| Still a Brother: Inside the Negro Middle Class | |
|---|---|
| Directed by | William Greaves |
| Written by | William B. Branch, William Greaves |
| Narrated by | Ossie Davis |
| Edited by | William Greaves |
Production company | |
Release date |
|
Running time | 90 min |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
Still a Brother: Inside the Negro Middle Class is a 1968 documentary film directed by William Greaves.[1]
Still a Brother was written by William B. Branch and directed by William Greaves. It was narrated by Ossie Davis.[2]
After the film was finished, Greaves encountered difficulty in convincing National Educational Television (NET) to air it, saying that "They had expected an Ebony magazine kind of film."[3]: 93 It aired on NET a few weeks after the assassination of Martin Luther King Jr. in April 1968.[4]
The documentary featured interviews from Black middle-class professionals across a wide variety of careers. It emphasizes Black dignity and achievement.[4] The film sought to contrast their experiences with the experiences of both Black radicals and white middle-class professionals; and describe a situation in which the Black middle class are reaching economic security but without social equity or equality.[4][5] The film also touches on issues with housing, the role of religion in Black nationalism, and the rise of African-American culture.[6]
Horace Wesley Morris, associate director of the New York Urban League (NYUL) is featured.[7] Also appearing in the film are John H. Johnson, president of Johnson Publishing Co; Robert E. Johnson, editor of Jet magazine; Cathy Aldridge of the New York Amsterdam News; St. Clair Drake, sociologist and professor at Roosevelt University; Ralph Featherstone of SNCC; Julian Bond, Georgia legislator; Bayard Rustin, director of the A. Philip Randolph Institute; Percy Julian, a research chemist and millionaire; and Nathan Wright, Episcopal Minister and organizer of the 1967 Newark Black Power Conference.[8][9]
Still a Brother was positively received upon release. Jack Gould, writing in The New York Times, praised the construction of the documentary but criticized the repetition of some points.[10]
The film ran 90 minutes but it was later edited down into a 60 minute piece and re-aired in 1969. In 1969, Greaves was nominated for an Emmy Award for his work Still a Brother,[1] which also won the Blue Ribbon Award at the American Film Festival.[11][12]
A few years later a television documentary film called, "To Be Black" aired on ABC, which also explored the Black middle class.[4]
