Rate My Professor Phyllis Klotman

Phyllis R. Klotman was professor emerita in the Department of African American and African Diaspora Studies at Indiana University Bloomington. She founded the Black Film Center & Archive (BFCA) in 1981 within the department, establishing the world's only repository dedicated exclusively to collecting, preserving, and promoting Black cinema. As a professor of English specializing in Black literature, Klotman collected independent Black films and created a center in the Midwest for their research and study, sharing materials with the broader community. She rooted the BFCA in the histories and struggles of Black Studies formed at Indiana University and nationally, addressing the longstanding underrepresentation of Black voices in film history and academic curricula. Klotman organized workshops and festivals that connected West Coast Hollywood directors, East Coast auteurs, educators, and cultural leaders in Indiana. She taught Indiana University's first course in Black literature and a major survey course introducing the Black film canon, which she helped shape as a film preservationist.