The History Film Forum: How it Feels to be Free

The History Film Forum is an online series from the Smithsonian that explores history on the screen and the evolution of film as public history.

The “American Masters”/PBS documentary examines how six iconic African American women entertainers—Lena Horne, Abbey Lincoln, Nina Simone, Diahann Carroll, Cicely Tyson, and Pam Grier—broke thorough and challenged an entertainment industry hell-bent on keeping them out, transforming both themselves and their audiences in the process.

Join the film’s director Yoruba Richen, executive director Lacey Schwartz Delgado, and Fath Davis Ruffins, curator of African American history and culture at the Smithsonian’s National Museum of American History, in a live conversation and Q&A session that focuses on how the film was made and the story it tells.

Presented by Smithsonian Associate and the Smithsonian’s National Museum of American History through the generous support of Dan Manatt and Democracy Films.