Claudine (1974) is a romantic comedy with a social conscience starring Diahann Carroll (who earned an Oscar nomination for her performance), James Earl Jones, and Lawrence Hilton-Jacobs. Praised for showing a new dimension in Black cinema during the height of blaxploitation, Claudine deftly balances warm humor with a serious look at the myriad issues — from cycles of poverty to the indignities of the welfare system — that shape its characters’ realities. The result is an empathetic chronicle of both Black working-class struggle and Black joy, a bittersweet, bighearted celebration of family and community set to a sunny soul soundtrack composed by Curtis Mayfield and performed by Gladys Knight & the Pips.

Before the film, series host Dr. Birgitta Johnson is joined by Dr. Ashley S. Young, assistant professor of film and media studies in the School of Visual Art and Design at the University of South Carolina, for a short discussion about Diahann Carroll and the role of music in the film. Dr. Young is a scholar of race and media with an emphasis on African American film and television.

Free with membership or admission. Part of More Than Rhythm’s month-long Celebration of Soul.

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Presented by the Baker & Baker Foundation. This program has been made possible in part by the National Endowment for the Humanities: Democracy demands wisdom. This program is supported by the Friends of African American Art & Culture and Love, Tito\’s.