As usual, a few big blockbusters have made the cut.
The three-minute clip, of a Ringling Bros circus parading through a prosperous Black neighborhood in Indianapolis, is a rare cinematic glimpse of a real African-American community from this era.
It’s an aviation romance now thought to have helped inspire the Tuskegee Airmen and, was part of a “thriving African American movie culture during the 1920s, ’30s and ’40s,” adds historian Jacqueline Stewart, chair of the National Film Preservation Board.
Displayed in fairgrounds and churches, it follows a train, conducted by Satan himself, with each car devoted to a sin, such as gambling and adultery.
One relatively recent classic is the 1997 film Selena, which gave us Jennifer Lopez in her first major role as Tejana megastar Selena Quintanilla-Pérez.