So what is blaxploitation and how is relevant to film history? According webster it is the exploitation of blacks by black producers. When put in those words it makes the genre seem scathing but when broken down further exploitation films are generally low budget films that focus on a particular niche or audience and this genre tends to focus on the black community although other races enjoy this genre as well. One of the reasons why I think this genre is important is because up until this point in history blacks had been forced to act inparts that were demeaning and were usually subservient to whites with the exception a few actors and actresses like Sydney Poitier, Bill Cosby, and Dorothy Dandridge. They were many black stereotypes including the sambo, the picininee, the Uncle Tome and Mammy. According to Delgaudio contributor to Jumpcut.org "The Mammy has persisted as one of the few recurring images of black women on the screen. The strength of the stereotype has been greatly reinforced by the powerful iconography of her physical image, the recognizable character traits, the customary position of socio-economic dependency, and the consistently reappearing personae of such familiar black actresses as Hattie McDaniel and Louise Beavers."Hattie McDaniel the first African-American to win an Academy Award (who was not even allowed to attend the Academy awards at that time) claim to fame was for the role of a sassy but motherly house slave was pinnacle of what blacks could hope for several years in film. With the introduction of Blaxploitation films you begin to see black people as heroic characters who have a thirst for justice and take massive action to get it.