After slavery was abolished in 1865, African Americans wanted to expand their horizons and look for other jobs opportunities, which eventually led to the "Great Migration" in Northern cities such as; Chicago, Harlem, Detroit, etc. These job opportunities were granted to African Americans primarily because of contract disputes with European Immigrant workers, and the desperate need for cheap labor. 

The production code was implemented in a hopeful attempt to abolish negative stereotypes of African American roles in film however, the roles of African Americans on film were still subservient but were not as blatant as before. The roles of African American actors became domesticated, for example Dorothy Dandridge played the role of a "jungle goddess" the "tragic mulatto" for which she received an Oscar, we can see similar instances of the same stereotypes today, such as Halle Berry's role in Monster's Ball (sinful miscegenation)for which she also won an Oscar. It almost seems as if this production code was put in place to quiet down the protests about the negative stereotypes of African Americans, and yet films still create the same characters, subliminally. 

It is also evident that Blaxploitation films were a result of the production code, because of the attempt to expand on the identity of African Americans outside of the mammie, coon, etc.  During the late 60s and 70s African Americans were becoming more aggressive with their approach towards equality, movements such as the Black Panthers emerged during this time frame.These films made poor attempts to "capture the black experience" produced by white filmmakers the actors portrayed pimps, hoodlums, and drug dealers, which ultimately provoked the African American youth to imitate these roles, given that they appeared to be glamorous/admirable. 

Spike Lee became a success because his films showed African Americans as they are; human. His films are about the struggles of the African American people such as racism, double-consciousness, and their dreams, which are just like every other American, to have an education, raise a family, experience happiness, pain, etc.  It is still a struggle today for Spike Lee to find funding for his films and as a result he does have to conform to the societal demands of Hollywood productions. For example, he made the film Inside Man, a more socially accepted film with a diverse cast, in order to get funding for the film Miracle at St. Ana which told the story of African American soldiers in World War II after having a dispute with Clint Eastwood because of the lack of African American soldiers represented in his film "Letters from Iwa Jima" which also told the story of WWII. Spike Lee's films are definitely telling the stories of African Americans, unbiasedly and overall, I believe Spike Lee is an incredible filmmaker, it is sad though that even in today's era he along with other people of color still have to conform to a "cultural norm" in order to be broadly accepted among all American people.