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- Oscar Micheaux. Hailed as the first major Black filmmaker, Oscar Micheaux directed and produced 42 feature films between 1919 and 1948. He was a writer-turned-filmmaker, using his first novel "The Homesteader" to launch his career in the film industry.
- William Greaves. An influential independent documentary filmmaker, William Greaves produced and directed more than 100 films. His films captured social issues as well as key African American figures such as Muhammad Ali and Ida B. Wells.
- Gordon Parks. Gordon Parks started his career as a prolific and famed photographer before branching out into filmmaking. He started as a consultant on various Hollywood productions in the '50s before directing a series of documentaries about Black urban life for National Educational Television.
- Melvin van Peebles. Melvin van Peebles directed more than a dozen films during his career in Hollywood, but he is most well known for the 1971 movie "Sweet Sweetback's Baadasssss Song," which he wrote, directed and acted in.
Oscar Micheaux was an African-American author, film producer, and director. He is regarded as the most successful African-American feature filmmaker of the early 20th century. Best remembered for producing race films, he also authored several books and novels, including ‘The Conquest’ which was adapted into a film.
- Maria P. Williams
- Noble Johnson
- Lester Walton
- Oscar Micheaux
- Hattie Mcdaniel
- Spencer Williams
- Tressie Souders
- Paul Robeson
- Fredi Washington
Williams is known as the first Black female film producer, and had worked as secretary and treasurer of the Western Film Producing Company (the company that distributed her first film and of which her husband was president). It’s debated whether or not Williams directed Flames of Wrath, which has been attributed to her – “director” and “producer” w...
(Photo by Everett Collection) Black actors found work during the silent film era, but were often confined to racially stereotypical roles. Through his work as an actor and president of his own film company, Johnson sought to change this. Making his film debut in 1915, he was a successful character actor who appeared in 144 films, including 1925’s T...
Where would the storied history of Black film be without the inclusion of the voices of Black film critics? Walton began his expansive career at the St. Louis Star, becoming the newspaper’s first full-time Black reporter. He then moved to New York, becoming the theatrical editor and manager for the New York Age,and began writing about representatio...
(Photo by Everett Collection) “Race film” was a genre during the Jim Crow era, referring to movies created for and by Black people partly as a way to commit to screen the discrimination they faced. Micheaux began as a novelist and then transformed into a prominent voice within the genre. Hailed as the first major Black filmmaker, Micheaux directed ...
(Photo by Bettmann / Contributor / Getty Images) McDaniel was a trailblazing actress, becoming the first Black performer to be nominated for and win an Oscar, winning the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress for her role as “Mammy” in 1939’s Gone With the Wind. (See her moving speech here.) Wind was a boost to an already strong careeras a song...
(Photo by Everett Collection) Like Oscar Micheaux, Williams (above right) was known as one of the most prolific Black filmmakers of the first half of the 20th Century. As a pioneering director, screenwriter, and actor, his work pushed the “race film” genre forward. Of the 13 films he directed, 1941’s The Blood of Jesus is considered his masterpiece...
Men weren’t the only ones sharing their perspectives on contemporary Black life in film in the early 20th Century – Black women also created work to have their voices heard. Souders is notably known as the first Black woman to direct a feature film, A Woman’s Error. The film was distributed by Afro-American Film Exhibitors’ Company in 1922, but unf...
As a Civil Rights activist, concert artist, author, professional athlete, and star of stage and screen, Robeson was one of the most important cultural figures of the first half of the 20th Century. He started his phenomenally successful acting career in Oscar Micheaux’s 1925 film Body and Soul, and went on to star in the likes of 1933’sThe Emperor ...
Washington (above right) performed in nine films and a number of Broadway productions throughout her career, which coincided with the Harlem Renaissance. She’s best known for playing Peola Johnson, a fair-skinned Black woman who passes as white, in the 1934 Academy Award Best Picture nominee, Imitation of Life. After her film career ended, she beca...
Feb 1, 2023 · Oscar Micheaux is noted as the most prolific Black American filmmaker of the first half of the 20th century. The 1980s and 1990s paved the way for a new generation of Black male filmmakers like...
Although the short-lived Lincoln Motion Picture Company was the first movie company owned and controlled by black filmmakers, Micheaux is regarded as the first major African-American feature filmmaker, a prominent producer of race films, and has been described as "the most successful African-American filmmaker of the first half of the 20th ...
- Director, author
- March 25, 1951 (aged 67), Charlotte, North Carolina, U.S.
- Oscar Devereaux Micheaux, January 2, 1884, Metropolis, Illinois, U.S.
- .mw-parser-output .plainlist ol,.mw-parser-output .plainlist ul{line-height:inherit;list-style:none;margin:0;padding:0}.mw-parser-output .plainlist ol li,.mw-parser-output .plainlist ul li{margin-bottom:0}Orlean McCracken (m.1910), Alice B. Russell (m.1926)
The most successful African-American director of the first half of the 20th century, Oscar Micheaux has written, directed and produced more than 44 films and 6 novels. The story of Oscar Micheaux is a long, complex and fascinating adventure to be rediscovered.
Feb 18, 2020 · In his films, he often portrayed the themes of race and the injustices dealt to blacks. He has been described as “the most successful African-American filmmaker of the first half of the 20th century,” and in 1987 was recognized with a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.
