Netflix’s trailer for Oscar-winning director Roger Ross Williams’ Stamped From the Beginning features clips of female scholars discussing the connection between the United States’ history of racism and the history of power. The documentary based on Dr. Ibram X. Kendi’s bestselling book will premiere on November 10, 2023 in select theaters, followed by a release on the streaming service on November 20.
“When we started looking at historians and scholars, we came up with a long list. I noticed the pattern that most of the people doing the work around racism in America were Black women,” stated director Williams (Cassandro, The Super Models) in an interview on Netflix’s Tudum. “I asked them in pre-interviews, ‘Why do you do this work?’ And many of them said the same thing — that they had no choice. This was their experience and their life. And if they’re going to dedicate their life to something, it’s going to be about changing and understanding racism in America because they can’t escape racism in America. I said to everyone, ‘We’re going to have only Black women in this film.’ It was an important statement to make.”
Williams added: “This is about power and the few clinging to power and using it at the expense of Black Americans. This isn’t just a film for Black Americans. This is a film for all Americans, for the whole world. And hopefully it brings people together and leads people on a path of antiracism and healing.”
Roger Ross Williams, Alisa Payne, and David Teague serve as producers. Geoff Martz, Mara Brock Akil, Susie Fitzgerald, and Dr. Ibram X. Kendi executive produce.
Netflix offered this description of the documentary:
“Published in 2016, Dr. Kendi’s National Book Award winner chronicles the entire story of anti-Black racist ideas and their staggering power over the course of American history. Williams’ documentary adaptation uses an innovative animation process that blends live action with the art of the era to illuminate figures and moments both well-known and obscure, both historical and contemporary. Leading female academics and activists such as Dr. Angela Davis, Honorée Fanonne Jeffers, Brittany Packnett Cunningham, Dr. Jennifer L. Morgan, and Dr. Kendi guide viewers through a searing account of how racist tropes and imagery were developed and enshrined in American culture.”
