Sidney Poitier remains one of the most recognizable black men in the world. Widely celebrated but at times criticized for the roles he played during a career that spanned 60 years, there can be no comprehensive discussion of black men in American film, and no serious analysis of 20th century American film history that excludes him. Poitier Revisited offers a fresh interrogation of the social, cultural and political significance of the Poitier oeuvre. The contributions explore the broad spectrum of critical issues summoned up by Poitier's iconic work as actor, director and filmmaker. Despite his stature, Poitier has actually been under-examined in film criticism generally. This work reconsiders his pivotal role in film and American race relations, by arguing persuasively, that even in this supposedly 'post-racial' moment of Barack Obama, the struggles, aspirations, anxieties, and tensions Poitier's films explored are every bit as relevant today as when they were first made.

List of FiguresAcknowledgementsNotes on ContributorsIntroduction1 Walking with Kings: Poitier, King, and Obama Aram Goudsouzian, University of Memphis, USA2 Historicizing the Shadows and Acts: No Way Out and the Imagining of Black Activist Communities Ryan De Rosa, Los Angeles Public Schools, USA3 Caribbean All-Stars: Sidney Poitier, Harry Belafonte, and the Rise of the African-American Leading Man Belinda Edmondson, Professor of English and African-American & African Studies, USA4 "Draggin' the Chain": Linking Civil Rights and African American Representation in The Defiant Ones and In the Heat of the NightEmma Hamilton and Troy Saxby, University of Newcastle, Australia5 Whisper Campaign on Catfish Row: Sidney Poitier and Porgy and Bess Jeff Smith, University of Wisconsin-Madison, USA6 To Sir, With Love: A Black British PerspectiveMark Christian, Lehman College, USA 7 Transgression or Legal Union?: The Meaning of Interracial Marriage in 1967 Film and LawKim Warren, University of Kansas, USA8 A Blues the Tom: Sidney Poitier's Filmic Sexual IdentitiesIan Gregory Strachan, College of The Bahamas, Bahamas9 Black Masculinity on Horseback: From Duel at Diablo to Buck and the Preacher and beyondMia Mask, Vassar College, USA10 Stepping Behind the Camera: Sidney Poitier's Directorial CareerKeith Corson, Rhodes College and Memphis College of Art, USA11 No Shafts, Super Flys, or Foxy Browns: Sidney Poitier's Uptown Saturday Night as Alternative to Blaxploitation Cinema"Novotny Lawrence, Southern Illinois University-Carbondale, USA12 Transcending Paul Poitier: Six Degrees of Separation and the Construction of Will SmithWillie Tolliver, Jr., Agnes Scott College, USA