In honor of Women’s History Month, BET.com’s “How She Built This” series is delving into the stories of Black women who’ve both shifted culture and built a lasting legacy in the process.

Barrier-breaking filmmaker Jessie Maple didn’t wait for an invitation into Hollywood. Instead, she kicked the door down and, in doing so, became the first Black woman to produce, write, and direct an independent feature film. 

And that’s just the tip of the iceberg. Born in 1937 in McComb, Mississippi, Maple started as a bacteriologist before pivoting to movies in the 1970s. By refusing to play by the rules rigged against her, she helped foster a legacy that also supported other Black filmmakers and creators along the way. 

After she wed her husband Leroy Patton, she yearned for another, more exciting path. “After I got married and moved to New York, I wanted something more exciting,” she said to the New York Times in 2016. 

That interest led her to a brief writing career with The New York Courier before pivoting into broadcast journalism, volunteering behind the scenes. It was while volunteering through a minority training program for Black students to prepare them for careers in communications that she found her calling.

Those experiences captured her passions, and she soon began to strategize how she could earn more money. 

“I became interested in film; I started to research, 'how can I make the most money?' The first union I got into was the editing union. They told me the requirements, I did all that, then I fought for my rights, she told The Times.”

Maple sharpened her skills editing at WNET public TV and Third World Cinema, founded by the iconic Ossie Davis, then apprenticed on Gordon Parks' “Shaft's Big Score!” and “The Super Cops.” 

According to Indiana University’s Black Film Center and Archive, she passed the grueling test to join New York's Cinematographers Union—now the International Cinematographers Guild—in 1975 and became the first Black woman admitted. Though the celebration was short-lived, they expelled her after she pushed to shorten the apprenticeship requirement. 

“If I had waited, I never would have become a cameraperson,” she said to the New York Times. “So I took ’em to court.”

She was then blacklisted as studios were warned not to hire her. Undeterred, Maple fought back, suing ABC, CBS, and NBC for discrimination.

After a landmark victory, she landed a trial gig at WCBS, which launched her freelance career shooting news and documentaries. Her 1977 self-published guide, “How to Become a Union Camerawoman,” mapped the minefield for others, turning personal trials into a blueprint for Black women eyeing a similar career path.

Teaming up with her husband, Maple launched LJ Film Productions in 1974, churning out shorts on raw topics like drug addiction (“Methadone: Evil Spirit or Wonder Drug?”). Her 1981 breakout, “Will,” tackled a young man's brutal heroin withdrawal in Harlem, marking one of the earliest known feature-length dramas by a Black woman. She followed with “Twice as Nice” in 1988, which delved into sisterhood, love, and friendship with the kind of honesty that still resonates with fans.

Maple didn't stop at features. She and her husband founded Harlem's 20 West Theatre in 1982 as a hub for indie Black filmmakers, keeping it alive until 1992 despite funding fights. Her lens always centered real lives—addiction, community, resilience—stories Hollywood often sidelined. Even in the '90s, she kept creating, like the 1997 short Pure Payton.

Maple passed away on May 30, 2023, at 86 in Atlanta, but her influence surges on. Janus Films restored “Will” in 4K by 2025, landing it on the Criterion Channel. Archives like Indiana University's Black Film Center preserve her work, ensuring new eyes discover her raw power.

Maple's playbook endures: fight if you must, build your own studio, and center your people's stories. In doing so, she kicked the doors down so that directors like Ava DuVernay and Ryan Coogler could walk through without looking back. 

Jessie Maple is proof that one woman's fight can reframe the whole industry. “You can’t stop progress,” she said to the Times. “You can hold it up for a minute, but you can’t stop it.”