Writing Himself into History

Oscar Micheaux (1884–1951) was a prolific novelist and filmmaker, producing forty-three films and seven novels. He was a leader in the production of African American silent films, director of early black “talkies,” and a strong supporter of Booker T. Washington's racial uplift policies. Known for his ballyhoo, he had a reputation for being an aggressive self-promoter. Some in the black press, however, referred to him as a “colored Judas.” He was criticized for casting light-skinned actors, described as “light-brights,” in leading roles and for portraying disreputable black characters. When he died on the road selling his books and films he was barely remembered, and he was ignored for the next forty years. In Toms, Coons, Mulattoes, Mammies, and Bucks (1973), Donald Bogle asserted that Mi-cheaux's films were “conventional melodramas” resembling the Hollywood B movies of the time. Joseph A. Young, in his book Black Novelist as White Racist (1989), condemned Micheaux's novels as “confederate romanticism” promoting “Negrophobia.”

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