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Author Event! Alyssa Lopez's "Reel Freedom"
Join us on Thursday, April 8th at 6pm as we host Professor Alyssa Lopez, who will be reading from and discussing her latest, Reel Freedom: Black Film Culture in Early Twentieth-Century New York City. Alyssa will be joined in conversation by Professor Veronica McComb. Signed copies of the book are available for purchase.
About the book:
Explores Black New Yorkers' early engagement with film and what it meant in the Black struggle for equality, inclusion, and modernity.
Reel Freedom intimately captures the relationship between Black film culture and space in New York City. Alyssa Lopez argues that Black film culture, from its origins in the early twentieth century to its firm establishment in the 1930s, was necessarily both entertainment and resistance, connected as it was to Black New Yorkers’ demands for access and equality in the city.
Lopez investigates how ordinary people, labor activists, journalists, filmmakers, theater managers, and owners all shaped Black film culture. Black girls and women used moviegoing as a means of independence and control over their lives. Race filmmaker Oscar Micheaux fought with New York State’s censorship board to get his films screened with limited edits in local theaters. And Harlem’s Black projectionists battled for unionization and fair pay, while journalists linked cinema to Black New Yorkers’ lived experiences.
In Reel Freedom, Lopez chronicles the wide-ranging and remarkable pervasiveness of Black film culture in New York City, redefining a period and place most associated with the Harlem Renaissance. In doing so, she illustrates how Black New Yorkers leveraged cinema to make the city their own and to enjoy urban living to its fullest.
About the author:
Alyssa Lopez is Assistant Professor of History at Providence College. Her research is interested in Black urban, film, and cultural history. Her work has appeared in The Journal of African American History, Oxford Research Encyclopedia of American History, and The Routledge Companion to American Film History. Her book, Reel Freedom: Black Film Culture in Early Twentieth Century New York City, is published with Temple University Press (April 2025). She has also written work for public audiences in The Metropole, Women Film Pioneers Project, Gotham: A Blog for Scholars of New York City History, and Black Perspectives.
About the moderator:
Dr. Veronica Savory McComb is the Dean of the College of Arts and Sciences at Bryant University, a position she has held since 2021. She earned her Bachelor of Arts degree as a Senior Fellow in Film and Television Studies from Dartmouth College and her Ph.D. in American Studies from Boston University. Dr. McComb is recognized for her collaborative leadership, forward-thinking, and passion for access and student success. Prior to her role at Bryant University, Dr. McComb served as Dean of the College of Humanities and Social Sciences at Lenoir-Rhyne University, where she also held positions as Director of the University Honors Academy, Academic Chair for History, and Program Coordinator for Africana Studies. Her research and teaching interests include 20th century American cultural history; immigration, race, and ethnicity; and media studies and digital storytelling.
Event Links
Website: https://go.evvnt.com/3034193-0
