Speculative Film and Moving Images by or about Black Women and Girls: Watch It! (PB) (2026)

Speculative Film and Moving Images by or about Black Women and Girls: Watch It! examines depictions of African-descended women and girls in 20th and 21st-century filmmaking.

Topics include a discursive analysis of stereotypes; roles garnered by Halle Berry, the only Black woman to receive an Oscar for Best Actress in a Leading Role; the promise of characters, relationships, and scripts found in works ranging from Altered Carbon, Lovecraft Country, and HBO's Watchmen series; and a closing chapter that considers the legacy of Black women in horror.

Jeffrey-Legette illustrates the ways in which recent texts explore the trauma endured by people of African descent in the United States of America in evocative ways. In doing so, she provides a compelling interpretation of prevalent, well-received, and recurring images of Black women and girls in American popular culture.