Donald Bogle

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Let’s all nod in appreciation to Donald Bogle for putting everything in historical perspective….Mr. Bogle continues to be our most important noted Black-cinema historian. – Spike Lee

Donald Bogle, whose book Dorothy Dandridge: A Biography was published to glowing reviews, is one of the foremost authorities on American popular culture and the author of three prize-winning books on the subject. His book, Toms, Coons, Mulattoes, Mammies, and Bucks: An Interpretive History of Blacks in American Films, winner of the Theater Library Association Award as Best Film Book of the Year, is considered a classic study of African American movie images. It is now in its fourth edition.

A former writer for Ebony, Donald Bogle has appeared as a commentator for numerous television documentaries, including Spike Lee’s Jim Brown: An All-American; HBO’s Mo’ Funny: Black Comedy in America (executive produced by Richard Pryor) and the American Movie Classic channel’s Small Steps…Big Strides, which chronicled the history of African Americans in motion pictures. In addition to Ebony, his articles have appeared in Film Comment, Spin, Essence, Elan, University Review, and Freedomways. He is a frequent lecturer on films and African American performers at colleges, museums, and libraries around the country and has been interviewed on numerous television programs including The Tavis Smiley Show, The Today Show, Good Morning America, The Charlie Rose Show, Oprah, Nightline and Entertainment Tonight.

His book, Bright Boulevards, Bold Dreams: The Story of Black Hollywood looks at the AfricanAmerican Films colony in Los Angeles from the early years of the 20th century to the mid-1960s. The Los Angeles Times listed Bright Boulevards, Bold Dreams on its Bestseller List.

Bogle is also the author of Primetime Blues: African Americans on Network Television, the first comprehensive examination of African Americans on the primetime network scene. “This is a valuable chronicle” “A revealing, thought-provoking and richly detailed look at the small screen’s highlights,” wrote Essence.

Bogle’s most recent books is Heat Wave: The Life and Career of Ethel Waters. “Bogle’s thorough and unflinchingly honest look at Waters’s brilliant and flawed life will undoubtedly be the definitive biography of this great woman.” Publishers Weekly.

He adapted his book Brown Sugar: Eighty Years of America’s Black Female Superstars, into an acclaimed four-hour, four-part documentary series for PBS. He wrote the scripts for the episodes, headed the film research team, and was an executive producer of the series. Additionally, he is well-known for his distinguished work, Blacks in American Film and Television: An Illustrated Encyclopedia

Donald Bogle was raised in the Philadelphia area. He currently teaches at the University of Pennsylvania and New York University’s Tisch School of the Arts. He divides his time between New York and Los Angeles.