Isis Ginyard '27
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Hometown: Los Angeles, CA
Project title: Black Paris: U.S. Surveillance and the Politics of Race Abroad
Project description: This project examines the parallel lives of James Baldwin and Josephine Baker through American surveillance archives, focusing on how FBI informants, military intelligence officers, and diplomats documented and interpreted their political activism abroad. Both artists left the United States to seek creative and personal freedom in France, where they achieved international recognition, yet remained subject to sustained observation by federal agencies concerned with the global image of American race relations during the Cold War. Grounded in the history of Black American expatriates in France and scholarship on surveillance and cultural diplomacy, the project combines archival research with screenwriting. It draws on government records, press coverage, literary texts, and expert interviews to examine how Baldwin and Baker's lives were recorded across national contexts. The project reimagines archival material as television. It analyzes how surveillance records construct and shape historical understanding. This approach highlights the tension between lived experience and institutional documentation, offering a new framework for understanding the relationship between race, artistic production, and state power.
Extracurricular activities: Co-President of Women in Innovation; Magnuson Student Leadership Board; President of Cobra
Future plans: After Dartmouth, I hope to pursue a career as a television writer and eventually become a professor of film and media studies. I am particularly interested in writing sitcoms that combine humor with meaningful social and cultural commentary, following in the tradition of writers who use comedy to explore larger issues about identity, community, and politics. At the same time, I am passionate about film history, media scholarship, and teaching. My Senior Fellowship allows me to bring these interests together by conducting original archival research while creating a historical mini-series based on that research. Through this project, I am developing the skills of a writer, filmmaker, and researcher, all of which will help prepare me for a career creating stories for television and contributing to the study and teaching of media.