HOME MOVIES: 1940s AFRICAN AMERICAN 16mm

Genre: home movie

Year Published: 1940s

Format: 16mm

Description: Shot by an unknown, amateur filmmaker, this reel of early 1940s color and black and white home movies depict an unidentified African American family at an outdoor cookout, girls at a social gathering, and other wholesome summer scenes of backyard fun in the life of a black family (TRT: 13:16). Women at a cookout, seated in wooden chairs. One drinks from a bottle, another works on sewing. A young woman in glasses passes them, smiling (0:08). A man in a blue shirt crouches over a fire, barbecuing a rack of ribs, while a middle-aged couple watches approvingly (0:15). A family gathering. Men wear ties and suspenders. Women wear summer dresses. A group seated at a picnic table plays a game. One man puts money on the table. A woman in pink looks away from the action (0:25). Women wearing glasses sit with a man displaying symptoms of vitiligo (0:50). A group of men smoke and chat alongside a house. An elderly woman notices she is being filmed and turns toward the camera, smiling. Young women in colorful skirts (1:08). A young girl in denim overalls flips herself upside-down on a red swing set. A girl in pink joins her in swinging. A woman with grey hair passes through the frame. 1930s automobiles can be glimpsed in the background. Men sit on the green lawn (1:30). A pair of children pose for the camera. The barbecuing continues. A man in a hat and glasses strides toward the camera and places a pipe in his mouth. Kids play with a croquet set of mallets and balls (2:11). Teenagers swing in a hammock. A man cuts meat for serving, a cornfield behind him. A table is prepared for buffet-style serving (2:51). A toddler is placed on a swing. A family enjoys their meal, eating from plates in their laps, drinking from cups and bottles (3:15). Young men and women in conversation. A girl drinking Coca-Cola. End of color footage (3:41). Black and white footage begins. A girl with braided hair on a swing (3:53). Nuns in religious habit speak to young girls on the porch of a home. Girls play on the sidewalk of a residential street. A business across the street advertises Coca-Cola. A group gathers. A boy sits in a folding chair (4:02). A young boy wearing suspenders stands upright on a swing. A group of girls pose for the camera (4:38). Girls gather around a board game (5:13). A smiling woman holds a baby. Another woman in glasses wipes perspiration. An elderly woman on a porch (5:23). A man in a floppy hat smoking a pipe uses a bucket of water to water windowsill planters (5:50). Kids playing leapfrog. Girls pick flowers and dig in a garden with a shovel (6:14). The man in the hat playfully chases them with a manual lawn mower. The eldest girl tries mowing the lawn, and the youngest tries to pitch in (7:14). The two younger girls climb a tree (8:06). Playing on a swing set. A bouquet of flowers is opened (8:31). A man in glasses sorts through the flowers with the girls, smiling as a reel of film runs out (9:13). A young boy and girl, both wearing sun hats. The boy gives the little girl a kiss on the cheek. Elders turn and smile for the camera (10:12). A man in a lounge chair and another with a medium format camera. A husband and wife pose for a portrait (10:47). A game of tennis with racquets on a tennis court (11:26). A young woman in a bathing suit walks towards the camera, then turns toward two trucks (11:53). A group of girls swimming in bathing caps near a lakefront dock. A rowboat passes in the distance. On the shore, lodge-style cabins and a lifeguard’s tower (12:01).

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