Image from MALCOLM X (Spike Lee, 1992)

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The 1990s marked an unprecedented moment in American culture—a moment when Black artists, entertainers, and intellectuals completely captured the mainstream public imagination. This program offers a deep dive into the historical context underpinning this transformative decade, analyzing how Black film, television, music, and other art forms challenged racial narratives and expanded Black creative power and possibilities in a manner like never before. With Bigger & Blacker, this event tackles the social, cultural, and political conditions that generated an unforeseen explosion of Black cultural expression in the 1990s.

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At a time when figures like Michael Jordan, Bo Jackson, and Deion Sanders dominated the sports landscape; and film and television creators like Spike Lee, John Singleton, Julie Dash, and Yvette Lee Bowser broke new ground to transform what Black life looked like on screen, using Black excellence to redefine American popular culture and ignite a renaissance many now regard as a "Golden Age of Blackness."

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Join noted author, scholar, and MoAD’s Cultural Critic-in-Residence Dr. Artel Great (SFSU) for an insightful presentation that offers an aesthetic, social, cultural, and political examination of the '90s Black cultural renaissance. The event will cover groundbreaking '90s classics like Malcolm X, Eve's Bayou, Living Single, A Different World, Daughters of the Dust, Menace II Society, To Sleep With Anger, and more.

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The centerpiece of the program will feature a stirring analysis of the beloved Black cult classic film, Love Jones, exploring how the film fuses romance and spoken word poetry to address larger issues of Black love and social mobility. By the year 2000 the energy and Black momentum of the '90s was halted and actively reversed, leaving behind questions about its lasting impact. In this lecture, Dr. Great will unpack these questions, addressing the critical lessons that can be drawn from them in light of today’s continued battles over politics, culture, and resistance.

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Attendees will receive private access to view the film: Love Jones on-demand prior to the event.

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This event is Virtual and will be held on Zoom. After you register for this program, you will receive an acknowledgement email with the link to join the program on Zoom. It will also contain the link to view the film LOVE JONES on-demand prior to the event. If you don't receive the email, check your junk mail or spam folder. If you still can't access it, please contact programs@moadsf.org.

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Dr. Artel Great (@dr.artelgreat) is the inaugural Cultural Critic-in-Residence at MoAD and the George and Judy Marcus Endowed Chair in African-American Cinema Studies and Assistant Professor of Critical Studies at San Francisco State University. He is also an Independent Spirit Award-nominated filmmaker and film and media scholar who has written on Black cinema and popular culture in both mainstream and academic publications.

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