AUTHOR: Dr. Crystal Sheffield
A Condemnation of Racist Cultural Tourism.
Just miles away from the site where Emmett Till was murdered by whites, the city of Clarksdale, Mississippi is perhaps best known as the home of the blues. It also played a significant role in the history of Black activism and the long freedom struggle. In many ways, it is a unique place, and for that reason it is incredibly difficult to capture on film. However, while Ryan Coogler’s film Sinners was not filmed in Clarksdale, it manages this almost impossible feat.
Read forumAUTHOR: Dr. Wendell Nii Laryea Adjetey
Subversion and Power in Sinners
Set in 1932. The 2025 horror flick, Sinners, highlights and exploits multiple tropes in African American, U.S., and African Diaspora history. A film about vampires, Sinners encapsulates the appropriation of blackness or the veritable culture vultures who feasted—metaphorically and literally—on the flesh, output, and lifeways of African peoples since the genocidal enterprise called transatlantic slavery commenced.
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