As one who loves literature, art, music and history, I've been deeply rooted in the Harlem Renaissance for many years.

As one who loves literature, art, music and history, I've been deeply rooted in the Harlem Renaissance for many years.

There are some scenes that work beautifully in a moving, sweeping master, which is how I like to work.

I design my shots. I walk the rehearsal as the camera and say 'this is where I want to be... I want this look.

Michael Ralph brilliantly plays the street prophet, a West Indian who foreshadows the Harlem riot.

The clothes back in those days were made so much better than clothes are today. They actually took time to make clothes to fit a woman's body. Today they make clothes that fit sizes, so it stretches to fit this and that.

My mother Vivian Ayers always instilled within her children that our opinions, our thoughts and our ideas about what was possible was important. My mother made me feel that I was important as a thinker at four-years-old. And I instill that within my students everyday.