HBO Max taps TCM's first African-American host Jacqueline Stewart to introduce Gone with the Wind

Decider

Last September, University of Chicago film professor Stewart, who specializes in African-American film history, became the first black host in Turner Classic Movies history. After HBO Max temporarily yanked the iconic film from its streaming service last week, at the urging of 12 Years a Slave writer John Ridley, the streaming service has tasked Stewart with introducing Gone with the Wind and explaining its “multiple historical contexts." “This is an opportunity to think about what classic films can teach us,” Stewart wrote in a CNN Op-Ed over the weekend. “Right now, people are turning to movies for racial re-education, and the top-selling books on Amazon are about anti-racism and racial inequality. If people are really doing their homework, we may be poised to have our most informed, honest and productive national conversations yet about Black lives on screen and off.” HBO Max hasn't announced when Gone with the Wind will return, but The Washington Post said the film will likely be restored this week. Stewart is author of the book Migrating to the Movies: Cinema and Black Urban Modernity and she co-curated a box set called Pioneers of African-American Cinema.