Oscar Micheaux

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Oscar Micheaux

Born Oscar Micheaux
January 2, 1884(1884-01-02)
Metropolis, Illinois, USA
Died March 25, 1951 (aged 67) (heart disease)
Charlotte, North Carolina, USA
Occupation Director
Spouse(s) Alice B. Russell (1926-1951) his death

Oscar Micheaux (January 2, 1884 – March 25, 1951) was a pioneering African American author and is widely recognized as being the first African-American filmmaker (although he was predated by the shortlived Lincoln Motion Picture Company[1]). He is considered the most prominent producer of race films.

Micheaux (or sometimes written as "Michaux"), was born near Metropolis, Illinois and grew up in Great Bend, Kansas, one of eleven children of former slaves. As a young boy he shined shoes and worked as a porter on the railway. As a young man, he very successfully homesteaded a farm in an all-white area of South Dakota where he began writing stories. Given the attitudes and restrictions on black people at the time, Micheaux overcame them by forming his own publishing company to sell his books door-to-door.

The advent of the motion picture industry intrigued him as a vehicle to tell his stories. He formed his own movie production company and in 1919 became the first African-American to make a film. He wrote, directed and produced the silent motion picture The Homesteader, starring the pioneering African American actress Evelyn Preer, based on his novel of the same name. He again used autobiographical elements in The Exile, his first feature film with sound, in which the central character leaves Chicago to buy and operate a ranch in South Dakota. In 1924 he introduced the moviegoing world to Paul Robeson in his film, Body and Soul.

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. Additionally, in his film Within Our Gates, Micheaux attacked the racism depicted in D.W. Griffith's film, The Birth of a Nation.

The Producers Guild of America called him "The most prolific black - if not most prolific independent - filmmaker in American cinema." Over his illustrious career, Oscar Micheaux wrote, produced and directed forty-four feature-length films between 1919 and 1948 and wrote seven novels, one of which was a national bestseller.

Micheaux died in Charlotte, North Carolina while on a business trip. His body was returned to Great Bend, Kansas, where he was interred in the Great Bend cemetery with other members of his family.

Contents

[edit] Legacy

  • In 1986 the Directors Guild of America honored Micheaux with a Golden Jubilee Special Award and today the Oscar Micheaux Award is presented each year by the Producers Guild.
  • For his contribution to the motion picture industry, Oscar Micheaux has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 6721 Hollywood Blvd.
  • There is a 1994 documentary about Micheaux, Midnight Ramble, named after the "Midnight Rambles" in which cinemas would show films at midnight to an African American audiences.

[edit] Bibliography

  • Conquest: The Story of a Negro Pioneer - (1913)
  • The Forged Note - (1915)
  • The Homesteader - (1917)
  • The Wind from Nowhere - (1941)
  • The Case of Mrs. Wingate - (1944)
  • The Story of Dorothy Stanfield - (1946)
  • Masquerade, a Historical Novel - (1947)

[edit] Filmography

[edit] Notes

  1. ^ The Lincoln Motion Picture company, a first for Black cinema!, The African American Registry, 24 May 2005. Accessed online 13 March 2007

[edit] References

Yenser, Thomas (editor), Who's Who in Colored America: A Biographical Dictionary of Notable Living Persons of African Descent in America, Who's Who in Colored America, Brooklyn, New York, 1930-1931-1932 (Third Edition)

[edit] External links

Persondata
NAME Micheaux, Oscar
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Michaux, Oscar
SHORT DESCRIPTION Director
DATE OF BIRTH January 2, 1884
PLACE OF BIRTH Metropolis, Illinois, United States
DATE OF DEATH March 25, 1951
PLACE OF DEATH Charlotte, North Carolina, United States
Languages