Juanita Moore started her acting career in the early ’50s, a time during which very few Black actresses were given roles of substance in major-studio films.
Fortunately, Juanita’s roles began improving as Hollywood tentatively developed a social consciousness toward the end of the decade. In 1959, she received an Academy Award nomination for her performance in Imitation of Life (1959), a glossy updating of a once-controversial Fannie Hurst novel about racial inequity.
Within the next decade Hollywood underwent several sociological upheavals, and Juanita Moore was one of the beneficiaries; she became a fixture in Blaxploitation films of the ’70s. She appeared in the following films:
Uptight 1969 is from the collection of The Museum of UnCut Funk
The Skin Game 1971 is from the collection of The Museum of UnCut Funk
The Mack 1973 is from the collection of The Museum of UnCut Funk
Fox Style 1973
Thomasine and Bushrod 1974 is from the collection of The Museum of UnCut Funk
The Zebra Killer 1974 is from the collection of The Museum of UnCut Funk
Abby 1974 is from the collection of The Museum of UnCut Funk
The Museum of UnCut Funk salutes Juanita Moore, a Blaxploitation Icon.
