The more you learn about Oscar Micheaux, the more remarkable he seems. A son of freed slaves, who left home early to become a successful farmer, writer, and publisher in South Dakota, he launched his own alternative cinema with his first film, based on his novel The Homesteader, in 1919. Over the next 20 years he would be the most prolific author among an essential core of black filmmakers who sought to simply affirm the presence of African-American lives and culture in a medium whose biggest producers only illustrated them as servants, comic relief, or, most frequently, villains. The fact that so many of Micheaux's films dealt with controversial and provocative subjects—racism, lynching, interracial romance, the "color bar" in the black community, corruption in black churches—makes his output almost miraculous.

Unhappily, few of the films by Micheaux or his contemporaries—Spencer Williams, Richard Norman, Richard Maurice, William Alexander, and many others—have survived in pristine condition. The scratched, sometimes faded copies we'll be showing are, for the moment, all that is available. Yet beyond the technical flaws or occasional awkwardness on screen is the tremendous authenticity of these films, the sense of a community raising the level of conversation within its own boundaries. At their best, they hold up a critical mirror to the struggles and tensions of an oppressed people.

This series is screening in conjunction with a major conference on Micheaux organized by Prof. Jane Gaines, School of the Arts, Film Program, Columbia University.

Featured Works:

The Symbol of the Unconquered (Oscar Micheaux, 1920); Within Our Gates (Oscar Micheaux, 1920); The Bull-Dogger (Richard Norman, 1921); Body and Soul (Oscar Micheaux, 1925); Ten Nights in a Barroom (Roy Calnek, 1926); The Flying Ace (Richard Norman, 1926); The Scar of Shame (Frank Peregini, 1927); Eleven P.M. (Richard Maurice, 1928); Black and Tan (Dudley Murphy, 1929); Hallelujah! (King Vidor, 1929); Yamekraw (Murray Roth, 1930); The Exile (Oscar Micheaux and Leonard Harper, 1931); Ten Minutes to Live (Oscar Micheaux, 1932); The Girl from Chicago (Oscar Micheaux, 1932); Veiled Aristocrats (Oscar Micheaux, 1932); Happy Though Married (Joseph Burstyn, 1935); Murder in Harlem (Lem Hawkins' Confession, Oscar Micheaux, 1935); Underworld (Oscar Micheaux, 1937); God's Step Children (Oscar Micheaux, 1938, pictured); Swing! (Oscar Micheaux, 1938); Birthright (Oscar Micheaux 1939); Moon Over Harlem (Edgar G. Ulmer, 1939); The Blood of Jesus (Spencer Williams, 1941); Cabin in the Sky (Vincente Minnelli, 1943); Go Down Death (Spencer Williams, 1944); Dirtie Gertie from Harlem U.S.A. (Spencer Williams, 1946); Harlem Hot Shots (William Alexander, 1946); The Girl in Room 20 (Spencer Williams, 1946); Juke Joint (Spencer Williams, 1947); Boogie-Woogie Blues (William Alexander, 1948); Miracle in Harlem (Jack Kemp, 1948); Souls of Sin (Powell Lindsay, 1949); In the Shadow of Hollywood: Race Movies and the Birth of Black Cinema (Brad Osborne, 2007)

Program information:

 Faded Glory: Oscar Micheaux and Black Pre-War Cinema

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Life Comes Through by David Schwartz posted Feb. 04, 2009