Tag Archives: OSCAR MICHEAUX

THE AMERICAN BLACKSTORY 2017

DAY 27 — Joi McMillon & Bradford Young

Although one of the biggest Oscar stories ever happened on TV last night, a couple of much more monumental stories had played out a few weeks before when the nominations were announced.

On January 24, 2017, Joi McMillon became the first black woman nominated in the Best Film Editing category for “Moonlight.” It had been almost 50 years since a black person’s name had appeared in the category. At the same time, Bradford Young became the first black American nominated in the Best Cinematography category for “Arrival.”

The Academy Awards have been presented annually for nearly 88 years. (It was held twice in one year, hence last night being the 89th presentation.)

It’s a landmark for black people & women working behind the camera. Women were originally the ones tasked with editing film because it required laboriously cutting and piecing actual film, a task most believed to be too menial and too delicate for men’s hands. When editing equipment was introduced, women were phased out due to the now technical nature of the job. Black people never had particular access to White Hollywood, instead having to build their own film industries (see Day 9’s Oscar Micheaux).

To have received her honor on a film with such an intersectional & culturally diverse story as “Moonlight” is especially significant for Joi McMillon who said that “what acknowledgment and consideration bring to the film is validity. And I think the recognition by the Academy is telling them, ‘We hear your voice, and we’re paying attention to your voice, and we want you to continue to be heard.’”

For Bradford though, recognition for his work on “Arrival” is more bittersweet. His struggle reflects a complicated view that black America holds towards not just the Academy, but also toward the America we live in. What he says about it is just one reason that the stories we share during Black History Month serve a much greater purpose:

“The fact that I’m the first is only a reflection of [the Academy’s] failure to see us, which is our continuous struggle—just see me. If you just see me, you get to know me, then you’ll see that there have been many bodies, many spirits, many souls that should’ve been honored before.”

KEEP GOING BLACK IN HISTORY:

Watch more on the Academy’s history (or lack thereof) of recognizing & including minorities.
THE AMERICAN BLACKSTORY 2017

DAY 9 — Oscar Micheaux

Oscar.jpg

It was 1918 when Oscar Micheaux’s second book, The Homesteader, attracted Hollywood’s attention. The deal was done until Oscar made his final negotiating point – he wanted direct involvement with the production. The Lincoln Motion Picture Company refused Oscar’s demand, and it was the best thing that ever happened to him.

…because Oscar founded the Micheaux Film & Book Company, and in 1919, he became the first black major feature filmmaker. And a good one at that. His all-black films written for black audiences also made him the most successful black filmmaker of the first half of the 20th century, and one of the most prolific filmmakers in American cinema.

His work was so successful with black audiences because it addressed deeply polarizing & very authentic issues black Americans faced in the early 20th century. His film adaptation of “The Homesteader” revolved around an interracial relationship and the conflict between love & racial solidarity. It was met with both critical & commercial acclaim.

In 1920, he released “Within Our Gates” as a response to the 1915 racist propaganda film “Birth of a Nation,” one of the most popular movies of the time. “Within Our Gates” told the story of a black man wrongly accused of killing a white man & the tragedy that befell his family as a result. Unlike Oscar’s first film, this one was widely protested, deemed divisive and even banned from many theaters.

But Oscar refused to shy away from the truth of the black experience in early 20th century America. His movies unflinchingly confronted lynching, job discrimination, rape, mob violence, and economic exploitation, and his craft flourished. He produced over 40 feature films, and became the first black filmmaker to produce a movie with sound.

In 1987, Oscar got his props from Hollywood after all.

His dedication to the real, complex & well-made stories of black Americans led to another first for Oscar that was perhaps his (and our) most important – in 1948, his final film “Betrayal” became the very first black­-produced movie to premiere in white theaters.

KEEP GOING BLACK IN HISTORY:

Lucky us, Oscar’s work has been largely preserved, so today, you can watch “Within Our Gates” right from the comfort of home.