Oscar Micheaux: The Triple Threat (1884-1951)

Oscar Micheaux was a writer, producer, director, and author during his three-decade career. Oscar Micheaux came humble, beginning with being one of 11 children to former Slaves; he found his escape through writing. In 1917 he became a published author with his autobiography (The Homesteader: A Novel) 2 years later, that novel became Oscar Micheaux’s first film that was written, produced, and directed by an African American and also to feature an all-Black cast. Oscar Micheaux captured the Black experience within his films; he produced over 44 films; he voiced Black actors and actresses when White producers, directors, and writers played in African-Americans’ stereotypes. Oscar Micheaux owned his own movie production company; he added to his list of accomplishments with his 1920 film Within Our Gates, a direct response to D.W. Griffith’s 1915 Birth Of A Nation. The film Birth Of A Nation did not only pay homage to the Ku Klux Klan’s birth through a series of deplorable stereotypes about African Americans; through the film, there are white actors in Blackface portraying Black men. In Griffin’s film, he voiced hate, Black men being a danger to White women with the fear of rape and Lynching. The Birth Of A Nation hit cinemas worldwide and was positively received; even Woodrow Wilson, the 28th President of The United States, had a private screening at the White House. Within Our, Gates pushed the envelope by addressing the oppression factors African-Americans had to face when many traveled during the Great Migration. Mind you, this film was a silent film, the NAACP website gives viewers a backstory about Oscar Micheaux, but one thing I did learn from reading this document that Micheaux was not only famous because he was the first Black director, but according to NAACP History: Oscar Micheaux utters, “Given the times, his accomplishments in publishing and film are extraordinary, including being the first African-American to produce a film to be shown in “white” movie theaters. In his motion pictures, he moved away from the “Negro” stereotypes being portrayed in film at the time.” Oscar Micheaux did not only want to bring the Black experience to cinemas, but he wanted to get the message that those stereotypes about African-Americans are false to white audiences. In the Black History In Two Minutes video Oscar Micheaux: The First Black Indie Filmmaker gives viewers details about Micheaux in 3 minutes or less, from details about him leaving at 16 to become a Train Porter then expanding his career to Homesteader. This change in his career caused him to become a writer. Also, Micheaux had to fund his films, and they were censored but according to the video Oscar Micheaux used that to his advantage to offer the films as uncensored to other audiences. Some of Oscar Micheaux’s films include The Homesteader (1919); this film started an all African-American cast, Within Our Gates (1920), Body and Soul (1925), The Exile (1931). Also, Lying Lips (1939), God’s Step Children (1938), The Symbol Of The Unconquered (1920), Ten Minutes to Live (1932), Birthright (1939), Murder In Harlem (1935), The Betrayal (1948), Swing (1938), The Girl From Chicago (1932) and The Gunsaulus Mystery (1921). Oscar Micheaux creates other movies; some of these films are available on the platforms such as Prime Videos, Tubi, a free app, Sling, and sometimes, YouTube. There was a significant change from silent films to talkie movies in Hollywood, and Oscar Micheaux changed with the times. Still, one fun fact about Oscar Micheaux’s debut film The Homesteader (1919), according to IMDB, grossed over $15,000 estimated at the box office. Oscar Micheaux was willing to push the bar to address the setbacks that African-Americans faced. Now he could have been one of those directors to feed into stereotypes about African-Americans. For many actors and actresses, to stay relevant in Hollywood, they had to take roles that played into those stereotypes. Oscar Micheaux provided Black actors and actresses jobs not to depict the Mammy, the Coon, the Sambo, and other forms of stereotypes. Like Micheaux, I think of Tyler Perry, Spike Lee, Ava DuVernay, John Singleton, and many more directors who have provided jobs to African-American actors and actresses. When I think about these directors I have listed, they all have one thing in common: bring the Black perception to the big screen for wide audiences to take a journey into Black people’s lives either through one character or multiple stories. When I think about the misrepresenting of African-Americans, I think about Toni Morrison’s 1970 novel, The Bluest Eye. Pecola Breedlove believed that she would be beautiful and accepted into the White society if she had blue eyes. In one part of the book, Pecola talks about famous icon Shirley Temple as beautiful, and Pecola figured if she had blue eyes, she would be beautiful. Like most African-American children of the 1940s, Pecola did not see a representation of herself on television and other forms of media; she was willing to change herself to be seen as a human being and beautiful. Another example about representation made me think about the 1987 documentary Ethnic Notions; the film took viewers through a timeline of African-American misrepresentation on films and television. I’m int to explore a few major parts; Bert Willams was a famous African-American actor during the Vaudeville era. To receive jobs and remain a rising star, he had to perform in blackface. Bert Willaims is one of many stories about African-American actors and actresses taking critical roles to remain relevant. The sad case about it is that there was a dialog in the documentary, with an actor who was playing Williams in a play talked about how Bert Williams, this rising star, was a mistake for being a doorman at a bar which he could not get into because he was Black. The documentary also touches on the stereotypes found in children’s nursery rhymes, household products, and books. These stereotypes started in films and show it is a part of American history and American cinema. Children like Pecola were told they were ugly because they were Black. Many believed that Black was ugly due to the introduction of racial stereotypes in films and movies. The documentary also goes into details about there being a change in Black representation when the 1970s came around with shows like Good Times, The Jeffersons, Sanford And Son, Soul Train, and What’s Happening gave a voice to the Black culture through family, dancing, clothing, and other factors. Even today’s television, there is still a misrepresentation of African-American women, especially Black women on reality television, as the “Angry Black woman.” Hattie McDonald was an actress known famously for her role as “Mammy” in the Civil War post-era setting 1939 film, Gone With The Wind she became the first African-American woman ever to win an Oscar. The crazy thing about McDonald winning an Oscar is that she won it for a role that was a racial stereotype; the same goes for actor Denzel Washington who also won an Oscar for his role in the 2001 film Training Day with him depicting a dirty cop. Why did he not receive an Oscar for his role as Malcolm X in Spike Lee’s 1992 film Malcolm X ? Films and television shows from the 2000s and on have sometimes played with misrepresentation of African-Americans. One question that has arisen from my mind is: Do we as African-Americans still believe in the racial stereotypes embedded in our films and television for years? To wrap things up, Oscar Micheaux paved the way for Spike Lees, Tyler Perrys, and Ava Duvernays to become directors, writers, producers and own their own film production companies. Micheaux did not feed into racial stereotypes when producing films; he gave many Black actors and actresses a voice to be themselves. Oscar Micheaux should be a name that everyone should know in Hollywood; he did not shy away from displaying the hardships and setbacks African-Americans faced in American. Oscar Micheaux's story deserves to be told because, without his contributions In Hollywood, there would not be African-American producers, writers, and directors in Hollywood. Micheaux wanted to be different from other directors, and he did because his work speaks for itself. Lastly, when it comes to representation on films and television shows, there has been a time when I felt that I did see anyone my size because I am a plus-size, by the way, on television or even in movies. I believe that there is work still to be done regarding African-Americans’ representation in movies, especially on television. If there is a lack of representation, what are children going to think about themselves?

Sources Used: https://www.naacp.org/naacp-history-oscar-micheaux/.

Black History In Two Minutes:

https://blackhistoryintwominutes.com/oscar-micheaux-the-first-black-indie-filmmaker/