No single narrative can communicate the totality of the black experience in the United States, but a multiplicity of voices can be the start of a conversation. Such is the idea behind The Black List, a new documentary directed by the photographer Timothy Greenfield-Sanders featuring interviews with famous black Americans conducted by the former New York Times film critic Elvis Mitchell."Anybody who's successful and African-American in this country has a story to tell," explains Mitchell, who interviewed such iconoclasts as the novelist Toni Morrison, former secretary of state Colin Powell, and hip-hop mogul Sean Combs, discussing their perspectives on the black experience in America. The film premieres on HBO on August 25. The photographs and interviews will also be collected in a book, which will be published in September.LEARN MORE blacklistproject.com
Pictured, clockwise from top: Serena Williams, Susan Lori-Parks, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Keenen Ivory Wayans, Al Sharpton, Toni Morrison