UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, IRVINE (Neo) liberal Re-writings of Black Radical Memory in Television Documentary: 1989-1995 DISSERTATION submitted in partial satisfaction of the requirements for the degree of DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY in Visual Studies by Mary C. Schmitt Dissertation Committee: Associate Professor Allison Perlman, Chair Associate Professor Bridget Cooks Assistant Professor Sohail Daulatzai 2019 Parts of chapter two were published as “By Any Means Necessary” A Neoliberal Sound Byte?: The Memory of Malcolm X in the 1990s CBS Documentary Malcolm X: The Real Story” Black Camera, Volume 9, Number 2, Spring 2018, pp. 10-32 (Article). No part of it may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, transmitted, or distributed in any form, by any means, electronic, mechanical, photographic, or otherwise, without the prior permission of Indiana University Press. For education reuse, please contact the Copyright Clearance Center http://www.copyright.com/. For all other permissions, contact IU Press at http://iupress.indiana.edu/rights/.” © 2019 Mary C. Schmitt DEDICATION To All the Freedom Fighters of the past, present, and future. ii TABLE OF CONTENTS Page ACKNOWLEDGMENTS iv CURRICULUM VITAE vi ABSTRACT OF THE DISSERTATION vii INTRODUCTION 1 CHAPTER 1: Eyes on the Prize 34 CHAPTER 2: Malcolm X 86 CHAPTER 3: Black Panther Party 149 CONCLUSION 214 BIBLIOGRAPHY 241 FILMOGRAPHY 248 iii ACKNOWLEDGMENTS Being a first-generation college student, the journey from community college to graduate school has been one filled with bewilderment, adventure, and revelation. A spark that was lit within me twenty years ago would grow and be sustained over time, and I would move from an abstract love for learning to an understanding of knowledge and education as a political tool for resistance and liberation. This journey would not have been possible without the many different souls who encourageD and guided me along the way. I would like to acknowledge my Ph.D. Program in Visual Studies where this journey would be elevated, and I would be encouraged and able to develop the ideas of this dissertation. The VS Program allowed me to explore a set of questions and curiosities that would be deeply complicated over my tenure. I was afforded the opportunity to expand my knowledge and redirect my project to a more radical, materially-based study of race and representation. Though there were many professors, colleagues, and friends involved in this process, no one was more vital than my primary advisor Allison Perlman. At the most pivotal moments in the dissertation process, Allison supported and mentored me with a level of generosity, brilliance, and rigor that graduate students could only hope for. I am so grateful to have Allison as a model for the kind of scholar and mentor I aspire to be. I am also deeply indebted to the mentorship and intellectual brilliance of my committee members, Sohail Daulatzai and Bridget Cooks. Sohail’s scholarship and teaching have transformed me as a political being and are foundational to this dissertation and my future as a scholar/educator/activist. Bridget’s style of teaching, mentorship, and research will always serve as a model, and I am forever grateful for the kindness and support she has provided me, especially in the very formative stages of my graduate career. Many more important mentors, colleagues, and friends must be acknowledged for their role in shaping this project and helping me to become a better scholar, educator, and human being. I’d like to acknowledge Ngugi wa Thiong’o, Bliss Cua Lim, Jamie Nisbet, Tiffany Willoughby- Herard, Kristen Hatch, Victoria Johnson, Fatimah Tobing-Rony, Braxton Soderman, and Catherine Liu; I am thankful for the knowledge, guidance, and support provided throughout the years. I woulD also like to thank the administrative team in the Visual Studies program: Eva Yonas, Beth Pace, Matthew McCabe, and Clara Quijano. This group has been vital to my survival in grad school; a special mention to Clara whose amazing energy and support helped to sustain me in both exciting and difficult moments. Another special mention must be made to the most amazing graduate cohort in the history of my world: Shane Breitenstein, Kayleigh Perloff, and Graham Eng-Wilmot. There are no words for how grateful I am for these friendships. My project, among many other things, is better because of them. In addition, I’d like to acknowledge the support of many institutions and persons who made this project possible. UCI’s Graduate Division awarded me the Graduate Dean’s Dissertation Fellowship for the 2018-2019 academic year, which alloweD me the time during the Fall quarter to work on the dissertation without employment. I’d also like to thank the international journal Black Camera for allowing me to reProduce work from the article I published in 2018. Moreover, I would like to send my deepest thanks to KQED, Inc. in San Francisco and, in iv particular, to Robert Chehoski, KQED’s archival manager, for allowing me access to their very important documentary Black Power, Black Panthers. Finally, I’d like to thank UCI’s former Visual Studies librarian Emilee Matthews for her assistance in helping me to access archival materials central to this dissertation. Friends, old and new, deserve special acknowledgement for the sustaining and myriad types of support they’ve provided. Maggie Dethloff has been an amazing confidante and dissertation- writing partner; I cannot thank her enough for the caring and thoughtful conversations we’ve had about our work and our lives. My new friend and family member, Jim Gaszynski, deserves special mention for his role in keeping me connecteD to family throughout this process and for always being curious and ready for spiriteD conversations. A shout-out to my core group of Chicago women who always had my back throughout my life and encouraged me to pursue my dreams. Heather Watts is the reason I even went to college. Becky Schramm’s confidence in me warded off my doubts and fears. Christy Nguyen inspired me to always learn, evolve, and push beyond myself. Lisa Clark (and Tommy) have shown me love and joy that rejuvenate me. Finally, I’d like to also acknowledge my union comrades and thank them for teaching me the beauty and struggle of grassroots organizing and the strength of collective power. My parents, Darlene and Mike Schmitt, are my roots and part of everything I do. They’re unconditional love has created the foundation for my commitment to make a better world and stand on the side of justice. My brother is my forever-hero, who has been there for me through the best and the worst and deserves a special thanks for answering many random calls about film history (when I’m supposed to be the expert). My sister-in-law is my she-ro, whose spirit and intellect keeps me on my toes and who also deserves recognition for always lending her ear and advice about nearly everything. My nePhews are the light that drives my purpose; everything I do is for the world I dream of leaving them. Through it all, and in every way, there is one person whose love, generosity, and spirit has sustained me through the process of writing the dissertation and eight years of graduate school. Richard Gaszynski, my partner in life, has been there day-in, day-out to listen to my struggles and experience my triumphs. He has lent me his ear and mind to work through the most critical arguments of my research. He has supported my political, educational, and spiritual transformations. All the while, he has made life more fun and more beautiful than I’ve ever imagineD. This dissertation is as much his as it is mine. v CURRICULUM VITAE Mary C. Schmitt 2004 B.A. Art History, University Honors, University of Illinois, Chicago 2009 M.A. Humanities, University of Chicago M.A. Thesis: “Disavowing Race Affectively in the film The Pursuit of Happyness” 2009- Adjunct Faculty, Roosevelt University, Chicago, IL 2011 Liberal Studies I & II, Art and Urban Life 246 2012- Online Instructor, Trident University International 2013 Western Art History 2015 Part-time Faculty, Irvine Valley College, Irvine Literature and Film Adaptation 2015- Teaching Associate, University of California, Irvine 2016 Humanities Core Program 2017 Instructor of Record, University of California, Irvine Introduction to Film Analysis 2018 State-wide Field Organizer, UC Student Workers Union (UAW 2865) 2019 Ph.D. Visual Studies, University of California, Irvine Dissertation Thesis: (Neo) liberal Re-writings of Black Radical Memory in Television Documentary: 1989-1995 FIELD OF STUDY Race, Film and Media, Cultural Memory, Radical Politics PUBLICATIONS 2018 “By Any Means Necessary” A Neoliberal Sound Byte? The Memory of Malcolm X in the 1990s CBS Documentary Malcolm X: The Real Story.” Black Camera: An International Film Journal 9, no. 2 (Spring 2018): 10-32. vi ABSTRACT OF THE DISSERTATION (Neo) liberal Re-writings of Black Radical Memory in Television Documentary: 1989-1995 By Mary C. Schmitt Doctor of Philosophy in Visual Studies University of California, Irvine, 2019 Associate Professor Allison Perlman, Chair This dissertation examines the operations and impact of racial liberalism on popular memory texts of Black liberation history of the 1960s and 1970s. Specifically, I investigate the ways liberal racial discoursces from the late-1980s to miD-1990s depoliticize the most radical elements of the Black Freedom Struggle and refashion this history to fit within liberal narratives of American progress and exceptionalism. The central ideological sites analyzed in this dissertation are broadcast television documentaries that aired from the years 1987 to 1995. The first chapter analyzes the Black Freedom Struggle more broadly as it is portrayed in the PBS television series Eyes on the Prize: America’s Civil Rights Years.