Mya Baker

Mya Baker (aka Mya B.) is an American filmmaker, poet, writer, director and researcher. She was born and raised in Chicago, Illinois, and has lived and taught early childhood education in Brooklyn, New York.

Biography

Mya was born and raised in Chicago, Illinois. She grew up around positive Black male and female role models. She did experience racism while growing up in Chicago. When she was five years old she says in an interview that "I remember so clearly, when I was 5 years old, my mother, my brother and I were chased out of a Chicago neighborhood called Bridgeport when we were young. A gang of boys were waiting for us as we walked out of this church, and they started chasing us with bats and bricks yelling, 'Nigger go home!^[1]

She studied film at Columbia College in Chicago, Illinois. While at Columbia College she developed her skills in writing and film production. She founded Shoot Films Not People a production company. Many of her films have been shown at film festivals. She has also worked as a Special Education preschool teacher in Brooklyn, New York.^[2][3] She stated in an article with the Patch.com that she creates films to begin the healing process for Black men, women, and for society. Two of her films - Afraid of Dark and Silence: In search of Black Female Sexuality in America - have focused on undoing stereotypes of Black men and women.^[1]

She is best known for Silence: In Search of Black Female Sexuality in America. In this film Mya interviewed Nzingha Steward and Little X, two directors in the Black music video industry. During the interview they discuss the impact of the 'video hoe' image on society. The film takes a journey into American history and slavery that unveils hidden sexual relations between enslaved Africans and slave owners.^[4] The film educates the public to the historical and contemporary racial tensions and injustices in America in regards to Black males. Mya shares her experiences, and interviews black males from all walks of life spanning three generations.^[5]

Filmography

• 1994 - Warrior Queens - Mya's first documentary short which was shown at the Dusable Museum of African American History in Chicago.^[6]
• 2004 - Silence: In search of Black Female Sexuality in America; with interviews with Nzingha Stewart, Dr. Hilda Hutcherson, Dr. Lliala Afrika, Little X, Professor Trisha Rose, Punany Poets, Rev. Jeremiah Wright. In this film Mya B explores the past and present sexual myths about Black women.^[7] Segments of the film were shown on film, was also VH1’s, “Can’t Get a Date”, in 2006.^[8]
• 2010 - Maya Illusion is a short film starring Angelo Boyke and Sophia Loren Coffee; Directed by Mya Baker and Co-Directed by Amy Werber. This film short is an about a young woman who falls in love with a pretty face to find out later that the pretty face has HIV.
• 2014 Afraid of Dark. This film confronts negative stereotypes of Black males with interviews with rappers, actors, and politicians that talk about their experiences with racism and injustices. In the film are interviews with Lou Myers, Malik Yoba, Sadat X, Sam Greenlee, Tom Burrell, Vondie Curtis Hall, Cornell West, Khalil G. Muhammad, General Steele, Kenya K. Stevens, and Kevin Powell.^[9][2]

Honors

• 2004 - Telly Award for her documentary Silence: In Search of Black Female Sexuality in America
• 2006 - BET finalist in the Rap It-Up Competition

Quotes

"I wanted to analyze the damaging stereotypes of black men which has led to them being murdered and criminalized. I also wanted black men to receive their glory outside of all the bad things you hear in the media and profile the amazing black men I know and who are in our communities.  More importantly I wanted people to never forget those black youth and men who never got justice in death by honoring them in the film to keep them alive in our memories". Mya Baker[10]

References

External links

• Afraid of Dark Film Trailer
• Peter Gunz - "Fatherhood"