Set It Off
Conversations Screenings
Part of the series The Black Book

The Black Book Vol. V: Hustle & Flow: A Visual Anthology of Black Labor, Work, and Life

  • This is a past program

A cruel irony underlying myths of the American dream and exceptionalism is the failure to fully acknowledge the labor of enslaved Africans and their descendants. Yet the conditions of that labor are often transformed into sites of agency that allow black people to game the system, or create new games entirely, contributing to globally influential black culture, aesthetics, and resistance. Ernest Hardy and Tisa Bryant assemble a post-hip-hop visual anthology of film, TV clips, and diasporic black music examining the singular history of black labor, work, and life in America.

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Generous support is also provided by Susan Bay Nimoy and Leonard Nimoy, Good Works Foundation and Laura Donnelley, The Samuel Goldwyn Foundation, an anonymous donor, and all Hammer members.

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