Filled with photographs and stories of stars and filmmakers on set and off, Hollywood Black tells an enthralling, underappreciated history as it's never before been told. Explore the rise of independent African American filmmakers and the changes in the film industry with the arrival of sound motion pictures and the Great Depression. More often than not, Black performers were saddled with rigidly stereotyped roles, but some gifted performers, most notably Hattie McDaniel in Gone With the Wind (1939), were able to turn in significant performances.

Dive deep into how Dorothy Dandridge became the first African American to earn a Best Actress Oscar nomination for Carmen Jones (1954) and how Sidney Poitier broke ground in the industry. Follow the emergence of stars such as Morgan Freeman, Halle Berry, Denzel Washington, Viola Davis, Cicely Tyson, Richard Pryor, Angela Bassett, Eddie Murphy, and Whoopi Goldberg, and of directors Spike Lee and John Singleton. The history comes into the new millennium with filmmakers Barry Jenkins (Moonlight), Ava Du Vernay (Selma), and Ryan Coogler (Black Panther) in this enthralling compendium of film.