American Icons: Shaft
American Icons: “Shaft”
This is a new American hero.
It’s been 46 years since Richard Roundtree stepped out of a subway entrance to the Oscar-winning sounds of Isaac Hayes– and changed American movie-making. The box-office success of “Shaft,” about a fiercely independent, courageous, and sexy private eye, led to an explosion of black action B-movies, and crystallized a version of black macho cool that hadn’t been shown on the big screen before. And it was all put together by one of the most important American photographers of the mid-20th century, Gordon Parks. The story of Shaft is told by those that made the movie, and those they inspired.
American Icons: Shaft was produced by Tracie Hunte and Daniel Guillemette.
Special thanks to: The Gordon Parks Foundation, Daniel “Dapper Dan” Day, Jelani Day, David Walker, Alan Rinzler, Telma Hopkins, Sophia Chang, and Tam Ridley.
The story you just read is accessible and free to all because thousands of listeners and readers contribute to our nonprofit newsroom. We go deep to bring you the human-centered international reporting that you know you can trust. To do this work and to do it well, we rely on the support of our listeners. If you appreciated our coverage this year, if there was a story that made you pause or a song that moved you, would you consider making a gift to sustain our work through 2024 and beyond?