The Black Kungfu Experience
From Blaxploitation cinema in the 1970s to hip-hop and reggae iconography, the martial art of kungfu provides a vital subtext for the modern African American cultural experience.
Series
APT Presentation
Premiere Date
February 1, 2013
Length
60 minutes
Funding Type
Meet kungfu’s black pioneers and heroes who fluorished at the junction of African American and Asian cultures. The Black Kungfu Experience traces the rise of black kungfu in the United States in the 1960s and 1970s, and resonates in the contemporary martial arts scene in Washington D.C, Los Angeles, The Virgin Islands, Jamaica, and Hong Kong. Chinese and African American experiences evolve differently yet converge in unexpected ways; they challenge political and social persecution – from shadows of the Qing government’s oppressive rule in China, and British colonialism in Hong Kong, to entrenched American racism – with the unique vehicle of kungfu.
The film focuses on how a group of African American pioneers became respected masters in a subculture dominated by Chinese and white men. Their stories illustrate how kungfu was – and still is – a unique crucible of the black experience, which is less about flash and style, kicks and punches, than it is about community, identity, and cross-cultural bridges.