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6 Degrees Entertainment

'American Masters: How It Feels To Be Free'
(DVD / NR / 2021 / PBS)

Overview: 'How It Feels to Be Free' takes an unprecedented look at the intersection of African American women artists, politics and entertainment and tells the story of how six trailblazing performers: Lena Horne, Abbey Lincoln, Diahann Carroll, Nina Simone, Cicely Tyson and Pam Grier changed American culture through their films, fashion, music and politics.

DVD Verdict: 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. In 1942, Horne became that very first Black woman to sign a long-term contract with a major studio.

The actor has told the story of one particular meeting her father told MGM studio head Louis B. Mayer that his daughter was “not going to be in a Tarzan picture and run around in a leopard skin”!

Next we get Abbey Lincoln, the "Black Marilyn Monroe" turned protest singer and activist. Lincoln was known for her earthy, passionate vocal style and glamorous image and sure, she was sometimes called the "Black Marilyn Monroe," but in the latter stages of her career presented an dignified, earnest, almost somber performance style inspired by her heroine Billie Holiday.

Then we get 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. In 1962, Carroll won a Tony Award for Best Actress in a Musical, a first for an African American woman, for her role in the Broadway musical No Strings. In 1974 she starred in Claudine alongside James Earl Jones for which she was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Actress.

Up next is Nina Simone, the revolutionary musical prodigy. Her music spanned a broad range of musical styles including classical, jazz, blues, folk, R&B, gospel, and pop. The sixth of eight children born to a poor family in Tryon, North Carolina, Simone initially aspired to be a concert pianist.

Then we get Pam Grier, the first female action hero. Of course, in the early '70s Grier was the reigning queen of Blaxploitation and the first female action star to have ever kicked some serious ass on screen.

In films like Coffy, Friday Foster, and Foxy Brown, the star portrayed three formidable female aggressors who represented a rarely seen mode of empowerment.

Last, but most certainly not least, we get actress Cicely Tyson, the proud race woman who uses her art as a form of protest. here was a time when Black dignity on screen wasn’t guaranteed. It had to be fought for and insisted upon, repeatedly.

And Cicely Tyson, who died Jan. 28th, 2021 at age 96, led a generation of pathbreaking Black American artists who did so, as both creators of and activists for Black humanity on screen and stage.

Through archival performances and 13 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, this is most certainly an incredible insight into How It Feels To Be Free. This is a Widescreen Presentation (1.78:1) enhanced for 16x9 TVs.

www.PBS.org





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