photo by steed media service

Len Gibson estimates that he has over 2,000 DVDs in his personal collection. The funny thing though, is that he feels that this number is exceedingly low for his profession. Along with business partner James Brown, Gibson is the co-founder of the African American Cinema Gallery, a traveling museum showcasing exhibits with “hidden information” on African American films, drama series, sitcoms and over 100 actors and actresses.

Touring various industry events, colleges, universities and festivals, the AACG’s influence is felt nationwide. After graduating from High Point University in 2000, Gibson worked with Spike Lee’s 40 Acres and a Mule Filmworks, while apprenticing with a traveling museum known as the Black Inventions Museum. Gibson’s love of film coupled with the idea of a mobile museum gave way to the AACG, whose mission is to expose people to the minor details in African American cinema history that translate into major influences on the macro-level today.

“A lot of people didn’t know that Hattie McDaniel had to sit at the back of the theater ... when she won the Academy Award because they [didn’t] want her sitting with her white counterparts in the audience,” Gibson shares. “Little things like that I think are important because it helps our youth to realize we came a long way, but we still got a long way to go.”

It’s the myriad of stories like these and cultural artifacts that make the AACG a crucial and growing educational force in the country. “I think if we weren’t out there sharing this information [the youth] wouldn’t get it, even though some of the information is in books, you’ve got to dig to find [it].” -gavin philip godfrey

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