Ossie Davis
— Narrator
George Johnson
— Self (archive sound)
Lorenzo Tucker
— Self (archive sound)
Lucia Lynn Moses
— Self (archive sound)
Fredi Washington
— Self (archive sound)
Henry Armstrong
— Self (archive footage)
Josephine Baker
— Self (archive footage)
Leslie Banks
— Self (archive footage)
Clarence Brooks
— Self (archive footage)
Cab Calloway
— Self (archive footage)
Walter Connolly
— Self (archive footage)
Miriam Cooper
— Self (archive footage)
Dudley Digges
— Self (archive footage)
Duke Ellington
— Self (archive footage)
Marcus Garvey
— Self (archive footage)
Lillian Gish
— Self (archive footage)
Jack Johnson
— Self (archive footage)
Noble Johnson
— Self (archive footage)
Walter Long
— Self (archive footage)
William Lundigan
— Self (archive footage)
Mae Marsh
— Self (archive footage)
Clarence Muse
— Self (archive footage)
William E. Pettus
— Self (archive footage)
Bud Pollard
— Self (archive footage)
Paul Robeson
— Self (archive footage)
Henry B. Walthall
— Self (archive footage)
Ethel Waters
— Self (archive footage)
Bert Williams
— Self (archive footage)
Spencer Williams
— Self (archive footage)