I love these longforms. Even in the midst of the pressing election season they’re a refreshing look at things other than the campaign trail. Disappointed reading “The Homesteader” was lost…would like to see that one.
Also a fan of the longforms. And yes, Micheaux was a giant deserving of much wider recognition.
Agreed. Would love to see The Homesteader. I’m going to have to seek out which of his films are available as well as his books.
I just realized the original novel of The Homesteader is available, so I just bought it and downloaded it to my iPad.
Chesnutt was from Cleveland–born there and lived most of his adult life there, although his family lived for awhile in Fayetteville while he was growing up and he attended college there. Chesnutt, among other things, had a successful court reporting business in Cleveland and broke the color barrier with the exclusive, literary Rowfant Club (a relative of mine was a member and briefly overlapped with him). Sidebar: Cleveland’s Karamu House (still in existence), a theatre-focused settlement house that was established to promote inter-racial dialogue (it’s more Afro-centric now) was an important starting place for many African-American Artists and writers.
I appreciate TPM investing resources in telling stories of American history that go beyond white history. So much of our history involves African-Americans, Mexicans (both immigrants and those who were already here before we stole half of Mexico), Chinese and other people of color. And yet, very little of what we read in our history books contains more than a passing reference to a smattering of history beyond white folks.
Thanks again, I appreciate it!
Wow. As a clueless white person, I’m gobsmacked by the notion of an entire segregated film industry that’s been written out of most histories. Did the actors cross over at all?
Folks, I’m delighted to see the positive response. We are/were very excited about this piece. And we plan on continuing to publish stuff of this caliber twice a month and then hopefully increase the pace next year to something closer to once a week as we build the Prime membership base. Glad you like what you’re seeing.
Thanks for that link.
A few weeks ago there was a longform essay on Mary Church Terrell, which acted as if people hadn’t heard of before.
Oh, we meant whites hadn’t heard her, right? Well, I, a black dude, had. So, that doesn’t count. And now we have another essay as if books and other essays haven’t been written about Oscar Micheaux before.
What kind of bullshit is this? This is the equivalent of the “new world” being discovered by Columbus.
Next up: Before there was Kanye West there was Paul Robeson. No, Bessie Smith!
Films mentioned in the article on youtube –
Within Our Gates:
Lying Lips:
TCM has shown a number of Michaux’s films, and they range from very good to merely competent—not because of his direction, but because of the writing and the performances, which could be spotty.
But they were interesting, entertaining, and a great history lesson.
While Micheaux definitely needs to be continuously brought to attention of new generations - and not behind a “Prime” firewall! - his role and accomplishments are hardly news. Thirty years ago (1986) the Directors Guild of America posthumously gave him the Golden Jubilee Special Directorial Award, and in 1987 he received a star on Hollywood Boulevard’s Walk of Fame. Along with the availability of his many works, I thought there was a movie about him a long time ago I saw, but I’m not sure and maybe that was on TV or a museum exhibit somewhere.
What a great article. I’ve never heard of Oscar Micheaux before today and I’m grateful to the researchers and writers of TPM for teaching me something new.
TCM did a series a number of years back and I downloaded to vhs at the time. Glad I did.
The title of the film is called Oscar Micheaux: The Czar of Black Hollywood. It’s available on Amazon if you’re interested.
I live where Micheaux was born and grew up. Very few in this area have heard of Micheaux although I’ve been trying for years to encourage a Micheaux Festival here but to no avail.
Thanks for this story, good balance to the rest of the depressing political topics.
More than a compelling story about the struggle for racial justice, I appreciate audio/video content captured by a wide variety of voices, as historical treasures that allow people like Micheaux to share their unique view of the world and its people with me, to learn from. The fact that he’s black, and is somewhat preoccupied with the implications of bi-racial families and people, means that I’m unlikely to see repeats of familiar cultural patterns and frames that I’m already familiar with. A good thing in movies, and elsewhere !