Oscar Micheaux Overview

Oscar Micheaux (1884 - 1951) was one of 11 children of former slaves, and grew up in Metropolis, Ilinois. Considered the "Dean of Early Black American Cinema", the Producers Guild of America states that Micheaux is "The most prolific black -... [more]

Oscar Micheaux (1884 - 1951) was one of 11 children of former slaves, and grew up in Metropolis, Ilinois. Considered the "Dean of Early Black American Cinema", the Producers Guild of America states that Micheaux is "The most prolific black - if not most prolific independent - filmmaker in American cinema." During his career, Micheaux wrote, produced and directed between 40- 48 films between 1919 and 1950 as well as writing seven novels. Considering the time period, his accomplishments in film and publishing are extraordinary. One of the pioneers of independent cinema, Oscar Micheaux was the first African-American to produce a feature-length film (the eight-reel The Homesteader in 1919) and a sound feature-length film (The Exile in 1931). He was also the first black American to write a best-selling novel, The Case of Mrs. Wingate (1945), which sold 55,000 copies. Despite his successful literary efforts, it is as a filmmaker that Micheaux made his biggest impact. According to his obituary in the Amsterdam News, he "was credited with producing 44 of the 82 all-Negro pictures made." Oscar Micheaux is not a major figure in American film just because of his production milestones, but because his oeuvre is a window onto the American psyche as regards race and the deleterious effects of racism upon individuals and society. Though the end products of his labors often were technically crude due to budgetary constraints, Micheaux the filmmaker is a symbol of the artist triumphing over long odds to bring his vision to the public at large. Aside from these achievements, Oscar Micheaux is also a protean, archetypal American character: A self-made (and self-defined) man who achieved success on his own terms. "One of the greatest tasks of my life has been to teach that the colored man can be anything," Micheaux said. Oscar Micheaux used the new medium of the cinema picture to communicate his ideas to rebut racism and to raise the consciousness of African Americans in an age of segregation and overt, legal racism. As a filmmaker, Micheaux was "fifty years ahead of his time," according to Kansas Humanities Council Board member Martin Keenan, the chairman of the Oscar Micheaux Film Festivals in Great Bend, Kansas in 2001 and 2003. [show less]