Daughters of the Dust

Dir: Julie Dash, 1991

NR 113 min.

With Cora Lee Day, Alva Rogers, Cheryl Lynn Bruce, Adisa Anderson, and Kaycee Moore

"We stay behind on this island growing older, wiser, stronger."

Julie Dash’s poetic film overlays past, present, and future possibilities for the Peazant family on Ibo Landing -- a Gullah community off of the South Carolina mainland -- as they gather for a picnic in 1902. As the majority of the family prepares to migrate North, modern realities face the long-standing traditions of their West African roots. Debuting thirty years at the Sundance Film Festival, artist Arthur Jafa won that year’s Excellence in Cinematography Award. With this debut, Dash would become the first African American woman to have a feature-length film in a wide theatrical release. A now-classic of American cinema, add Daughters of the Dust to your list of Black History Month