Spike Lee Spike Lee Shelton Jackson "Spike" Lee (born March 20, 1957) is an American film director, producer, writer, and actor. His production company, 40 Acres and a Mule Filmworks, has produced over 35 films since 1983. He made his directorial debut with "She's Gotta Have It" (1986), and has since directed such films as "Do the Right Thing" (1989), "Malcolm X" (1992), "The Original Kings of Comedy" (2000), "25th Hour" (2002), "Inside Man" (2006), "Chi-Raq" (2015), and "BlacKkKlansman" (2018). Lee has also acted in 10 of his own films. Lee's films have examined race relations, colorism in the black community, the
Lee Shelton 'went "stag"', meaning he was without friends, or took the nickname from a well-known riverboat captain called "Stack Lee". John and Alan Lomax claimed that the nickname came from a riverboat owned by the Lee family of Memphis called the "Stack Lee", which was known for its on-board prostitution. Lee Shelton's nickname was later corrupted into various other forms in the folk tradition. On Christmas night in 1895, Shelton shot William "Billy" Lyons in a St. Louis saloon following a dispute. A story appearing in the St. Louis "Globe-Democrat" in 1895 read: William Lyons, 25, a levee hand, was shot