I believe that I make Black History everyday. I don't need a month. But some people do need this month to recognize, celebrate, honor, and remember great African Americans and their extraordinary accomplishments.
I felt it necessary to celebrate an African American who gets almost no recognition because people have no idea who he is. Oscar Micheaux was the first Black American to ever produce a full length film in 1919! He also formed his own independent movie company. He wrote, directed, and produced the silent movie "The Homesteader." Given the times, his accomplishments in publishing and film are remarkable, including being the first African American to produce a film to be shown in "white" movie theaters.
His movies didn't portray blacks in stereotypical roles, another reason why he probably isn't as acclaimed as he could be. He was a filmmaker who challenged the status quo. His film "Within Our Gates" unapologetically attacked the racism in D.W. Griffith's "Birth of a Nation"
The Producers Guild of America called him "The most prolific black - if not most prolific independent - filmmaker in American cinema." During his amazing film 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!
Please check out this extraordinary biography: "Oscar Micheaux: The Great and Only: The Life of America's First Black Filmmaker" by Patrick McGilligan
His Filmography:
The Homesteader (1919)
Within Our Gates (1919)
Symbol of the Unconquered (1920)
The Brute (1920)
Son of Satan (1922)
The Dungeon (1922)
The Gunsaulus Mystery (1922)
The Virgin of the Seminole (1922)
Deceit (1923)
Jasper Landry's Will (1923)
Body and Soul (1924)
The Spider's Web (1926)
The Millionaire (1927)
When Men Betray (1928)
Thirty Years Later (1928)
Wages of Sin (1929 film) (1929)
Darktown Revue (1930)
A Daughter of the Congo (1930)
Easy Street (1930)
The Exile (1931)
Black Magic (1932)
Ten Minutes to Live (1932)
Veiled Aristocrats (1932)
Ten Minutes to Kill (1933)
The Girl From Chicago (1933)
Harlem After Midnight (1934)
Lem Hawkins' Confession (1935) also released as Murder in Harlem
Temptation (1936)
Underworld (1936)
God's Step Children (1938)
Swing (1938)
Birthright (1939)
Lying Lips (1939)
The Notorious Elinor Lee (1940)
The Betrayal (1948)
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