Coffee Coloured Children

Abstract: 'Coffee Coloured Children' is a powerful exploration of the impact of cultural pressure on self-image. Based on the daily experience of mixed-race children, the narrator recalls the pain and confusion of her own childhood spent in an all-white neighborhood with a white mother and an absent black father. The work opens with a video essay showing adults and children of many ethnicities interacting harmoniously to an upbeat and soulful song with a chorus about 'coffee-colored people.' Through narration by her and her brother and dramatization, Onwurah relays incidents from her own childhood. She recounts the brutal and racist vandalization of her apartment. In reenactments, she is seen making up her face with white makeup and scrubbing her body in the bathtub with chemical abrasives. At the close of the piece, she and her brother stand in front of a fire, burning symbolic mementos of their pain and confusion over their own physical identities. 'Melting pot,' she asks, 'or incinerator? 'The work is approximately 16 and one-half minutes long and was broadcast as a segment of episode 604 (1990), and episode 102 (1991), of 'New Television.' Produced by Ngozi A. Onwurah and Simon Onwurah. Directed by Ngozi A. Onwurah.

Details

Additional Information