Jacqueline Frazier
Shipley Street (1981)
From L.A. Rebellion: Creating a New Black Cinema (1971-2006)
YEAR: 1981 FORMAT: 16mm, color
A construction worker, frustrated with his inability to get ahead, decides with his wife to send their daughter to an all-white Catholic school, where the girl is confronted with harsh discipline and racist attitudes. Jacqueline Frazier’s film neatly encapsulates the unthinking, everyday racism of white institutions and their trafficking of offensive racial stereotypes, paying particular attention to their effects on young children. —Jan-Christopher Horak