Nothing But a Man

Michael Roemer directed Nothing But a Man, the story he co-wrote with Robert M. Young, about a black railroad worker in Alabama (Ivan Dixon) who falls in love and marries the local preacher's daughter (Abbey Lincoln) while trying to maintain his self respect amidst the racism of 1960s America.

Roemer said he drew on his experience of growing up as a Jew in Nazi Germany and noted, "If you're unemployed you don't feel like you're a man, at least my generation didn't. That's not black; that's all of us." Its naturalistic almost documentary visual style and soundtrack of popular Motown hits invites the audience into the lives of its characters to feel their angst and perseverance.

Nothing But a Man was added to the National Film Registry in 1993.