Black Is . . . Black Ain’t

Made with an urgency imparted by the knowledge that he was nearing the end of his life, Marlon Riggs’s final film—completed by a group of his devoted collaborators after his death of AIDS-related illnesses—is a wide-ranging consideration of a question that had long been central to his work: What does it mean to be Black? Using his grandmother’s gumbo recipe as a metaphor for the diversity of the African American experience, Riggs travels the country, seeking insights from leading thinkers like Angela Davis, Henry Louis Gates Jr., bell hooks, Barbara Smith, and Cornel West, as well as everyday people—young and old, rich and poor, rural and urban, gay and straight—all grappling with the numerous, often contested definitions of Blackness that have shaped their lives. Punctuated by footage of a dying Riggs directing his crew and delivering parting wisdom from his hospital bed, Black Is . . . Black Ain’t breaks down the divides of class, colorism, patriarchy, and homophobia as it issues a stirring appeal for unity.