Fredi washington: BREAKING THE BONDS OF THE TRAGIC MULATTO

BEHIND THE SCENES

This documentary was created as an assignment for my Historical Documentary class during my senior year of college. We were instructed to research and create a documentary on a change-maker from the Hartford area.

 

I interviewed two experts for this documentary. Dr. Carol Stabile is a media historian and a professor of Women's Gender and Sexuality Studies at the University of Oregon. Dr. Stabile has written content on Washington and coedited a collection of Washington's journalistic writing. 

 

The second interviewee, Professor Dakota Nanton, is a documentary filmmaker, visual artist, and animator,  as well as a professor at the University of Hartford. Professor Nanton is well-versed in issues of colorism in the film industry.

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PLOT SUMMARY​

This documentary explores the change-maker Fredi Washington, who was a black actress, writer, dancer, and singer, best known for her acting roles in the films The Imitation of Life (1934), Black and Tan Fantasy (1929), and The Emperor Jones (1933).

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Because of her mixed race, Washington had a unique experience in the film industry during the 1920s and 1930s. As a black woman with a white complexion, Washington frequently found herself playing the role of the Tragic Mulatto, which is a stereotypical mixed-race person who is assumed to be depressed because they fail to completely fit in with the “white world” or the “black world.” This is most apparent in Washington’s role as Peola in The Imitation of Life.

 

Washington brought a new conception of Black women to the film industry. Although she appeared to be white on the outside, Washington says she felt Black on the inside and refused to turn her back on that part of herself. For this reason, she was very involved with the Civil Rights Movement and she embraced the Black culture, even when studio heads promised her that she would become a bigger star by passing for fully white.