Rhea L. Combs

The Association of Art Museum Curators (AAMC) announced their 2023 Awards for Excellence recipients during a celebration held in NYC. The catalog for Regeneration Black Cinema 1898-1971 was recognized at this years event. The Awards for Excellence, highly esteemed by art curators everywhere, are the only accolades by which curators directly honor their colleagues.

Dr Rhea Combs presents a companion lecture to VMFA's special exhibition "Isaac Julien: Lessons of the Hour—Frederick Douglass." Consider the ways portraiture has been used to advance notions of belonging, citizenship, and power. Dr. Combs, the Smithsonian National Portrait Gallery’s director of curatorial affairs, will lead an examination of Frederick Douglass’s relationship with portraiture and its relevance today.

Rhea L. Combs is curator of photography and film at the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History & Culture. She also serves as the head of the museum’s Earl W. and Amanda Stafford Center for African American Media Arts (CAAMA). Combs’ current exhibitions and projects include, Everyday Beauty: Selections from the Photography and Film Collection, and Through the African American Lens: Selections from the Permanent Collection [of NMAAHC,] along with the six-part photography book series, Double Exposure. Combs received her B.A. from Howard University, M.A. from Cornell University, and Ph.D. from Emory University. Her writings have been featured in anthologies, academic journals, and exhibition catalogues on a range of topics including: African American female filmmakers, Black popular culture, visual aesthetics, filmmaking, and photography. She’s presented talks on media, art, and culture throughout the United States.

Curators Rhea Combs and Doris Berger, along with Academy Museum President and Director Jacqueline Stewart, discuss SOMETHING GOOD – NEGRO KISS (1898), one of the earliest films featured in the Academy Museum exhibition “Regeneration: Black Cinema 1898–1971.” A parody of an even shorter, popular 1896 film called THE KISS, produced for Thomas Edison and featuring a white couple, the film disrupts the minstrel stereotypes commonly associated with African American performances in the late 19th century by showcasing accomplished actors in smart attire engaging in mainstream pop culture satire. This previously unknown material was uncovered in 2017 at the University of Southern California and added to the National Film Registry in 2018. In the very few years since its rediscovery, SOMETHING GOOD – NEGRO KISS has expanded the historical record and enhanced our understanding of Black performance in film, theater, and popular culture in the late 19th century. This video was produced in conjunction with the exhibition “Regeneration: Black Cinema 1898–1971.” "Regeneration: Black Cinema 1898–1971" explores the achievements and challenges of Black filmmakers in the US in independent production and within the studio system, both in front of the camera and behind it, from cinema’s infancy in the 1890s to the early 1970s. http://www.academymuseum.org/regeneration *About the Academy Museum* The Academy Museum of Motion Pictures is the largest museum in the United States devoted to the arts, sciences, and artists of moviemaking. Global in outlook and grounded in the unparalleled collections and expertise of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, the Academy Museum offers exceptional exhibitions, screenings, and programs that illuminate the world of cinema for film lovers of all ages. In addition to ongoing film series such as Family Matinees, Oscar® Sundays, Available Space, and Branch Selects, the museum also features limited series and spotlight screenings that explore specific exhibitions, film artists, genres, and more. Ongoing education and family programs include youth programs, family drop-in tours and workshops, and school tours. Monthly accommodative programs include ASL Interpreted Tours for our Deaf and hard of hearing communities, Visual Description Tours for our blind and partially sighted communities, and Calm Mornings with accommodative family film screenings for neurodivergent visitors. *Connect with the Academy Museum* Subscribe for our latest videos: http://www.academymuseum.org/videos Plan your visit to the Academy Museum: http://www.academymuseum.org/visit Support the museum and become a member: https://www.academymuseum.org/en/membership *Follow Us on Social* Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/TheAcademyMuseum/ Twitter: https://twitter.com/academymuseum Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/academymuseum/

A landmark year in cinema history, 1939 saw the release of mainstream classics such as CASABLANCA, WIZARD OF OZ, and MR. SMITH GOES TO WASHINGTON. Curators Rhea Combs and Doris Berger, along with Academy Museum President and Director Jacqueline Stewart, discuss a lesser-known “race film”––a movie created by Black filmmakers for Black audiences––also released in 1939: REFORM SCHOOL, starring Louise Beavers. This video was produced in conjunction with the exhibition “Regeneration: Black Cinema 1898–1971.” "Regeneration: Black Cinema 1898–1971" explores the achievements and challenges of Black filmmakers in the US in independent production and within the studio system, both in front of the camera and behind it, from cinema’s infancy in the 1890s to the early 1970s. http://www.academymuseum.org/regeneration *About the Academy Museum* The Academy Museum of Motion Pictures is the largest museum in the United States devoted to the arts, sciences, and artists of moviemaking. Global in outlook and grounded in the unparalleled collections and expertise of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, the Academy Museum offers exceptional exhibitions, screenings, and programs that illuminate the world of cinema for film lovers of all ages. In addition to ongoing film series such as Family Matinees, Oscar® Sundays, Available Space, and Branch Selects, the museum also features limited series and spotlight screenings that explore specific exhibitions, film artists, genres, and more. Ongoing education and family programs include youth programs, family drop-in tours and workshops, and school tours. Monthly accommodative programs include ASL Interpreted Tours for our Deaf and hard of hearing communities, Visual Description Tours for our blind and partially sighted communities, and Calm Mornings with accommodative family film screenings for neurodivergent visitors. *Connect with the Academy Museum* Subscribe for our latest videos: http://www.academymuseum.org/videos Plan your visit to the Academy Museum: http://www.academymuseum.org/visit Support the museum and become a member: https://www.academymuseum.org/en/membership *Follow Us on Social* Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/TheAcademyMuseum/ Twitter: https://twitter.com/academymuseum Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/academymuseum/

Curators Rhea Combs and Doris Berger, along with Academy Museum President and Director Jacqueline Stewart, discuss the history of race films. Between 1915 and 1948, more than 150 independent companies produced and distributed Black-cast movies, or “race films,” which offered an array of stories and roles for Black actors and were aimed at Black audiences. During this period, Black-owned production companies made melodramas, westerns, comedies, adventure films, and more. This video was produced in conjunction with the exhibition “Regeneration: Black Cinema 1898–1971.” "Regeneration: Black Cinema 1898–1971" explores the achievements and challenges of Black filmmakers in the US in independent production and within the studio system, both in front of the camera and behind it, from cinema’s infancy in the 1890s to the early 1970s. https://www.academymuseum.org/en/regeneration About the Academy Museum The Academy Museum of Motion Pictures is the largest museum in the United States devoted to the arts, sciences, and artists of moviemaking. Global in outlook and grounded in the unparalleled collections and expertise of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, the Academy Museum offers exceptional exhibitions, screenings, and programs that illuminate the world of cinema for film lovers of all ages. In addition to ongoing film series such as Family Matinees, Oscar® Sundays, Available Space, and Branch Selects, the museum also features limited series and spotlight screenings that explore specific exhibitions, film artists, genres, and more. Ongoing education and family programs include youth programs, family drop-in tours and workshops, and school tours. Monthly accommodative programs include ASL Interpreted Tours for our Deaf and hard of hearing communities, Visual Description Tours for our blind and partially sighted communities, and Calm Mornings with accommodative family film screenings for neurodivergent visitors. Connect with the Academy Museum Subscribe for our latest videos: http://www.academymuseum.org/videos Plan your visit to the Academy Museum: http://www.academymuseum.org/visit Support the museum and become a member: https://www.academymuseum.org/en/memb... Follow Us on Social Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/TheAcademyMu... Twitter: https://twitter.com/academymuseum Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/academymuseum/

The Regeneration Summit's opening panel invites the audience to take the lead as moderator. This audience-guided program will convene some of Black cinema’s leading voices to reflect on the big question, “What does Black cinema mean to you?” Audience members will collectively steer the direction of the discussion in real time using a live poll, creating an unpredictable journey of reflections on Black cinema. Featured panelists include film director Julie Dash; director and producer Charles Burnett; and President of Macro Film Studios James F. Lopez. The conversation will be guided by co-curator of REGENERATION: BLACK CINEMA 1898–1971 Rhea Combs. The panel will be presented in partnership with the Academy’s Black Caucus, the affinity group for Black Academy members. Finally, the experience will culminate with a special screening and spotlight presentation by the grandchildren of Fayard Nicholas and Cab Calloway. 0:00 - Livestream will begin shortly 3:07 - Livestream starts Regeneration Summit: A Celebration of Black Cinema is a three-day event presenting a variety of immersive experiences dedicated to celebrating and exploring the long history of Black participation in American cinema. Check out the full schedule: https://www.academymuseum.org/en/prog... Regeneration Summit is organized in conjunction with the exhibition REGENERATION: BLACK CINEMA 1898–1971 on view at the Academy Museum through July 16, 2023. More information at https://www.regenerationblackcinema.org REGENERATION: BLACK CINEMA 1898–1971 is the recipient of the 2018 Sotheby’s Prize. The exhibition is made possible in part by major grants from the National Endowment for the Humanities. Technology solutions generously provided by Christie®. Lead support provided by Campari® and J. P. Morgan Private Bank. *About the Academy Museum* The Academy Museum of Motion Pictures is the largest museum in the United States devoted to the arts, sciences, and artists of moviemaking. Global in outlook and grounded in the unparalleled collections and expertise of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, the Academy Museum offers exceptional exhibitions, screenings, and programs that illuminate the world of cinema for film lovers of all ages. In addition to ongoing film series such as Family Matinees, Oscar® Sundays, Available Space, and Branch Selects, the museum also features limited series and spotlight screenings that explore specific exhibitions, film artists, genres, and more. Ongoing education and youth programs include family and teen workshops, school tours, drop-in tours and in-gallery conversations. Monthly accommodative programs include ASL Interpreted Tours for our Deaf and hard of hearing communities, Visual Description Tours for our Blind and partially sighted communities, and Calm Mornings offers early gallery access, family workshops and accommodative family film screenings for neurodivergent visitors. *Connect with the Academy Museum* Subscribe for our latest videos: http://www.academymuseum.org/videos Plan your visit to the Academy Museum: http://www.academymuseum.org/visit Support the museum and become a member: https://www.academymuseum.org/en/membership *Follow Us on Social* Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/TheAcademyMuseum/ Twitter: https://twitter.com/academymuseum Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/academymuseum/

By the 1920s, Oklahoma was home to some 50 African-American towns, in addition to a large and prosperous black community living in the city of Tulsa. These towns and their self-reliant middle class and affluent residents are documented by the home movies of Reverend S. S. Jones, an itinerant minister and businessman. Known and respected by the citizens of the towns whose lives he captured on film, Rev. Jones’s work offers revealing glimpses of these communities as a haven for African Americans who very often faced discrimination elsewhere in America. The subjects are everyday life: a family on the front porch of their bungalow, shop workers at a storefront, farmers plowing their fields, children playing on seesaws in a schoolyard. Much of the material documents the economic life of the towns, from business districts filled with prosperous merchants to the homes of successful professionals, with an abundant countryside beyond. As Rhea Combs, curator of film and photography for the Smithsonian's National Museum of African American History and Culture, points out in her commentary, here we even find a married couple who were oil barons, proof of the extraordinary progress made in the relatively short time since the end of slavery. The fashions and hairstyles, automobiles and horses, and even such details as a man manually pumping gasoline at a filling station make the films a fascinating record of the lives of Americans, and African Americans in particular, in the early 20th century. ➡ Subscribe: http://bit.ly/NatGeoSubscribe About National Geographic: National Geographic is the world's premium destination for science, exploration, and adventure. Through their world-class scientists, photographers, journalists, and filmmakers, Nat Geo gets you closer to the stories that matter and past the edge of what's possible. Get More National Geographic: Official Site: http://bit.ly/NatGeoOfficialSite Facebook: http://bit.ly/FBNatGeo Twitter: http://bit.ly/NatGeoTwitter Instagram: http://bit.ly/NatGeoInsta Read more about the National Museum of African American History and Culture in "Black America’s Story, Told Like Never Before" http://www.nationalgeographic.com/magazine/2016/10/african-american-history-national-museum-smithsonian Rev. S. S. Jones Home Movie Collection 2011.79.1-9 Collection of the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture Gift of Naomi Long Madgett Interview with Rhea Combs Curator of Film and Photography Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture Rare 1920s Footage: All-Black Towns Living the American Dream | National Geographic https://youtu.be/1_dKmtCWWao National Geographic https://www.youtube.com/natgeo

The Smithsonian African American Film Festival was a multi-day cinematic experience celebrating African American visual culture and film. Attendees experienced historic films alongside contemporary works by some of the brightest emerging and veteran filmmakers including Barry Jenkins, Julie Dash, Adepero Oduye, Haile Gerima, Cauleen Smith, Kevin Jerome Everson, Bobitto Garcia, Bradford Young and more. Attendees also had the opportunity to network with filmmakers and talent of our more than 80 films. Events included Screenings of some the most iconic African American films from history and today, Post Screening Conversations with filmmakers and actors, Master Classes with industry experts, Exchanges with the opportunity to share ideas about film production and the archive of the moving image.