Initiatives

FADE to BLACK: The Dr. Elizabeth Amelia Hadley Memorial Film Series

FADE to BLACK is a film screening series hosted by the Department of African American Studies (DAAS). The series is named for Dr. Elizabeth Amelia Hadley (1950-2007), a former DAAS faculty member whose passion for and expertise in the areas of cinema, women’s studies, theater and music literature touched and enlightened her students and colleagues at Northeastern University and beyond. Hired to Northeastern in Fall of 1989 as a fulltime lecturer, Dr. Hadley was promoted to the rank of Assistant Professor in January of 1991 and remained at that rank until her departure from the university in 1997. Dr. Hadley authored the book, Bessie Coleman: The Brownskin Lady Bird. She was the recipient of a Rockefeller Foundation Humanities Fellow in Feminism and Visual Culture at the Susan B. Anthony Center for Women's and Gender Studies at the University of Rochester and was a Fulbright Professor in the Departments of Literature and Drama at Kenyatta University in Nairobi, Kenya. Dr. Hadley’s work in the area of film led her to teach at a variety of institutions including: Boston College, Boston University, Dennison University, Indiana University, Lasell College and Wheelock College. Her extremely popular courses including: Black Contemporary Film, Ethnic/Racial Film Stereotypes, Advanced Directing Techniques, The Black Performer in American Film, The Black Experience through Film and African and African American Drama.

Designed to provide a platform to view and discuss a variety of films by and about the Black experience throughout the African Diaspora, as well as to showcase original student films, FADE to BLACK is open to all students, staff, faculty members and alumni.