Oscar Micheaux, born January 2, 1882, is regarded as the most prominent African American filmmaker during the time. He was a prominent producer of race film in which he would tackle complex subjects, including race relations and the politics of the time. In contrast to most films which would only star white actors, race films were produced primarily for an all back audience including exclusively featuring black actors. One prominent film, Within Our Gates, would depict racial violence as well as the widespread lynching of African Americans during the time including Jim Crow Laws, The Great Migration, and the revival of the Ku Klux Klan.
The film describes the life of Sylvia Landy, an African American woman who is visiting her cousin Alma in the north. There, Larry, Alma’s step brother, attempts to woo Sylvia but is quickly rejected. Sylvia soon return to the south where she finds a rural school in desperate need of funding and thus she returns to the north in search of money. In Boston, Sylvia is hit by a car, the owner of which is Elena Warwick, a wealthy philanthropist who agrees to donate $50,000 dollars in order to save the school. In addition, Sylvia falls in love with Dr. Vivian, a man who chases after a thief and recovers her purse. Ultimately, in the climax of the film, Alma tells Dr. Vivian of Sylvia’s past, in which a flashback reveals that she was raised by a poor black family. In addition, it is revealed that a young Sylvia was falsely accused by murder by the white landlord, Gridlestone. In a raid by a white mob that attacks the Land family, Gridlstone’s brother is close to raping Sylvia, but notices a birthmark on her chest. Sylvia is her mixed race daughter. Gridlestone’s brother had married a local black woman and he was the one that had paid for her education.
Ultimately, Micheaux’s film was created to defend and challenge the stereotype of African America during the time period. In his eyes, the white people were the true rapists and savages and the blacks were the true victims of the brutality of whites. In addition, although commonly thought of as a response to Birth of a Nation, Michueaux states that it was actually created independently to address the highly unstable societal race relations at the time. Overall, Oscar Michaeux will be remembered as a highly influential filmmaker who challenged society’s prejudice against African Americans.
I really enjoyed reading this post and I liked how you described Within Our Gates in great detail. Another film by Oscar Micheaux is Body and Soul, which was published in 1925. This race film was very controversial, and when Micheaux applied for it to be on exhibit, the film was deemed "immoral" and "sacrilegious." He had to change the film before it was accepted, and similar to Within Our Gates, Body and Soul highlighted the hypocrisy of whites and the racial tensions of the 1920s.
ReplyDeletehttp://silentfilm.org/archive/body-and-soul