Donald Bogle

Bogle grew up in a suburb of Philadelphia and graduated from Lincoln University in 1966. As a child, he spent a lot of time watching television and going to the movies. He wondered why there were very few black characters. He also wondered what happened to the black characters when they went off-screen. In a 2005 interview, Bogle recalled:

In the movie Gone with the Wind, where did Hattie McDaniel live—in the big house or the slaves' quarters? What did she think about the civil war? These were all questions I wanted answers to.

Bogle's first book, Toms, Coons, Mulattoes, Mammies and Bucks: An Interpretative History of Blacks in Films, was published in 1973. In it, he identified five basic stereotypical film roles available to black actors and actresses: the servile, avuncular "tom"; the simple-minded and cowardly "coon"; the tragic, and usually female, mulatto; the fat, dark-skinned "mammy"; and the irrational, hypersexual male "buck".{{cite book |last1=Spears |first1=Arthur K. |editor1-last=Spears |editor1-first=Arthur K. |title=Race and Ideology: Language, Symbolism, and Popular Culture |year=1999 |publisher=Wayne State University Press |location=Detroit |isbn=0-8143-2454-1 |pages=47–48 |chapter=Race and Ideology: An Introduction |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=6v6wf5PxeXcC&pg=PA47 }} In the second edition of the book, Bogle identified a sixth stereotype: the sidekick, who is usually asexual. Toms, Coons, Mulattoes, Mammies and Bucks was awarded the 1973 Theatre Library Association Award.{{cite web|title=Previous Winners of the Theatre Library Association Award |url=http://tla.library.unt.edu/tlawinners.htm |publisher=Theatre Library Association |access-date=April 10, 2009 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080915041936/http://tla.library.unt.edu/tlawinners.htm |archive-date=September 15, 2008 }}

Brown Sugar: Eighty Years of America's Black Female Superstars was published in 1980. It was the basis of "Brown Sugar," a four-hour PBS documentary that aired in 1986.{{cite web |first=John J. |last=O'Connor |title=TV Weekend: Black History on PBS |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1986/02/07/arts/tv-weekend-black-history-on-pbs.html |work=The New York Times |date=February 7, 1986 |access-date=April 10, 2009 }}

Bogle published his third book, Blacks in American Film and Television: An Illustrated Encyclopedia, in 1988.{{cite web |first=Sheila |last=Rule |title=Black Film Portrait Back on Screen |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1993/03/16/theater/black-film-portrait-back-on-screen.html |work=The New York Times |date=March 16, 1993 |access-date=April 10, 2009 }}

Bogle's next book, a biography of actress Dorothy Dandridge (1922–1965), caused a sensation before its 1997 publication.{{cite web |first=Carol |last=Brennan |title=Donald Bogle |url=http://www.answers.com/topic/donald-bogle |publisher=Answers.com |access-date=April 10, 2009 }} It sparked renewed interest in Dandridge's life, and several Black performers raced to make a film about her. Whitney Houston acquired the rights to produce a movie based on Bogle's biography,{{cite web |first=Janet |last=Maslin |author-link=Janet Maslin |title=Hollywood's Tryst With Dorothy Dandridge Inspires Real Love at Last |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1997/06/19/movies/hollywood-s-tryst-with-dorothy-dandridge-inspires-real-love-at-last.html |work=The New York Times |date=June 19, 1997 |access-date=April 10, 2009 }} but Halle Berry brought Introducing Dorothy Dandridge to fruition.{{cite web |title=Halle Berry Brings the Passion and Pain of Dorothy Dandridge to HBO Movie |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Fj0DAAAAMBAJ&pg=PA60 |work=Jet |date=August 23, 1999 |publisher = Johnson Publishing Company|access-date=July 29, 2014 }}

Bogle published Primetime Blues: African Americans on Network Television in 2001. In it, he argued that television lags behind film in reflecting the social realities of blacks.{{cite magazine |first=Ken |last=Tucker |author-link=Ken Tucker|title=Color Blind |url=http://www.ew.com/ew/article/0,,280019,00.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090421114054/http://www.ew.com/ew/article/0,,280019,00.html |url-status=dead |archive-date=April 21, 2009 |magazine=Entertainment Weekly |date=February 28, 2001 |access-date=April 10, 2009 }}

His next book, Bright Boulevards, Bold Dreams: The Story of Black Hollywood, was published in 2005. It tells the story of black actors and actresses in the film industry during the first half of the 20th century.{{cite web |first=Laurence |last=Washington |title=Bright Boulevards, Bold Dreams: The Story of Black Hollywood |url=http://www.blackflix.com/book.reviews/bright.boulevards.html |publisher=Blackflix.com |access-date=April 10, 2009 }}

In 2011, he published Heat Wave: The Life and Career of Ethel Waters, which examines the personal and professional life of singer and stage performer, Ethel Waters.

His most recent book is titled, Lena Horne: Goddess Reclaimed which was published in 2023, a first-of-its-kind comprehensive and lavish biography of Hollywood’s first African American movie goddess, Lena Horne.

• Toms, Coons, Mulattoes, Mammies and Bucks: An Interpretive History of Blacks in Films, Viking Press, 1973. {{oclc|245700105}}. 2001: 4th ed. New York: Continuum. {{ISBN|0-8264-1267-X}}
• Brown Sugar: Eighty Years of America's Black Female Superstars, Harmony Books, 1980. {{ISBN|0-517-53637-4}}.
• Blacks in American Film and Television: An Illustrated Encyclopedia, Garland, 1988. {{ISBN|0-8240-8715-1}}.
• Dorothy Dandridge: A Biography, Amistad Press, 1997. {{ISBN|1-56743-034-1}}.
• Primetime Blues: African Americans on Network Television, Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2001. {{ISBN|0-374-23720-4}}.
• Bright Boulevards, Bold Dreams: The Story of Black Hollywood, One World Ballantine Books, 2005. {{ISBN|0-345-45418-9}}.
• Heat Wave: The Life and Career of Ethel Waters, HarperCollins, 2011. {{ISBN|0-06-124173-3}}.

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;Lectures

• {{cite web |title=Lecture, Part 1 |url=http://gpcdecaturlrc.blogspot.com/2007/01/donald-bogle-lecture-part-1.html |publisher=Georgia Perimeter College |format=MP3 |date=November 10, 2006 |access-date=April 10, 2009 }}
• {{cite web |title=Lecture, Part 2 |url=http://gpcdecaturlrc.blogspot.com/2007/01/donald-bogle-lecture-part-2.html |publisher=Georgia Perimeter College |format=MP3 |date=November 10, 2006 |access-date=April 10, 2009 }}
• {{cite web |title=Donald Bogle: Bright Boulevards, Bold Dreams: The Story of Black Hollywood |url=https://libwww.library.phila.gov/podcast/?podcastID=234 |publisher=Free Library of Philadelphia |format=MP3 |date=March 7, 2006 |access-date=April 10, 2009 }}

;Interviews

• {{cite web |title=Black Hollywood, Then and Now |url=https://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=4501726 |work=Talk of the Nation |publisher=NPR |format=Audio |date=February 16, 2005 |access-date=April 10, 2009 }}
• {{cite web |first=Ed |last=Gordon |title=Donald Bogle, 'Bright Boulevards, Bold Dreams' |url=https://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=4509881 |work=News & Notes |publisher=NPR |format=Audio |date=February 23, 2005 |access-date=April 10, 2009 }}
• {{cite web |first=Walidah |last=Imarisha |author-link=Walidah Imarisha |title=20 Questions: Donald Bogle |url=http://www.citypaper.net/articles/030101/ae.20q.shtml |work=Philadelphia City Paper |date=March 1, 2001 |access-date=September 13, 2017 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080926111211/http://www.citypaper.net/articles/030101/ae.20q.shtml |archive-date=September 26, 2008 }}
• {{cite web |title=Making Black Cinema Picks for Turner Classic |url=https://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=5382086 |work=News & Notes |publisher=NPR |format=Audio |date=May 4, 2006 |access-date=April 10, 2009 }}
• {{cite web |title='Prime Time Blues': Donald Bogle |url=https://www.usatoday.com/mchat/20010222004/tscript.htm |publisher=USAToday.com |date=February 22, 2001 |access-date=April 10, 2009 }}
• {{cite web |first=Charlie |last=Rose |author-link=Charlie Rose |title=Donald Bogle |url=https://charlierose.com/guests/10906 |work=Charlie Rose |format=Video |date=August 15, 1997 |access-date=September 13, 2017 }}
• {{cite web |first=Tavis |last=Smiley |author-link=Tavis Smiley |title=Donald Bogle |url=https://www.pbs.org/kcet/tavissmiley/archive/200502/20050217_bogle.html |archive-url=https://archive.today/20100805125442/http://www.pbs.org/kcet/tavissmiley/archive/200502/20050217_bogle.html |url-status=dead |archive-date=August 5, 2010 |work=Tavis Smiley |date=February 17, 2005 |access-date=April 10, 2009 }}

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Category:African-American non-fiction writers

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Category:Writers from Philadelphia

Category:Lincoln University (Pennsylvania) alumni