NORMAN KELLEY
In 2013, Norman Kelley produced and directed the documentary, “How Washington Really Works: Charlie Peters & the Washington Monthly,” which was shown on public television.
Before that he was a freelance journalist, author, and former segment producer at WBAI 99.5 FM Pacifica Radio (NYC), Norman Kelley is the author of the Black Heat (Amistad), The Big Mango (Akashic Books), and A Phat Death (Akashic), as well as editing and contributing to R&B (Rhythm and Business): The Political Economy of Black Music (Akashic Books). The Head Negro in Charge Syndrome: The Dead End of Black Politics (Nation Books, 2004) is his fifth book.
A native of Washington, D. C., he attended the University of the District of Columbia (formerly Federal City College), New York University, and received his B.A. degree in Politics and Media from Empire State College in 1991.
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He's currently working on a film, The Darker the Berry, and has investigated the lack of films about DC: No Films, No Representation.
ROGUE'S GALLERY
MY LATEST PROJECTS
Nina Halligan, Private Detective is a filmic take on
private investigator who appears in three novels: Black Heat, The Big Mango and A Phat Death. This trailer is a fan-fiction fantasy that features Emayatzy Corinealdi as Nina.
This rough-cut demo video is part of a future feature length documentary, The N-word Project: America's Verboten Word; it examines the origin of the word "nigger," and how blackface minstrelsy manufactured the concept of "the nigger." This section also examines how slavery, via forced indoctrination, such as whippings, compelled blacks to accept the status of being a "nigger."
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The Darker the Berry is the story of Tisha McInness, a dark rose, whose exquisitely dark complexion exposes other people's problem that aren't her own. Above is a trailer about the project.