Blaxploitation

or Black·sploi·ta·tion

[ blak-sploi-tey-shuhn ]

noun

, (often lowercase)

1. a subgenre of American cinema in the 1970s featuring Black protagonists in exploitation films intended to appeal to African American audiences.

blaxploitation

/ ˌblæksplɔɪˈteɪʃən /

noun

1. a genre of films featuring Black stereotypes

Word History and Origins

Origin of Blaxploitation¹

Blend of Blax (respelling of Blacks ) + exploitation; coined by Dr. Junius Griffin (1929–2005) of the Beverly Hills/Hollywood NAACP in 1972 in response to the movie Super Fly (1972)

Word History and Origins

Origin of Blaxploitation¹

C20: from bla ( ck ) + ( e ) xploitation

Example Sentences

“Like, OK, let’s have an Asian child and a Black — I used to get more offended by that than just — I grew up watching Blaxploitation movies, right? And I said, ‘That’s great.’

From Salon

“Fight Night” flirts with a variety of styles — blaxploitation, police procedural, social drama, the buddy-cop movie — which are successful on their own terms but don’t easily cohere.

From Los Angeles Times

“A lot of the movies we would talk about were movies of the ’70s and blaxploitation.

From Los Angeles Times

It's for all the singing cowboys, the Blaxploitation films, the chitlin' circuits across the segregated South.

From Salon

So we’re talking about Wakanda, I can also trace it back to the Blaxploitation movement.

From New York Times