Shelton Jackson “Spike” Lee | 2nd Annual Digital Black History Month Education Campaign (Day XXVI)

We are pleased to share day XXVI of 540’s 2nd Annual Digital Black History Month Education Campaign

Spike Lee | American Film Director 

• Name: Spike Lee
• Date of Birth: March 20, 1957 
• Place of Birth: Atlanta, GA 
• Education: Morehouse College, NYU Film School 

Accomplishments

• Lee’s first student film, Last Hustle in Brooklyn, was completed when he was an undergraduate at Morehouse College.
• Lee became a director of promise with his first feature film, She’s Gotta Have It, in 1986. The film was shot in two weeks and cost $175,000 to make, but grossed more than $7 million at the box office, 
• Lee won his first competing Academy Award for Best Adapted Screenplay for’BlacKkKlansman’
  at the 91st Oscar Telecast 

About Spike Lee  

Spike Lee was born Shelton Jackson Lee on March 20, 1957, in Atlanta, Georgia. He was making amateur films by age 20, and won a Student Academy Award for his graduate thesis film. Lee drew attention with his first feature, She’s Gotta Have It — one of the most profitable films made in 1986 — and continues to create films that explore provocative topics like race, politics and violence. Lee became a director of promise with his first feature film, She’s Gotta Have It, in 1986. The film was shot in two weeks and cost $175,000 to make, but grossed more than $7 million at the box office, making it one of the most profitable films created in 1986.

“Before the world tonight I give praise to our ancestors who have built this country into what it is today along with the genocide of its native people . . . We will regain our humanity,” 

About the Campaign

Every day throughout the month of February 540Blog will devote space to sharing Little Known Facts About Black Americans Throughout History. For us every month is Black History Month but we recognize and support the continuous need to take time and space to put a special spotlight on the accomplishments of Black and brown Americans from all ethnicities that have literally changed the course of history and yet have legacies that are not know by the masses.

Sources

1. Biography 
2. Notable Biographies