Jamaa Fanaka, a filmmaker who had considerable success in 1979 with "Penitentiary," the first movie he made after graduating from film school, but who claimed to have been blacklisted afterward for raising questions about the dearth of jobs for black directors in Hollywood, died on April 1 in Los Angeles. He was 69. The cause was complications of diabetes, his family said.

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/04/13/movies/jamaa-fanaka-film-director-dies-at-69.html