Black First of the Day
What movie featured the first black female lead in a Disney animated feature?
- The story twists an old fable.
- It was set in New Orlean's French Quarter.
- It featured the voice of a Tony Award-winning actress.
- The movie highlighted the spirit of black Cajun soul that defines the culture of New Orleans.
2009
The Princess and the Frog
The full-length movie, The Princess and the Frog, opened on December 11 with the first black female lead in a Disney animated feature. Rising black star and Tony Award-winning actress Anika Noni Rose provides the voice for the princess. The story is like an old fable in which a frog asks a princess to kiss him on the promise that he will turn into a prince. Instead, when she does kiss the frog she becomes a frog as well. The film is set in New Orleans (The Big Easy) and its boggy surroundings in the 1910s and '20s. The heroine, Tiana, is a hard-working culinary prodigy who aims to open a restaurant in the French Quarter. Once Tiana becomes a frog, she and Prince Naveen of Maldonia (already transformed into a frog by a witch doctor) go into the bayou filled with swamp creatures. The movie highlighted the spirit of black Cajun soul that defines the culture of New Orleans.
Sources: "Disney Charms Again with 'Princess'," Tennessean (11 December 2009); "Holiday Movie Preview 2009," Time 174 (7 December 2009): 105; "The Top 10 Everything of 2009," Time 174 (21 December 2009): 82; Robertson, "The Princess Diaries," Essence 40 (January 2010): 90-93.
From Black Firsts: 4,000 Ground-Breaking and Pioneering Events by Jessie Carney Smith, © 2013 Visible Ink Press®. A celebration of achievement, accomplishments and pride.
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