This is a collection of original vintage scripts for films with African American casts or with notable African American actors featured. These are original studio-generated scripts, with the earlier ones being mainly mimeographs. The collection contains much unpublished material, with earlier drafts of screenplays prior to film or television release. Many notable individual films are represented, as are important genres of film such as the Blaxploitation movies of the 1970s and the hip-hop films of the 1980s and 1990s. An array of African American actors, writers, and directors are represented, among them: Denzel Washington, Morgan Freeman, Eddie Murphy, Richard Pryor, Sammy Davis, Jr., Bill Cosby, Lena Home, Whoopi Goldberg, Sidney Poitier, Diana Ross, Halle Berry, Lonne Elder III, Gregory Hines, Eddie "Rochester" Anderson, and Will Smith. The scripts range from 1942 to 2003.