White Wash

African-American Surfers

Narrated by Grammy-winner Ben Harper with Tariq "Blackthought" Trotter of the Roots, this is the story of African-American surfers. Told from the perspective of black surfers from Hawaii, Jamaica, Florida, and California, this controversial, probing film looks deep into America's painful and pervasive legacy of slavery and exclusion.

From surfing's "discovery" by Captain James Cook in Hawaii in 1778 through the explosion of surf culture during the days of segregated Jim Crow America in1960's, this film explores the myths that black surfers have overcome in their search for waves. WHITE WASH is essentially a story of transcendence in the face of aggression and a glimpse into the American psyche.

From the beaches of California, Hawaii, Mexico, and Puerto Rico to the asphalt of New York City, through the cotton fields of the Mississippi Delta up to the ivory towers of Texas and back into the swimming pools of Florida, "White Wash" is a historical exploration of race, identity, and the myths we live by and that ultimately unite us all.

"Provides historical context... and further explores how racism, sport, and American culture and inextricably linked. Ostensibly a narrative about African American participation in surfing culture, White Wash makes a broader contribution to American civil rights history." The Public Historian