johnson, who would sometimes give the children joy rides in his Cadillac, occasionally allowed Pearl and the other children to borrow books from his extensive library, provided that they read them and submitted to a quiz.

As a child, Bowser had several racist encounters. For example, one of her white kindergarten teachers at her elementary school wore gloves in the classroom as to not touch Black pupils. She was also occasionally teased for having a gap between her teeth but felt insulated from sustained bullying because she had several older brothers who sometimes protected her. On a separate occasion, when she was about nine years old, her mother sent her on a trip from New York to the South to visit relatives. Although her mother had purchased tickets for her to be in a Pullman car, when she changed trains in Washington, DC., she was forced to ride in the car behind the engine, which left her covered in soot.

An avid reader, Pearl excelled in elementary and high school and received a scholarship to attend Brooklyn College, where she majored in biology. She supplemented her income by recording the numbers in one of Bumpy Johnson's shops. Disappointed with the quality of the education she was receiving, Bowser withdrew from Brooklyn College, eventually landing a job at CBS where she worked on a team that analyzed Nielsen ratings.

In 1955, Pearl married fellow New Yorker LeRoy Bowser. By the mid-1960s, although Pearl and LeRoy Bowser had separate interests, they both were working simultaneously in the civil rights movement. While LeRoy was active in Brooklyn CORE (Congress of Racial Equality) and went to the South in the summer to teach for what was the beginning of HeadStart, Pearl, along with other production activists, took to the streets documenting African American culture and issues—working to bring these films to schools. Additionally, Bowser wanted to write a cookbook to earn funds for Brooklyn's CORE organization. She was approached by David Davis, the editor of Tuesday Magazine. Tuesday had distribution in the Herald Tribune across the country as a Sunday supplement. As the urban-world magazine exploded in Black communities, "Joan" Bowser's two-page pictorials on Southern cooking with a set of recipes became very popular in the five years she wrote them. Bowser retained copyrights to the articles, and easily completed her cookbook a short time later.

Bowser's colleague at ABC, Charles Hobson, found a used book written by Peter Noble about Black films and Oscar Micheaux. The volume was slim and contained what little information contained in the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) files. Hobson and his colleagues wanted to write a book about the topic, and they assigned Bowser to begin the research. As part of the project, Bowser went to California to interview actors who may have been in early Black films or may have worked with Micheaux. What she learned began her intensive scholarship into Micheaux and his fellow filmmakers.

In 1971, she organized her first film festival, the Black Film History Series. In 1979, she organized the nation's first American women's film festival in New York City. She also presented a major retrospective, Independent Black American Cinema 1920-1980, which toured the country during 1981 and 1982. She also directed the Journey Across Three Continents film and lecture series, which toured the country from 1983-1985. Bowser also served as president of the prestigious Flaherty Film Seminar in 1987. In 1989, she, alongside Grant Munro, programmed the 35th Flaherty Film Seminar, which featured films such as Finzan, Zajota and the Boogie Spirit, Daughters of the Dust, and many more. She has also been a judge at the world-renown Pan-African Film and Television Festival of Ouagadougou (FESCPACO) in Burkina Faso (formerly known as Upper Volta).

In the 1980s Bowser was awarded an independent artists grant by the Ford Foundation to travel west and collect oral histories from individuals in Oscar Micheaux's orbit, loosely following the route he would have travelled decades earlier. Stopping in cities such as Roanoke, Virginia; Memphis, Tennessee; and Jackson, Mississippi, she collected dozens of oral histories from actors, actresses etc. that knew Oscar Micheaux. Through this research she became an eminent figure in the Black independent film industry. Working as a programmer, she travelled around the United States and the world showing films by domestic and Black filmmakers within the Diaspora.

Despite her wealth of experience working as a programmer, it wasn't until the 1990s that Bowser made her directorial debut with the documentary film Midnight Ramble. Funded by American Experience, the film looks at African Americans and Hollywood movies from 1910 through the 1950s. In 2000, she, along with Louise Spence, co-authored Writing Himself into History: Oscar Micheaux, His Silent Films and His Audiences, a book about the pioneering filmmaker. Additionally, she is founder and director of Chamba Educational Film Services, a film distribution company that specialized in distributing films by African American filmmakers. In the early 1980s, she renamed her company/collection as African Diaspora Images, a collection of historical and contemporary films documenting Black film history. She subsequently joined Third World Newsreel, where she was director of their theater department.

In 2012, Pearl Bowser donated her extensive collection of books, sound cassettes, films, film memorabilia, and papers to the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture.

Sources:

1940 United States Federal Census; New York, New York, New York, population schedule, p. 61B, house number 1486, family 195, Pearl Bowser; Ancestry.com. 1940 United States Federal Census [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2012 accessed: 10 Sept 2022); citing National Archives and Records Administration microfilm: m-t0627-02665

Bowser, Pearl. Pearl Bowser Oral History. Interview by Tuliza Fleming and Jennifer Lyon, July 21, 2011.

Provenance:

Acquired as a donation from Pearl Bowser in 2012.

Restrictions:

Collection is open for research. Access to collection materials requires an appointment.

Occupation:

Filmmakers  Search this

Actors -- Interviews  Search this

Topic:

Documentary films  Search this

Film festivals  Search this

African American actors  Search this

African American actresses  Search this

African diaspora  Search this

Race films  Search this

African American motion picture producers and directors  Search this

African American women authors  Search this

Meetings  Search this

Conferences  Search this

Lectures and lecturing  Search this

Amateur films  Search this

Motion picture soundtracks  Search this

Oral history  Search this

Radio broadcasts  Search this

Genre/Form:

Sound cassette

Oral histories (document genres)

16mm motion picture film

VHS (videotape format)

Citation:

Pearl Bowser Collection, National Museum of African American History and Culture

Identifier:

NMAAHC.A2012.79.AV

See more items in:

Pearl Bowser Audiovisual Collection

Archival Repository:

National Museum of African American History and Culture

GUID:

https://n2t.net/ark:/65665/io3209e9c6d-3045-4a0a-941e-6519385b18d5

EDAN-URL:

ead_collection:sova-nmaahc-a2012-79-av

Collection Creator:

Brock, Lina Lee, 1945-1991  Search this

Container:

Box 13

Type:

Archival materials

Date:

1974-1975

Collection Restrictions:

The Lina Brock papers are open for research. Access to archival audiovisual recordings with no duplicate access copy requires advance notice.

Access to the Lina Brock papers requires an appointment.

Collection Rights:

Contact the repository for terms of use.

Collection Citation:

Lina Brock papers, National Anthropological Archives, Smithsonian Institution

See more items in:

Lina Brock papers

Lina Brock papers / Series 1: Research / 1.2: Demographic, marriage, and kinship data

Archival Repository:

National Anthropological Archives

GUID:

https://n2t.net/ark:/65665/nw3c0c8e19f-4ffb-4f74-8d32-5503be528cc4

EDAN-URL:

ead_component:sova-naa-2016-19-ref125

Collection Creator:

Brock, Lina Lee, 1945-1991  Search this

Container:

Box 13

Type:

Archival materials

Date:

1974-1975

Collection Restrictions:

The Lina Brock papers are open for research. Access to archival audiovisual recordings with no duplicate access copy requires advance notice.

Access to the Lina Brock papers requires an appointment.

Collection Rights:

Contact the repository for terms of use.

Collection Citation:

Lina Brock papers, National Anthropological Archives, Smithsonian Institution

See more items in:

Lina Brock papers

Lina Brock papers / Series 1: Research / 1.2: Demographic, marriage, and kinship data

Archival Repository:

National Anthropological Archives

GUID:

https://n2t.net/ark:/65665/nw313fcb9fc-f4c1-4d51-9627-19ab5f10b92d

EDAN-URL:

ead_component:sova-naa-2016-19-ref126

Collection Creator:

Brock, Lina Lee, 1945-1991  Search this

Container:

Box 13

Type:

Archival materials

Date:

1974-1976

Collection Restrictions:

The Lina Brock papers are open for research. Access to archival audiovisual recordings with no duplicate access copy requires advance notice.

Access to the Lina Brock papers requires an appointment.

Collection Rights:

Contact the repository for terms of use.

Collection Citation:

Lina Brock papers, National Anthropological Archives, Smithsonian Institution

See more items in:

Lina Brock papers

Lina Brock papers / Series 1: Research / 1.2: Demographic, marriage, and kinship data

Archival Repository:

National Anthropological Archives

GUID:

https://n2t.net/ark:/65665/nw3d8dab805-3552-495f-af34-1294102d21b3

EDAN-URL:

ead_component:sova-naa-2016-19-ref127

Collection Creator:

Brock, Lina Lee, 1945-1991  Search this

Container:

Box 13

Type:

Archival materials

Date:

1974-1976

Collection Restrictions:

The Lina Brock papers are open for research. Access to archival audiovisual recordings with no duplicate access copy requires advance notice.

Access to the Lina Brock papers requires an appointment.

Collection Rights:

Contact the repository for terms of use.

Collection Citation:

Lina Brock papers, National Anthropological Archives, Smithsonian Institution

See more items in:

Lina Brock papers

Lina Brock papers / Series 1: Research / 1.2: Demographic, marriage, and kinship data

Archival Repository:

National Anthropological Archives

GUID:

https://n2t.net/ark:/65665/nw3c220c5aa-10c2-4acb-88a3-a62884617691

EDAN-URL:

ead_component:sova-naa-2016-19-ref128

Collection Creator:

Brock, Lina Lee, 1945-1991  Search this

Type:

Archival materials

Date:

1967-1983

Scope and Contents:

This sub-series contains residential, marriage, and kinship census data and surveys, as well as Brock's notes and calculations.

Collection Restrictions:

The Lina Brock papers are open for research. Access to archival audiovisual recordings with no duplicate access copy requires advance notice.

Access to the Lina Brock papers requires an appointment.

Collection Rights:

Contact the repository for terms of use.

Collection Citation:

Lina Brock papers, National Anthropological Archives, Smithsonian Institution

Identifier:

NAA.2016-19, Subseries 1.2

See more items in:

Lina Brock papers

Lina Brock papers / Series 1: Research

Archival Repository:

National Anthropological Archives

GUID:

https://n2t.net/ark:/65665/nw385d6525c-8670-4a13-beb8-e3ae48c47cf2

EDAN-URL:

ead_component:sova-naa-2016-19-ref15

Collection Creator:

Brock, Lina Lee, 1945-1991  Search this

Container:

Box 2, Folder 1

Type:

Archival materials

Date:

1967

1974-1975

Collection Restrictions:

The Lina Brock papers are open for research. Access to archival audiovisual recordings with no duplicate access copy requires advance notice.

Access to the Lina Brock papers requires an appointment.

Collection Rights:

Contact the repository for terms of use.

Collection Citation:

Lina Brock papers, National Anthropological Archives, Smithsonian Institution

See more items in:

Lina Brock papers

Lina Brock papers / Series 1: Research / 1.2: Demographic, marriage, and kinship data

Archival Repository:

National Anthropological Archives

GUID:

https://n2t.net/ark:/65665/nw387d27895-d92b-4fc1-8340-3e2b0f48d650

EDAN-URL:

ead_component:sova-naa-2016-19-ref16

Collection Creator:

Brock, Lina Lee, 1945-1991  Search this

Container:

Box 2, Folder 2

Type:

Archival materials

Date:

1968

Collection Restrictions:

The Lina Brock papers are open for research. Access to archival audiovisual recordings with no duplicate access copy requires advance notice.

Access to the Lina Brock papers requires an appointment.

Collection Rights:

Contact the repository for terms of use.

Collection Citation:

Lina Brock papers, National Anthropological Archives, Smithsonian Institution

See more items in:

Lina Brock papers

Lina Brock papers / Series 1: Research / 1.2: Demographic, marriage, and kinship data

Archival Repository:

National Anthropological Archives

GUID:

https://n2t.net/ark:/65665/nw3613e54f0-914f-44da-a373-6a3dcadc6241

EDAN-URL:

ead_component:sova-naa-2016-19-ref17

Collection Creator:

Brock, Lina Lee, 1945-1991  Search this

Container:

Box 2, Folder 3

Type:

Archival materials

Date:

1968

Collection Restrictions:

The Lina Brock papers are open for research. Access to archival audiovisual recordings with no duplicate access copy requires advance notice.

Access to the Lina Brock papers requires an appointment.

Collection Rights:

Contact the repository for terms of use.

Collection Citation:

Lina Brock papers, National Anthropological Archives, Smithsonian Institution

See more items in:

Lina Brock papers

Lina Brock papers / Series 1: Research / 1.2: Demographic, marriage, and kinship data

Archival Repository:

National Anthropological Archives

GUID:

https://n2t.net/ark:/65665/nw3b68d776e-a538-4b6c-9479-d2449521f1a1

EDAN-URL:

ead_component:sova-naa-2016-19-ref18

Collection Creator:

Brock, Lina Lee, 1945-1991  Search this

Container:

Box 2, Folder 4

Type:

Archival materials

Date:

1968-1971

Collection Restrictions:

The Lina Brock papers are open for research. Access to archival audiovisual recordings with no duplicate access copy requires advance notice.

Access to the Lina Brock papers requires an appointment.

Collection Rights:

Contact the repository for terms of use.

Collection Citation:

Lina Brock papers, National Anthropological Archives, Smithsonian Institution

See more items in:

Lina Brock papers

Lina Brock papers / Series 1: Research / 1.2: Demographic, marriage, and kinship data

Archival Repository:

National Anthropological Archives

GUID:

https://n2t.net/ark:/65665/nw3c3acfb21-c129-4a52-921b-c5a0f0bb3fb0

EDAN-URL:

ead_component:sova-naa-2016-19-ref19

Collection Creator:

Brock, Lina Lee, 1945-1991  Search this

Type:

Archival materials

Date:

1959-1990

Scope and Contents:

This series consists of materials created by Brock in the course of her fieldwork in Niger from 1974-1976 and 1986-1988. It includes journals, fieldnotes, census and survey data, archival research notes, transcripts and translations of interviews and poetry, and bibliographies. This series also includes the journal and fieldnotes of Robert Murphy, Brock's advisor, as well as materials related to grants and research funding.

Arrangement:

This series is arranged into eight sub-series: (1) Journals and field notes; (2) Demographic, marriage, and kiship data; (3) Tuareg history; (4) Economic development; (5) Tuareg literature and languages; (6) Robert Murphy; (7) Bibliography; and (8) Grants.

Materials within each sub-series are arranged chronologically.

Collection Restrictions:

The Lina Brock papers are open for research. Access to archival audiovisual recordings with no duplicate access copy requires advance notice.

Access to the Lina Brock papers requires an appointment.

Collection Rights:

Contact the repository for terms of use.

Collection Citation:

Lina Brock papers, National Anthropological Archives, Smithsonian Institution

Identifier:

NAA.2016-19, Series 1

See more items in:

Lina Brock papers

Archival Repository:

National Anthropological Archives

GUID:

https://n2t.net/ark:/65665/nw39a76ee32-6f46-499f-819f-e236350b50c8

EDAN-URL:

ead_component:sova-naa-2016-19-ref2

Collection Creator:

Brock, Lina Lee, 1945-1991  Search this

Container:

Box 2, Folder 6

Type:

Archival materials

Date:

1974

Collection Restrictions:

The Lina Brock papers are open for research. Access to archival audiovisual recordings with no duplicate access copy requires advance notice.

Access to the Lina Brock papers requires an appointment.

Collection Rights:

Contact the repository for terms of use.

Collection Citation:

Lina Brock papers, National Anthropological Archives, Smithsonian Institution

See more items in:

Lina Brock papers

Lina Brock papers / Series 1: Research / 1.2: Demographic, marriage, and kinship data

Archival Repository:

National Anthropological Archives

GUID:

https://n2t.net/ark:/65665/nw35b4c190e-9ba5-44d0-847d-ace271862717

EDAN-URL:

ead_component:sova-naa-2016-19-ref21

Collection Creator:

Brock, Lina Lee, 1945-1991  Search this

Container:

Box 2, Folder 8

Type:

Archival materials

Date:

1974

Collection Restrictions:

The Lina Brock papers are open for research. Access to archival audiovisual recordings with no duplicate access copy requires advance notice.

Access to the Lina Brock papers requires an appointment.

Collection Rights:

Contact the repository for terms of use.

Collection Citation:

Lina Brock papers, National Anthropological Archives, Smithsonian Institution

See more items in:

Lina Brock papers

Lina Brock papers / Series 1: Research / 1.2: Demographic, marriage, and kinship data

Archival Repository:

National Anthropological Archives

GUID:

https://n2t.net/ark:/65665/nw339a1bad9-c82b-4b15-8832-d0a83d2701a2

EDAN-URL:

ead_component:sova-naa-2016-19-ref23

Collection Creator:

Brock, Lina Lee, 1945-1991  Search this

Container:

Box 2, Folder 11

Type:

Archival materials

Date:

1975 July-1975 August

Collection Restrictions:

The Lina Brock papers are open for research. Access to archival audiovisual recordings with no duplicate access copy requires advance notice.

Access to the Lina Brock papers requires an appointment.

Collection Rights:

Contact the repository for terms of use.

Collection Citation:

Lina Brock papers, National Anthropological Archives, Smithsonian Institution

See more items in:

Lina Brock papers

Lina Brock papers / Series 1: Research / 1.2: Demographic, marriage, and kinship data

Archival Repository:

National Anthropological Archives

GUID:

https://n2t.net/ark:/65665/nw36ad4ef64-bc9d-49df-a3ab-fd290c0d7673

EDAN-URL:

ead_component:sova-naa-2016-19-ref26

Collection Creator:

Brock, Lina Lee, 1945-1991  Search this

Container:

Box 2, Folder 12

Type:

Archival materials

Date:

1975 July-1975 August

Collection Restrictions:

The Lina Brock papers are open for research. Access to archival audiovisual recordings with no duplicate access copy requires advance notice.

Access to the Lina Brock papers requires an appointment.

Collection Rights:

Contact the repository for terms of use.

Collection Citation:

Lina Brock papers, National Anthropological Archives, Smithsonian Institution

See more items in:

Lina Brock papers

Lina Brock papers / Series 1: Research / 1.2: Demographic, marriage, and kinship data

Archival Repository:

National Anthropological Archives

GUID:

https://n2t.net/ark:/65665/nw3993f3078-0550-4fe9-8877-cfcba204346c

EDAN-URL:

ead_component:sova-naa-2016-19-ref27

Collection Creator:

Brock, Lina Lee, 1945-1991  Search this

Container:

Box 2, Folder 13

Type:

Archival materials

Date:

1975

Collection Restrictions:

The Lina Brock papers are open for research. Access to archival audiovisual recordings with no duplicate access copy requires advance notice.

Access to the Lina Brock papers requires an appointment.

Collection Rights:

Contact the repository for terms of use.

Collection Citation:

Lina Brock papers, National Anthropological Archives, Smithsonian Institution

See more items in:

Lina Brock papers

Lina Brock papers / Series 1: Research / 1.2: Demographic, marriage, and kinship data

Archival Repository:

National Anthropological Archives

GUID:

https://n2t.net/ark:/65665/nw34820d219-f079-4b88-9a67-533980cbe033

EDAN-URL:

ead_component:sova-naa-2016-19-ref28

Collection Creator:

Brock, Lina Lee, 1945-1991  Search this

Container:

Box 2, Folder 14

Type:

Archival materials

Date:

1975

Collection Restrictions:

The Lina Brock papers are open for research. Access to archival audiovisual recordings with no duplicate access copy requires advance notice.

Access to the Lina Brock papers requires an appointment.

Collection Rights:

Contact the repository for terms of use.

Collection Citation:

Lina Brock papers, National Anthropological Archives, Smithsonian Institution

See more items in:

Lina Brock papers

Lina Brock papers / Series 1: Research / 1.2: Demographic, marriage, and kinship data

Archival Repository:

National Anthropological Archives

GUID:

https://n2t.net/ark:/65665/nw3a4d17df6-f8ff-4f58-8ee2-583e4e7910dc

EDAN-URL:

ead_component:sova-naa-2016-19-ref29

Collection Creator:

Brock, Lina Lee, 1945-1991  Search this

Container:

Box 3, Folder 4

Type:

Archival materials

Date:

undated

Collection Restrictions:

The Lina Brock papers are open for research. Access to archival audiovisual recordings with no duplicate access copy requires advance notice.

Access to the Lina Brock papers requires an appointment.

Collection Rights:

Contact the repository for terms of use.

Collection Citation:

Lina Brock papers, National Anthropological Archives, Smithsonian Institution

See more items in:

Lina Brock papers

Lina Brock papers / Series 1: Research / 1.2: Demographic, marriage, and kinship data

Archival Repository:

National Anthropological Archives

GUID:

https://n2t.net/ark:/65665/nw3d25942a0-5b07-4099-b4e3-0b52d532e653

EDAN-URL:

ead_component:sova-naa-2016-19-ref35

Collection Creator:

Archives Center, National Museum of American History  Search this

Container:

Box 9, Folder 3

Type:

Archival materials

Date:

2000

Collection Restrictions:

Collection open for research.

Collection Rights:

Fees for commercial reproduction. However, there are copyright and trademark restrictions.

Collection Citation:

Archives Center Shopping Bag Collection, Archives Center, National Museum of American History.

See more items in:

Archives Center Shopping Bag Collection

Archival Repository:

Archives Center, National Museum of American History

GUID:

https://n2t.net/ark:/65665/ep8d0621913-7a0b-48e1-8724-a07b110c87fe

EDAN-URL:

ead_component:sova-nmah-ac-0570-ref965

Creator:

Smithsonian Channel  Search this

Type:

YouTube Videos

Uploaded:

2023-01-18T17:00:21.000Z

YouTube Category:

Entertainment  Search this

See more by:

smithsonianchannel

Data Source:

Smithsonian Channel

YouTube Channel:

smithsonianchannel

EDAN-URL:

edanmdm:yt_e0a1ZaXI-qg