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• Blaxploitation
  Blaxploitation

  noun

  a subgenre of American cinema in the 1970s featuring Black protagonists in exploitation films intended to appeal to African American audiences.
• blaxploitation
  blaxploitation

  noun

  a genre of films featuring Black stereotypes

Blaxploitation

American  

[blak-sploi-tey-shuhn] / ˌblæk splɔɪˈteɪ ʃən /

Or Blacksploitation

noun

(often lowercase)

1. a subgenre of American cinema in the 1970s featuring Black protagonists in exploitation films intended to appeal to African American audiences.

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blaxploitation British  

/ ˌblæksplɔɪˈteɪʃən /

noun

1. a genre of films featuring Black stereotypes

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Etymology

Origin of Blaxploitation

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)

Example Sentences

He did the soundtrack to the Blaxploitation movie “Coffy,” which was co-written by its star Pam Grier and director Jack Hall.

From Los Angeles Times • Mar. 6, 2025

The Black romantic studio pictures of the 1990s were far different from their 1970s Blaxploitation predecessors.

From New York Times • Feb. 9, 2024

“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

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