The First Black Kiss on Film: Rediscovering Joy in 1898
Setting the Scene: Cinema’s Early Days
In 1898, a 20-second silent film captured something extraordinary for its time: two Black performers sharing a joyful, affectionate kiss on camera. Something Good – Negro Kiss is now recognized as one of the earliest known depictions of Black love and intimacy in film history.
At the dawn of cinema, in 1898, moving pictures were a novelty. Audiences flocked to nickelodeons to see brief reels of dancers, comedians, and performers flicker to life on screen. But for African Americans, representation was rare, and when it occurred, it was often demeaning.
Amid that landscape, Something Good, Negro Kiss emerged quietly, capturing a tender moment between two Black performers. Just twenty seconds long, the film offered something almost unheard of for its time: two Black people smiling, laughing, and kissing in front of the camera.
The Performers: Saint Suttle and Gertie Brown
The couple featured in the short film was Saint Suttle and Gertie Brown, both talented entertainers active in Chicago’s vibrant Black vaudeville and theater scene. Suttle was a well-known dancer, musician, and stage performer; Brown was known for her acting and vocal performances. Together, their chemistry feels natural and joyful, with lighthearted teasing followed by a genuine kiss.
More than just performers, they represented an early reclaiming of dignity and affection in Black visual culture. Their brief exchange countered the racist stereotypes often seen in the minstrel shows and early film reels of the late 19th century.
Behind the Camera: William Selig’s Role
Something Good was produced by William Selig, an early film pioneer who would later help build Hollywood’s studio system. Although many of Selig’s other works used racial tropes common in his era, this film stood apart. It portrayed Black love not as a spectacle or a joke, but as something everyday and human.
This unexpected portrayal made Something Good an outlier, a rare instance of positive representation at a time when Black life was otherwise distorted or unseen in mainstream film.
Rediscovery and Restoration
For decades, the film was thought lost or misidentified within archival collections. In 2017, film archivist Dr. Dino Everett of the University of Southern California stumbled across the reel, which had been incorrectly labeled. He recognized the footage’s uniqueness and shared it with Dr. Allyson Nadia Field, a University of Chicago scholar specializing in African American film history.
Field’s research confirmed the film’s origins and identified the performers. Since then, Something Good – Negro Kiss has been restored, preserved by the Library of Congress, and exhibited at museums and film festivals worldwide. Its rediscovery provided historians and audiences alike with tangible proof that early Black cinema included expressions of love, tenderness, and humanity.
Why It Matters
What makes Something Good – Negro Kiss so powerful isn’t just its age. It’s what it shows. This 20-second exchange captures a truth that history often omitted: that even in a time of segregation, racist violence, and deep inequality, Black artists were creating joy and documenting affection on their own terms.
In a cultural moment dominated by harmful stereotypes, this film offered an alternative narrative, one of intimacy and playfulness. As modern viewers, we see in it not just a forgotten kiss, but a declaration: Black love has always been here.
Works Cited
Field, Allyson Nadia. “Something Good – Negro Kiss (1898).” Library of Congress, 2018.
Everett, Dino. “Rediscovery of Something Good – Negro Kiss.” University of Southern California Hugh M. Hefner Moving Image Archive, 2017.
“How a 20-Second Film of Black Performers Kissing in 1898 Was Rediscovered — and Why It Matters.” PBS SoCal Artbound, 2019, https://www.pbssocal.org/shows/artbound/how-a-20-second-film-of-black-performers-kissing-in-1898-was-rediscovered-and-why-it-matters.
Hall, Jacob. “Black Intimacy and Early Cinema: Remembering Something Good – Negro Kiss.” Journal of African American History, vol. 104, no. 4, 2019, pp. 573–589.
