Kathleen Collins facts for kids

Kathleen Collins (born March 18, 1942 – died September 18, 1988) was an amazing African-American writer, filmmaker, and teacher. She was also a civil rights activist. Kathleen came from Jersey City, New Jersey.

She made two important movies: The Cruz Brothers and Miss Malloy (1980) and Losing Ground (1982). These films helped show more stories about Black women. Even though Losing Ground was not widely shown at first, it was one of the first full-length movies made by a Black woman for a general audience. Kathleen Collins helped open the door for other Black women filmmakers. For example, her work paved the way for Julie Dash's Daughters of the Dust (1991). Collins wanted to show "African Americans as human subjects" in her stories. This meant showing them as real people, not just focusing on their race.

Early Life and Education

Kathleen Collins was born to Loretta and Frank Conwell. She grew up in Jersey City. When she was 15, she won first prize in a poetry contest. This was at Rutgers Newark College of Arts and Sciences. She read poems by Walt Whitman.

A newspaper article from 1958 mentioned her achievements. She was an assistant editor for her high school newspaper. She also worked on the school yearbook. Kathleen was a member of the National Honors Society. She was also a past secretary of the Student Council.

After finishing high school in 1959, Collins went to Skidmore College. She earned a degree in philosophy and religion in 1963. In 1962, she became involved in the Civil Rights Movement. This happened after leaders from the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) visited her college. She worked in Georgia to help Black residents register to vote. She was arrested twice while working with the Albany Movement.

After college, she taught high school French in Newton, Massachusetts. At the same time, she studied at Harvard at night. In 1965, she won a scholarship to study in France. She went to Paris-Sorbonne University. In 1966, she earned a master's degree there. Her studies focused on French literature and cinema.

Filmmaking and Writing Career

Kathleen Collins became a professor at City College. This college is part of the City University of New York. She taught film history and screenwriting. A cinematographer named Ronald K Gray encouraged her to make a movie. This movie was based on a short story by Henry Roth.

That film became The Cruz Brothers and Mrs. Malloy. It was a short film, less than an hour long. It won First Prize at the Sinking Creek Film Festival. Then, in 1982, she wrote and directed Losing Ground. This movie starred Seret Scott, Bill Gunn, and Duane Jones.

Losing Ground was one of the first full-length movies directed by a Black American woman. It was made after Jessie Maple's 1981 film Will. Losing Ground won First Prize at the Figueroa International Film Festival in Portugal. It received a lot of praise around the world. However, it was not released widely at that time. Both of Collins' films were shot in Rockland County, New York. Today, you can find them through Milestone Films.

Collins also wrote many plays and screenplays. Her two most famous plays are In the Midnight Hour (1981) and The Brothers (1982). These plays often explored themes like relationships and personal freedom. Her main characters were often women who became stronger and more independent.

Later Recognition of Her Work

Kathleen Collins passed away suddenly in 1988. Most of her work was not yet published. Her daughter, Nina Collins, inherited her mother's writings. In 2006, Nina started going through the huge collection. She worked to get her mother's stories published and her films restored.

In 2015, a magazine called A Public Space published one of Collins' short stories. It was called "Interiors." This story was a fictional account of her divorce.

Also in 2015, her 1982 film Losing Ground was restored and re-released. The film had only been shown at festivals in the early 1980s. Its first public showing in 2015 was at the Film Society of Lincoln Center. The New Yorker magazine later called it "the great rediscovery of 2015." They said it was "restored to its rightful place" among important independent films from the 1980s. Both Losing Ground and The Cruz Brothers and Mrs. Malloy were released together on DVD and Blu-ray in 2016.

In December 2016, a collection of Collins' short stories was published. It was called Whatever Happened to Interracial Love? These stories were written in the 1970s. They explored the lives, loves, and challenges of Black women. The book received excellent reviews. It was named one of the best books of 2016 by many publications.

In February 2019, Nina Collins put together more of her mother's work. This included short stories, diary entries, and scripts. The collection was titled Notes From a Black Woman’s Diary.

In May 2021, a group of artists called Afrofemononomy performed some of Collins' one-act plays. These plays were performed outdoors in New York City.

Personal Life

Kathleen Collins was married and later divorced in 1975. She had two children from her marriage: Nina Lorez Collins and Emilio Collins. She later married a second time to Alfred Prettyman.

Kathleen Collins passed away from breast cancer in 1988. She was 46 years old. She died at the Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center in New York City.