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A Guide to his Holdings at the Black Film Center/Archive

Finding aid prepared by Mary Huelsbeck/Hannah Caproon/Gabriel Gardner/Stacey Doyle

Summary Information

Repository
Black Film Center/Archive
1320 East Tenth Street
Herman B Wells Library, Room 044
Bloomington, IN 47405-7000
Phone: 812-855-6041
Fax: 812-856-5832
Email: bfca@indiana.edu
http://www.libraries.iub.edu/~bfca

Creator
William Miles

Title
William Miles Collection, Liberators: Fighting on Two Fronts in World War II, 1982-1997

Collection No.
Special Collection WM

Extent
18 items

Language
Materials are in English

Abstract
Materials relating to William Miles' 1992 documentary, Liberators: Fighting on Two Fronts in World War II .

Access Restrictions

This collection is open for research.

Biographical Note

William Miles, President of Miles Educational Film Productions Inc. has produced and directed numerous award-winning public television documentaries including I Remember Harlem, Men of Bronze , The Different Drummer: Blacks in the Military , and Black Champions.

William Miles' life's work is dedicated to exploring the history, culture and achievements of African Americans, from their arrival in America in the 16th century (depicted in his award-winning PBS series, I Remember Harlem ), to their achievements as astronauts and scientists (examined in his PBS special Black Stars in Orbit). A member of the Black Filmmakers Hall of Fame, Mr. Miles has also received the Lifetime Achievement Award from the Association for Independent Video and Filmmakers in acknowledgment of his outstanding contribution to the history of African Americans on film.

The only African American independent producer based at WNET/Thirteen in New York, Mr. Miles has produced fifteen films dedicated to African American history and achievement that have been broadcast nationwide as specials. Mr. Miles' films are based on in-depth historical research and are committed to the dissemination of history to a broad national audience on public television and educational institutions throughout the country. Mr. Miles, in cooperation with WNET, produces study guides to accompany his films, and actively participates in the films' distribution.

Miles spent three years researching material for I Remember Harlem , a four-hour special which traced Harlem's 350-year history, evoking one of America's most vibrant and volatile communities. As a visual counterpart to the oral histories in the film, Miles unearthed old photographs and motion picture films and newsreel footage, much of it rare and never before seen on television. In early 1982, one year after it was broadcast, I Remember Harlem won an Alfred I. Dupont-Columbia University Citation and an American Film Festival Award.

In 1977, Miles gained recognition with the debut of Men of Bronze at the New York Film Festival and its subsequent national public television airing later that year. The film won an American Film Festival Award and a CINE Golden Eagle Award in 1978. Men of Bronze is an emotional outpouring of memories and anecdotes, combined with treasured photos and footage, of the all-black 369th Infantry Regiment which fought under the French flag during the First World War.

Miles' penchant for creating historical documentaries was nurtured through twenty-five years of restoring archival films and early feature classics with Killiam Shows, Inc. and the Walter Reade Organization, Inc. His editing credits include the series called The Silent Years with Orson Welles and Lillian Gish, and Thomas Hardy's Wessex , a half-hour episode for the poetry series Anyone for Tennyson, which won a Chicago Film Festival Award in 1977.

In 1983, Miles produced The Different Drummer: Blacks in the Military . The three-part series, which aired on public television, illuminated the often-neglected history of black patriotism and involvement in America's military conflicts from Colonial times to the present. Miles received the D. Parke Gibson Award in Journalism and the 1984 CEBA Award for Excellence for his work on this series.

In 1986, Miles produced Paul Robeson: Man of Conscience for WNET/New York and Janus Films. This hour long documentary celebrated Paul Robeson the athlete, scholar, singer, actor and early activist against racial injustice. Miles also produced Black Champions, a three-part documentary mini-series, which was presented by WNET/New York on national television. The series provided a vivid account of black athletes and their accomplishments throughout the 20th Century.

William Miles is also the recipient of the American Association for State and Local History Award in 1978 and 1981, the Black Harlem Award, and the Blackfrica Promotions Award in 1981.

Miles co-produced James Baldwin: The Price of the Ticket , a 90-minute documentary aired on National PBS for American Masters in August 1989. Miles' next project was Black Stars in Orbit , the story of African American astronauts, which aired on PBS in February 1990.

In 1992, Miles co-directed and co-produced Liberators: Fighting on Two Fronts in World War II with Nina Rosenblum. This ninety minute documentary examines African American soldiers in World War II and their fight against racism in the military as well as at home. Liberators received a nomination in the Best Documentary Feature category at the 1993 Academy Awards and was awarded the IDA Award by the International Documentary Association in 1992.

Mr. Miles has also served as the official historian of the 369th Regiment Armory in Harlem, whose collection he organized and cataloged. His involvement with African American veterans' organizations and prior films on African Americans in the military has won the respect of military men and women and veterans, who look to him to honor and preserve their contributions to history.

William Miles is a member of the International Documentary Association, and is a member of the board of advisors for the National Black Programming Consortium, Production Partners for Black and Hispanic Images and Media Alliance.

Scope and Content Note

The William Miles Collection contains materials relating to William Miles' 1992 documentary, Liberators: Fighting on Two Fronts in World War II. The collection is arranged into two series: Videos and Miscellaneous. The Videos series contains fifteen 1/2" VHS videocassettes consisting of recorded material related to the film, such as interviews with and testimonials of members of the 761st Battalion, news segments, and screenings of the film itself. The Miscellaneous series is made up of one photograph (part of the BFCA's photograph collection), a military insignia medal, and an audio interview with several Liberators.

For a detailed inventory of each video, please ask the archives' staff.

Administrative Information

• Indexing Terms

• The following terms have been used to index the description of this collection. Materials about related topics, persons or places can be found by searching the catalog using these terms.

• • Topics
  • African American motion picture producers and directors
  • African American veterans
  • Documentary films--United States
  • World War, 1939-1945--African Americans
  • World War, 1939-1945--Medals
  • World War, 1939-1945--Concentration camps -Germany--Buchenwald
  • World War, 1939-1945--Concentration camps -Germany--Dachau

Collection Inventory

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