Again, in 1963 and 1964, the NAACP adopted resolutions to mount a nationwide campaign to improve opportunities for "Negro" performers in motion pictures and television. NAACP Labor Secretary, Herbert Hill conducted extensive negotiations with the Motion Picture Producers Association (MPPA), the heads of several major Hollywood studios and television networks, and officials of the labor/craft unions affiliated with the AFL-CIO International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees. Although the NAACP's campaign to eliminate racial bias in the entertainment industry received support from the Screen Actors Guild and Writers Guild of America West, craft unions in Hollywood continued to openly and systematically exclude Blacks as electricians, cameramen, carpenters, propmen, and other craft positions.

In 1967, at the height of the civil rights movement, the Beverly Hills/Hollywood Branch of the NAACP, concerned about the portrayal of the black experience, established the NAACP Image Awards to honor outstanding black actors, actresses, writers, producers, directors, and recognize those working in Hollywood who supported those artists.

In 1980 Executive Director Benjamin L. Hooks appointed a committee to look into the status of equal opportunity in Hollywood. The main focus of the committee was to examine the lack of opportunities for African Americans in the film industry. Despite the monumental events that had taken place in the movement for equal education, voting rights, women’s rights and employment laws, the entertainment industry remained intransigent.

As recognized by director Steven Spielberg at the 2000 NAACP Image Awards, the motion picture industry must confess its guilty hand in perpetuating the lack of diversity both in front of and behind the movie lens. As Mr. Spielberg then correctly stated, there’s “a lot to be done in the world we share. We still must acknowledge the painful absence of racial diversity within our very own industry. We need to hire studio executives of color. We need to foster young minority talent both in front of and behind the scenes.”