The Black Film Center/Archive was established in 1981 as the first archival repository dedicated to collecting, preserving, and making available historically and culturally significant films by and about Black people. The BFC/A’s primary objectives are to promote scholarship on black film and to serve as an open resource for scholars, researchers, students, and the general public; to encourage creative film activity by independent Black filmmakers; and to undertake and support research on the history, impact, theory, and aesthetics of black film traditions.