Blend of Blax (respelling of Blacks ) + exploitation; coined by Dr. Junius Griffin (1929–2005) of the Beverly Hills/Hollywood NAACP in 1972 in response to the movie Super Fly (1972)
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
“Rocky” was released in 1976, and it was his mainstream film break — Weathers’ film credits up to that point were for Blaxploitation features “Friday Foster” and “Bucktown.”
From Los Angeles Times • Feb. 2, 2024
The 1970s movie franchise was iconic as it was among the first of what came to be known as Blaxploitation films, a genre featuring action movies that centred on heroic black characters.
From BBC • Oct. 24, 2023
A projector above a photo booth shows clips from classic Black films and Blaxploitation movies, along with candid photos of attendees.
From Los Angeles Times • Sep. 6, 2023
When you hear it mentioned, usually the word that begins and ends the conversation is Blaxploitation, as if that's all they were.
From Salon • Nov. 30, 2022
Originally conceived as a book, the film — streaming on Netflix — unfurls as part kaleidoscopic visual odyssey, part ruminative personal essay, illuminating a fruitful period of Black cinematic expression that extended far beyond Blaxploitation.
From New York Times • Nov. 11, 2022
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
