Contents -- Preface -- Acknowledgments -- Introduction -- CHAPTER ONE: The Pathmakers: Gordon Parks, Melvin Van Peebles -- CHAPTER TWO: The Visionary Actors: Ossie Davis, Sidney Poitier -- CHAPTER THREE: Black Urban Action Films and Mainstream Images: Gordon Parks Jr., Ivan Dixon, Fred Williamson, Hugh A. Robertson, Ron O'Neal, Gilbert Moses, Raymond St. Jacques -- CHAPTER FOUR: Black Sensibilities and Mainstream Images: Berry Gordy Jr., Stan Lathan, Jamaa Fanaka -- CHAPTER FIVE: Michael Schultz: The Crossover King -- CHAPTER SIX: Spike Lee: The Independent Auteur -- CHAPTER SEVEN: Keeping It Real (Reel): Black Dramatic Visions: Charles Burnett, John Singleton, Matty Rich, Mario Van Peebles, Ernest Dickerson, Albert and Allen Hughes, Doug McHenry, David Clark Johnson, Preston A. Whitmore II, Tim Reid, Robert Patton-Spruill, Darin Scott, Hype Williams -- CHAPTER EIGHT: And Still They Rise: Black Women Directors: Euzhan Palcy, Julie Dash, Leslie Harris, Darnell Martin, Kasi Lemmons, Millicent Shelton, Troy Beyer, Cheryl Dunye, Maya Angelou -- CHAPTER NINE: Not without Laughter: Directors of Comedy and Romance: Oz Scott, Topper Carew, Richard Pryor, Prince, Robert Townsend, Eddie Murphy, Keenen Ivory Wayans, Wendell B. Harris Jr., Reginald Hudlin, Martin Lawrence, Theodore Witcher, George Tillman, Kevin Rodney Sullivan, Christopher Scott Cherot -- CHAPTER TEN: Off the Hook: Comedy and Romance with a Hip-Hop Flavor: Reginald Hudlin, James Bond III, George Jackson/Doug McHenry, Rusty Cundieff, F. Gary Gray, Paris Barclay, Lionel C. Martin, Ice Cube -- CHAPTER ELEVEN: Redefining Crossover Films: Kevin Hooks, Bill Duke, Carl Franklin, Thomas Carter, Forest Whitaker, F. Gary Gray, Antoine Fuqua -- Filmography -- Notes -- Glossary -- Bibliography -- Index.