While race films often attempted to counter the racist narratives perpetuated by the mainstream film industry, some (like the vaudeville producers before them) leaned into these tropes in order to make money. Black actors often had to choose between a paycheck and playing parts that would now be deemed as stereotyped. Louise Beavers, one of the best-known Black actors of her generation, was generally typecast as a maid or a nanny in theater and film. These roles went against her vocal stance on negative portrayals of Black people in the media. Even so, the depth and emotional complexity that she brought to every performance confirmed her legacy as an actor who advanced the work of Black people both on and off screen. Originally released in 1939 as Reform School, Prison Bait features Beavers as a progressive probation officer who becomes the superintendent of a reform school and defends a group of boys who are harassed by the institution’s staff. The film explores the corruption of the criminal justice system and the importance of a compassionate approach to education. The renaming of the film was most likely based on the marketing value of sensationalism; a prison offers more dramatic potential than a mere reform school. Rather than reprinting the poster, however, theaters were instructed to paste over the original title with a snipe or tip-on of the new one, as shown in this poster.