American Masters: How It Feels to be Free

Product Description

Lena. Abbey. Diahann. Nina. Cicely. Pam. The intersection of these trailblazing performers changed American culture through their films, fashion, music and politics. How It Feels to Be Free tells the stories of Lena Horne, the first Black woman signed to a major studio; Abbey Lincoln, the “Black Marilyn Monroe” turned protest singer and activist; Diahann Carroll, the first Black woman to both win a Tony Award and star in her own TV series in a role other than a maid; Nina Simone, the revolutionary musical prodigy; Pam Grier, the first female action hero; and actress Cicely Tyson, the proud race woman who uses her art as a form of protest. Through archival performances and interviews with the trailblazers, new interviews with Diahann Carroll and Pam Grier, and interviews from some of the industry’s leading entertainers such as Alicia Keys, Lena Waithe, Halle Berry and Samuel Jackson, How It Feels to Be Free explores how these six women re-shaped the way Black women were represented on stage and screen and how Black female entertainers who came after them built off their success, learned from their failures and continue working to change the industry. Based on the book How it Feels to Be Free: Black Women Entertainers and the Civil Rights Movement by Ruth Feldstein.