In recent years the national fencing team for the United States has achieved some of its greatest success in Olympic competition. What many people do not realize about the National team is that several of the key contributors are African-American. But, this is not new to US fencing. For over 40 years African-Americans have made a huge impact on the US national fencing team.
BlackBlades is a short film dedicated to telling the history of African-American Olympic fencers. Using archival footage and still images BlackBlades describes the historical timeline during the 40 year period of Olympic competition through the 2008 Beijing games. The film features Olympic fencers, Akhi Spencer-El, Erinn Smart, Keeth Smart, Mika’il Sankofa and Peter Westbrook describing how fencing has changed their lives and how each one of them have chosen to give back to the sport and coach a new generation of Olympic fencers.
