Poitier Revisited Reconsidering a Black Icon in the Obama Age

Sidney Poitier remains one of the most recognizable black men in the world. Widely celebrated but at times criticized for the roles he played during a career that spanned 60 years, there can be no comprehensive discussion of black men in American film, and no serious analysis of 20th century American film history that excludes him. Poitier Revisited offers a fresh interrogation of the social, cultural and political significance of the Poitier oeuvre. The contributions explore the broad spectrum of critical issues summoned up by Poitier's iconic work as actor, director and filmmaker. Despite his stature, Poitier has actually been under-examined in film criticism generally. This work reconsiders his pivotal role in film and American race relations, by arguing persuasively, that even in this supposedly 'post-racial' moment of Barack Obama, the struggles, aspirations, anxieties, and tensions Poitier's films explored are every bit as relevant today as when they were first made.

Ian Gregory Strachan is Associate Professor of English at the College of The Bahamas. He is the author of Paradise and Plantation: Tourism and Culture in the Anglophone Caribbean (2002), and recently co-edited an issue of the University of Miami's journal of Caribbean studies, Anthurium dedicated to Bahamian literature. He has also recently contributed a chapter to Routledge's forthcoming anthology Black Cinema Reconsidered entitled "The Measure of Men: Legacies of Sidney Poitier's A Piece of the Action."

Mia Mask, Associate Professor of Film, received her Ph.D. from New York University. She teaches feminist film theory, African national cinemas, and various genre courses. She is the author of Divas on Screen: Black Women in American Film, which was featured on the radio program "Tell Me More."

Chapter One: 'Is There a Doctor in the House? Doctoring the Sometimes (in) Curable, (inter) Racialized Visual Space in No Way Out (1950)' -- Mark Reid, Professor of English, University of Florida,
Chapter Two: 'Can Sidney do the Nasty?: Sexing the Asexual in Poitier's Post-Integrationist Films' -- Ian Gregory Strachan, Associate Professor of English, The College of The Bahamas
Chapter Three: 'No Shafts, Super Flys, or Foxy Browns: Sidney Poitier's Uptown Saturday Night as Alternative to Blaxploitation Cinema' -- Novotny Lawrence, Assistant Professor, Southern Illinois University Carbondale
Chapter Four: 'Amherst, Sidney Poitier and the Psychology of Civil Rights' -- TreaAndrea Russworm, Assistant Professor, University of Massachusetts
Chapter Five: 'To Sir, With Love(1967): A Black British Perspective' -- Mark Christian, Professor of Sociology and Black World Studies, Miami University
Chapter Six: 'Caribbean All-Stars: Sidney Poitier, Harry Belafonte, and the Rise of the African-American Leading Man' --Belinda Edmondson, Associate Professor of English, Rutgers University,
Chapter Seven: 'Transcending Paul Poitier: Six Degrees of Separation and the Construction of Will Smith' --Willie Tolliver, Jr., Associate Professor of English, Agnes Scott College
Chapter Eight: 'Black Masculinity on Horseback: From Duel at Diablo to Buck and The Preacher . . . and beyond' --Mia Mask, Associate Professor of Film, Vassar College
Chapter Nine: 'Poitier Goes West: Race and Religion in Lilies of the Field' -- Joseph McClaren, Professor of English, Hofstra University,
Chapter Ten: 'Transgression or Legal Union?: The Meaning of Interracial Marriage in 1967 Film and Law"' -- Kim Warren, Assistant Professor, University of Kansas
Chapter Eleven: 'A Revolutionary Process: Sidney Poitier and Constructions of Blackness in Transnational Cinema, 1957-1964' -- Charles Gentry, University of Michigan
Chapter Twelve: 'Post-Soul Sidney: Poitier's Career Behind the Camera' -- Keith Corson, New York University