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battle racist stereotypes
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The Rex Theater in Leland, Mississippi. The audience
for black films grew rapidly (particularly between 1915
and 1923); eventually there were about 600 theaters
on the race-movie circuit.
Body and Soul (1924) starred a
strapping newcomer, Paul
Robeson, as a shifty black min
ister. Micheaux dubbed his
leading players black versions
of white stars: thus Lorenzo
Tucker became the “black
Valentino;” Bee Freeman, the
“sepia Mae West.”
Within his star system,
Micheaux gave his actresses
vivid and important roles. Sev
African Americans in Augusta history
1865, George M. Stoney
ER LR Y G
1865 - George M. Stoney is
born in Aiken, South Caro
lina. He became a respected
Black physician who practiced
freely when other Black phy
sicians were not permitted to
treat their patients in most of
Augusta’s black hospitals. In
1892, along with Lucy Craft
!.anay,hebmnlmtnin
ing program for young Blacks
at Haines Institute.
REE
eral of his films might well be
classified as “women’s pic
tures,” dramas that focused on
the tensions and drives, the
restless energies of indepen
dent, strong-willed heroines in
conflict with men, with them
selves, or with the world in
which they lived. God’s Step
Children (ca. 1937), which told
the tale of the Negress Naomi,
who decides to cross the line,
1866, Freedman’s
Savings Bank opens
1866 - Freedman'’s Savings
Bank opens on Campbell
Street.
18'67, Cumming Grove
Baptist formed
1867 - Cumming Grove Bap
tist Church is formally orga
nized. The pastor is known as
Blind Tom. Thefirst structureis
near Milledge and Cumming
o and in Syadervilie. %, gz
was part woman’s film, part
race-theme movie, its heroine
ultimately punished with death
(like Dinah in Underworld),
perhaps precisely because of
her freewheeling indepen
dence. Micheaux’ wife, actress
Alice B. Russell, also worked
closely with him behind the
scenes on his production, per
haps helping him to inject a
female perspective intosome of
his melodramas.
Micheaux clearly realized
(and relished) the importance
of promotion and publicity. He
is said to have toured the coun
try to publicize one film and at
the same time seek financing
for his next, often stepping out
of cars and into meeting halls
as if “he were God about to
deliver a sermon.” “Why, he
was so impressive and so
charming,” said actor Lorenzo
Tucker, “that he could talk the
shirt off your back.” On his
tours, Micheaux approached
white Southern theater man
agers and owners, often per
suading them toshow hisblack
films at special matinee perfor
mances for black audiences or
at special late shows for white
audiences interested in black
camp. Micheaux’ shrewd pro
motional sense kept him in
business, even after a major
1867, Augusta Baptist Institute founded.
As
1867- The Augusta Baptist Institute is founded
in 1867 in the basement of Springfield Baptist
Church by William Jefferson White and Richard
C. Coulter. It later moved to Atlanta where it
ultimately became Morehouse College.
setback in 1928, when he went
bankrupt and then had to reor
ganize.
Oscar Micheaux’ greatest
contribution is often viewed by
some contemporary black au
diences as his severest short
coming. That his films fre
quently reflected the interests
and values of the black bour
geoisie has long been held
against him. Though his films
did not center on the racial
misery and decay of the ghetto,
few race movies did. Instead,
they tended to concentrate on
the problems facing black “pro
fessional people.”
Often enough, too, his favored
leads were close to the white
ideal: straight-haired, keen
featured, light-skinned. (The
same was true of other race
movies.) Micheaux was some
times criticized by the black
pressfor his color caste system.
In an Amsterdam News review
of Micheaux’ Daughter of The
Congo, black critic Theophilus
Lewis complained: “The first
offense of the new film is its
persistent vaunting of interra
cial color fetishism. The scene
is laid in a not so mythical re
public in Africa. Half of the
characters wear European
clothes and are supposed to be
civilized, while the other half
I 1870, The Colored Amen’can’ I
T L S T I O SN SO s
1870 (approx.) - The Colored
American, a black newspaper, is
founded in Augusta. It was to be a
“vehicle fo;thodimuinnofreli
(ioul,’?ohtml.mdmdinwli-
AR +: ot ek e R S
AUGUSTA FOCUS
1876, Hamburg Riot
1876 - The Hamburg Riot took place
on July 8 in Hamburg, South Carolina,
just across the river from Augusta. It
began as av altercation and escalated
into a deadly riot. There was a black
militia during the time of reconstruc
tion under the rule of a man named
Dock Adams. During a trial held
for two whites arrested by the
militia, a shot was fired and the
whites and blacks present began
fighting. An execution-style
slaughter of some 29 captured
bhchhlhd. resulted. One white was
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FEBRUARY 18, 1999
wear their birthday suits and
some feathers and are supposed
to be savages. All the noble
characters are high yellows; all
the ignoble ones are black.”
Lewis continued: “Even if
the picture possessed no other
defects, this artificial associa
tion of nobility with lightness
and villainy with blackness
would be enough toruinit. Itis
based on a false assumption
thathasnoconnection with the
realities of life.”
Perhaps to best appreciate
Micheaux’ films, one must un
derstand that he was moving
as far as possible from main
stream cinema’s jesters and
servants. He wanted to give
his audience something “to fur
ther the race, not hinderit.” In
doing so, Micheaux’ films could
also be controversial. His
Within Our-Gates (1920) had a
lynching sequence which the
Chicago Board of Movie Cen
sors objected to. Today hisfilms
remain a fascinating comment
on black social and political
aspirations of the past.
The audience for black films
grew rapidly (particularly be
tween 1915 and 1923); eventu
ally there were about 600 the
aters on the race-movie circuit.
See Micheaux, page 11
5D