Coonskin
Artist: Ralph Bakshi
Year: 1975
Date of Action: November 1974
Region: North America
Subject: Political/Economic/Social Opinion
Medium: Film Video
Confronting Bodies: Congress for Racial Equality (CORE)
Description of Artwork: Cinema
The Incident: "Coonskin was screened for the first time at the Museum of Modern Art, and a controversy exploded. While many members of that audience responded enthusiastically, several leaders of the Harlem chapter of the Congress for Racial Equality (CORE) vehemently attacked the film during a question‐and‐answer session with Bakshi."
"The key question seems to be whether the film is racist."
Results of Incident: "CORE mounted an intensive campaign to stop the film's release—a campaign that included picketing the New York headquarters of Gulf and Western, the conglomerate that owns Paramount Pictures, which had put up the money for “Coonskin.” At length, Paramount decided not to distribute the film."
Source:
• https://www.nytimes.com/1975/07/20/archives/the-campaign-to-suppress-coonskin-it-depicts-blacks-as-slaves.html,
• https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0071361/
