Wikipedia:Articles for deletion/The Negro Sailor

The following discussion is an archived debate of the proposed deletion of the article below. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made on the appropriate discussion page (such as the article's talk page or in a deletion review). No further edits should be made to this page.

The result was keep. Sandstein 13:08, 1 July 2022 (UTC)[reply]

The Negro Sailor[edit]

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Fails the requirements of WP:NFILM, lacks significant coverage in multiple independent secondary sources. IMDb is not an acceptable or reliable source. Dan arndt (talk) 23:57, 23 June 2022 (UTC)[reply]

Note: This discussion has been included in the list of Film-related deletion discussions. Dan arndt (talk) 23:57, 23 June 2022 (UTC)[reply]
Redirect to Henry Levin (film director). Keep I found multiple mentions, but not significant coverage:
- Founder of the Interracial Film & Radio Guild praised the Columbia Studios executives for including him in discussions in developing The Negro Sailor. "IFRG Member in Opinion on the "Negro Sailor"". California Eagle (Los Angeles). June 28, 1945. p. 12.
- Brief announcement of release, "It has yet to be decided whether it will be shown for public consumption or confined to service audiences." "'Negro Sailor' To Be Released". The Pittsburgh Courier. July 21, 1945. p. 13.
- The book Black Film as Genre (p.45): "The war years' liberalism eventually inspired a minor cycle of government films; among them The Negro College in Wartime (ca. 1944), The Negro Sailor (ca. 1944), and Henry Brown, Farmer (1943) are noteworthy for black contributions to them."
- The book African Americans and the Pacific War, 1941-1945 (p.9): "Therefore, while government-sponsored documentaries such as The Negro Soldier (1944) and The Negro Sailor (1945) acknowledged African Americans' contributions to America's military history, by overlooking the persistence of racial segregation in the armed forces, they implied that the black struggle for civil rights was completed."
- But then The Negro Handbook 1946-1947 says The other film, The Negro Sailor, directed by Henry Levin (white) for the Navy Department, was made in the summer of 1945 but has never been released". (bold mine) Schazjmd (talk) 00:52, 24 June 2022 (UTC)[reply]
  - Changed my !vote, based on expansion and additional sources found by Dr_vulpes. Schazjmd (talk) 15:42, 28 June 2022 (UTC)[reply]
Keep as noted in the sources above this is a noteworthy film. Spencer Williams Jr., Joel Fluellen, and Leigh Whipper feature in it. The extant film includes footage of a Navy football game, Navy personnel training, documents various jobs in the Navy, includes footage of the Hampton training facility, includes footage of recruiting, training, and battlefield scenes, notes award winning African Americans in the Navy, captures Navy propaganda about recruiting and diversity. This film is far more notable than the vast majority of films we cover. In addition to the sources noted above there are also sources in books such as Larry Rivers book on African American films that has an entry for this film. And the film has been released as a supplement for two different DVD collections. FloridaArmy (talk) 12:26, 25 June 2022 (UTC)[reply]
Keep Although I agree that the film doesn't appear to meet the notability guidelines I'm not comfortable removing an article that highlights the service of African Americans during WW2. I believe that it's an important historical record of which there is significantly less coverage of compared to that of white Americans at the time. Dr vulpes ^{(💬 • 📝)} 08:39, 28 June 2022 (UTC)[reply]
I just went through the article and expanded it and I think that should fix the notability issues. Dr vulpes ^{(💬 • 📝)} 10:17, 28 June 2022 (UTC)[reply]
Redirect The above sources don't demonstrate significant coverage as needed, and the sources Dr_vulpes added likewise don't solve the core issue—this is notable insofar as the subject of other black war films like it, not on its own. Absent that target, redirecting to the director seems the best option. Der Wohltemperierte Fuchs ^talk 00:01, 30 June 2022 (UTC)[reply]
Keep. Clearly passes criteria 4 of WP:NFO per its inclusion in the National Archives by the National Archives and Records Administration (see [1]). Further, I think the much improved sourcing in the article by Dr_vulpe has demonstrated it passes WP:SIGCOV.4meter4 (talk) 16:29, 30 June 2022 (UTC)[reply]
Keep Clearly a notable educational film. one of only five films documenting the war time activities of African Americans in a positive light before 1950. This belongs in an encyclopedia. Dream Focus 23:24, 30 June 2022 (UTC)[reply]

The above discussion is preserved as an archive of the debate. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made on the appropriate discussion page (such as the article's talk page or in a deletion review). No further edits should be made to this page.