Race movie
Encyclopedia
The race movie or race film was a film genre which existed in the United States
between about 1915 and 1950. It consisted of films produced for an all-black
audience, featuring black casts.
In all, approximately five hundred race films were produced. Of these, fewer than one hundred remain. Because race films were produced outside the Hollywood studio system
, they have been largely forgotten by mainstream film historians. In their day, race films were very popular among African American theatergoers. Their influence continues to be felt in cinema and television marketed to African Americans.
s on television, race movies were most often financed by white-owned companies, such as Alfred N. Sack, and scripted by white writers. Many race films were produced by white-owned film companies outside the Hollywood-centered American film industry, making them some of the first financially successful independent film
s. One of the earliest surviving examples of a black cast film aimed at a black audience is A Fool and His Money (1912
), directed by French emigree Alice Guy for the Solax Film Company. The Ebony Film Company of Chicago
, created specifically to produce black-cast films, was also headed by a white production team.
Some black-owned studios existed, including Lincoln Motion Picture Company
(1916
–1921
), and most notably Oscar Micheaux
's Chicago-based Micheaux Film Corporation, which operated from 1918
–1940
. On his posters, Micheaux advertised that his films were scripted and produced exclusively by blacks. Astor Pictures
released several race films and produced Beware with Louis Jordan
.
The race films vanished after United States v. Paramount Pictures, Inc.
, or the Hollywood Antitrust Case of 1948, which forced the division of motion picture exhibitors from the motion picture production companies. African-American participation in World War II
contributed to the casting of black actors in lead roles in several Hollywood major productions, such as Pinky
with Ethel Waters
; Home of the Brave
with James Edwards
; and Intruder in the Dust
, all in 1949; and No Way Out
(1950), which was the debut of the notable actor Sidney Poitier
.
, race movies were screened at designated black theaters. Though northern cities were not formally segregated, race films were generally shown in theaters in black neighborhoods. Many large northern theaters incorporated special balconies reserved for blacks.
While it was rare for race films to be shown to white audiences, white theaters often reserved special time-slots for black moviegoers. This resulted in race films often being screened as matinées and midnight shows. During the height of their popularity, race films were shown in as many as 1,100 theaters around the country.
. Many race films, particularly those produced by white studios, expressed middle-class urban values, especially education and industriousness. Common themes included the "improvement" of the black race, the supposed tension between educated and uneducated blacks, and the tragic consequences in store for blacks who resisted liberal capitalist values. The most famous race movie, The Scar of Shame
, incorporated all of these themes.
Race films typically avoided explicit depictions of poverty, ghetto
s, social decay, and crime. When such elements appeared, they often did so in the background or as plot devices. Race films rarely treated the subjects of social injustice and race relations, although blacks were legally disfranchised in the South and suffered discrimination in the North.
Race films avoided many of the popular black stock characters found in contemporary mainstream films, or else relegated these stereotypes to supporting roles and villains. Micheaux depicted his protagonists as educated, prosperous, and genteel. Micheaux hoped to give his audience something to help them "further the race".
Black comedian
s such as Mantan Moreland
, who had played supporting comedy roles in mainstream Hollywood films, reprised his character as the lead in such films as Professor Creeps and Mr Washington Goes To Town. Some black entertainers, such as Moms Mabley
or Pigmeat Markham
, starred in their own vehicle
s. Mabley and Markham did not appear in mainstream entertainment until the late 1960s, when both were featured on Laugh-In on American television.
Many black singers and bands appeared in lead or supporting roles in race films; Louis Jordan
, for example, made three films.
and Clarence Muse
are two of the most striking examples of talented performers who generally were given minor roles in mainstream movies. A few stars from race films were able to cross over to relative stardom in mainstream works – for example, Paul Robeson
and Evelyn Preer
. Hollywood studios often used race movies as a recruiting source of black talent.
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
between about 1915 and 1950. It consisted of films produced for an all-black
African American
African Americans are citizens or residents of the United States who have at least partial ancestry from any of the native populations of Sub-Saharan Africa and are the direct descendants of enslaved Africans within the boundaries of the present United States...
audience, featuring black casts.
In all, approximately five hundred race films were produced. Of these, fewer than one hundred remain. Because race films were produced outside the Hollywood studio system
Studio system
The studio system was a means of film production and distribution dominant in Hollywood from the early 1920s through the early 1960s. The term studio system refers to the practice of large motion picture studios producing movies primarily on their own filmmaking lots with creative personnel under...
, they have been largely forgotten by mainstream film historians. In their day, race films were very popular among African American theatergoers. Their influence continues to be felt in cinema and television marketed to African Americans.
Financing and production
As many as 500 race films were produced in the United States between 1915 and 1952. As happened later with the early black sitcomBlack sitcom
A black sitcom is an American term meaning a sitcom that features a primarily black cast or an African-American in the lead role. Although sitcoms with primarily black casts had been present since the earliest days of network television , this genre rose to prominence in the...
s on television, race movies were most often financed by white-owned companies, such as Alfred N. Sack, and scripted by white writers. Many race films were produced by white-owned film companies outside the Hollywood-centered American film industry, making them some of the first financially successful independent film
Independent film
An independent film, or indie film, is a professional film production resulting in a feature film that is produced mostly or completely outside of the major film studio system. In addition to being produced and distributed by independent entertainment companies, independent films are also produced...
s. One of the earliest surviving examples of a black cast film aimed at a black audience is A Fool and His Money (1912
1912 in film
The year 1912 in film involved some significant events.-Events:*Mack Sennett, who had previously worked as an actor and comedy director with D. W. Griffith, formed a new company with New York City entrepreneur Adam Kessel called Keystone Studios...
), directed by French emigree Alice Guy for the Solax Film Company. The Ebony Film Company of Chicago
Chicago
Chicago is the largest city in the US state of Illinois. With nearly 2.7 million residents, it is the most populous city in the Midwestern United States and the third most populous in the US, after New York City and Los Angeles...
, created specifically to produce black-cast films, was also headed by a white production team.
Some black-owned studios existed, including Lincoln Motion Picture Company
Lincoln Motion Picture Company
The Lincoln Motion Picture Company was an American film production company founded by the Johnson brothers in 1915 in Omaha, Nebraska; it was incorporated in 1916 in Los Angeles, California. Among the first organized black filmmakers, it became the first producer of so-called "race movies"...
(1916
1916 in film
The year 1916 in film involved some significant events.-Events:* October 17 - release of A Daughter of the Gods, the first US production with a million dollar budget, with the first nude scene by a major star....
–1921
1921 in film
-Top grossing films :-Films released in 1921:U.S.A. unless stated*$10,000 Under a Pillow, silent film directed by Frank Moser*The Ace of Hearts, silent film directed by Wallace Worsley*Across the Divide, silent film directed by John Holloway...
), and most notably Oscar Micheaux
Oscar Micheaux
Oscar Devereaux Micheaux was an American author, film director and independent producer of more than 44 films...
's Chicago-based Micheaux Film Corporation, which operated from 1918
1918 in film
The year 1918 in film involved some significant events.-Events:*Following litigation for anti-trust activities, the US Supreme Court orders the Motion Picture Patents Company to disband....
–1940
1940 in film
The year 1940 in film involved some significant events, including the premieres of the Walt Disney classics Pinocchio and Fantasia.-Events:*February 7 - Walt Disney's animated film Pinocchio is released....
. On his posters, Micheaux advertised that his films were scripted and produced exclusively by blacks. Astor Pictures
Astor Pictures
Astor Pictures was a motion picture distribution service in operation from 1930 to 1963, founded by Robert M. Savini...
released several race films and produced Beware with Louis Jordan
Louis Jordan
Louis Thomas Jordan was a pioneering American jazz, blues and rhythm & blues musician, songwriter and bandleader who enjoyed his greatest popularity from the late 1930s to the early 1950s. Known as "The King of the Jukebox", Jordan was highly popular with both black and white audiences in the...
.
The race films vanished after United States v. Paramount Pictures, Inc.
United States v. Paramount Pictures, Inc.
United States v. Paramount Pictures, Inc., 334 US 131 was a landmark United States Supreme Court anti-trust case that decided the fate of movie studios owning their own theatres and holding exclusivity rights on which theatres would...
, or the Hollywood Antitrust Case of 1948, which forced the division of motion picture exhibitors from the motion picture production companies. African-American participation in World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
contributed to the casting of black actors in lead roles in several Hollywood major productions, such as Pinky
Pinky (1949 film)
Pinky is a 1949 American drama film adapted from the Cid Ricketts Sumner novel by Philip Dunne and Dudley Nichols and was directed by Elia Kazan. John Ford was originally hired to direct the film, but was replaced after one week because producer Darryl F. Zanuck was unhappy with the dailies...
with Ethel Waters
Ethel Waters
Ethel Waters was an American blues, jazz and gospel vocalist and actress. She frequently performed jazz, big band, and pop music, on the Broadway stage and in concerts, although she began her career in the 1920s singing blues.Her best-known recordings includes, "Dinah", "Birmingham Bertha",...
; Home of the Brave
Home of the Brave (1949 film)
Home of the Brave is a 1949 film based on a 1946 play by Arthur Laurents. It was directed by Mark Robson and stars Douglas Dick, Jeff Corey, Lloyd Bridges, Frank Lovejoy, James Edwards, and Steve Brodie...
with James Edwards
James Edwards (actor)
James Edwards was an African American actor in films and television. His most famous role was as Private Peter Moss in the 1949 film Home of the Brave, in which he portrayed a soldier experiencing racial prejudice while serving in the South Pacific during World War II...
; and Intruder in the Dust
Intruder in the Dust
Intruder in the Dust is a novel by the Nobel Prize-winning American author William Faulkner publishedin 1948.The novel focuses on Lucas Beauchamp, a black farmer accused of murdering a white man. He is exonerated through the efforts of black and white teenagers and a spinster from a...
, all in 1949; and No Way Out
No Way Out (1950 film)
No Way Out is a black-and-white film noir directed by Joseph L. Mankiewicz, and starring Richard Widmark, Linda Darnell, Stephen McNally, and Sidney Poitier...
(1950), which was the debut of the notable actor Sidney Poitier
Sidney Poitier
Sir Sidney Poitier, KBE is a Bahamian American actor, film director, author, and diplomat.In 1963, Poitier became the first black person to win an Academy Award for Best Actor for his role in Lilies of the Field...
.
Venues
In the South, to comply with laws on racial segregationRacial segregation
Racial segregation is the separation of humans into racial groups in daily life. It may apply to activities such as eating in a restaurant, drinking from a water fountain, using a public toilet, attending school, going to the movies, or in the rental or purchase of a home...
, race movies were screened at designated black theaters. Though northern cities were not formally segregated, race films were generally shown in theaters in black neighborhoods. Many large northern theaters incorporated special balconies reserved for blacks.
While it was rare for race films to be shown to white audiences, white theaters often reserved special time-slots for black moviegoers. This resulted in race films often being screened as matinées and midnight shows. During the height of their popularity, race films were shown in as many as 1,100 theaters around the country.
Themes
Produced primarily in northern cities, the target audience consisted primarily of poor southern blacks and southerners who had migrated northwardGreat Migration (African American)
The Great Migration was the movement of 6 million blacks out of the Southern United States to the Northeast, Midwest, and West from 1910 to 1970. Some historians differentiate between a Great Migration , numbering about 1.6 million migrants, and a Second Great Migration , in which 5 million or more...
. Many race films, particularly those produced by white studios, expressed middle-class urban values, especially education and industriousness. Common themes included the "improvement" of the black race, the supposed tension between educated and uneducated blacks, and the tragic consequences in store for blacks who resisted liberal capitalist values. The most famous race movie, The Scar of Shame
The Scar of Shame
The Scar of Shame is a silent film, which was filmed in 1926 and released in 1927.It was produced by the Colored Players Film Corporation of Philadelphia, in one of the earliest examples of "race movies", in which an entirely black cast performed a feature film specifically for a black audience...
, incorporated all of these themes.
Race films typically avoided explicit depictions of poverty, ghetto
Ghetto
A ghetto is a section of a city predominantly occupied by a group who live there, especially because of social, economic, or legal issues.The term was originally used in Venice to describe the area where Jews were compelled to live. The term now refers to an overcrowded urban area often associated...
s, social decay, and crime. When such elements appeared, they often did so in the background or as plot devices. Race films rarely treated the subjects of social injustice and race relations, although blacks were legally disfranchised in the South and suffered discrimination in the North.
Race films avoided many of the popular black stock characters found in contemporary mainstream films, or else relegated these stereotypes to supporting roles and villains. Micheaux depicted his protagonists as educated, prosperous, and genteel. Micheaux hoped to give his audience something to help them "further the race".
Black comedian
Comedian
A comedian or comic is a person who seeks to entertain an audience, primarily by making them laugh. This might be through jokes or amusing situations, or acting a fool, as in slapstick, or employing prop comedy...
s such as Mantan Moreland
Mantan Moreland
Mantan Moreland was an American actor and comedian most popular in the 1930s and 1940s.-Career:Born in Monroe, Louisiana, Moreland began acting by the time he was an adolescent, reportedly running away to join the circus...
, who had played supporting comedy roles in mainstream Hollywood films, reprised his character as the lead in such films as Professor Creeps and Mr Washington Goes To Town. Some black entertainers, such as Moms Mabley
Moms Mabley
Jackie "Moms" Mabley, born Loretta Mary Aiken , was an American standup comedian and a pioneer of the so-called "Chitlin' Circuit" of African-American vaudeville.-Early years:...
or Pigmeat Markham
Pigmeat Markham
Dewey "Pigmeat" Markham was an African-American entertainer. Though best known as a comedian, Markham was also a singer, dancer, and actor...
, starred in their own vehicle
Star vehicle
A star vehicle has historically been a movie, play, TV series, or other production whose primary purpose, besides turning a profit, is to enhance someone's career. Vehicles are most commonly produced when a young or inexperienced actor has signed a long-term contract with a major studio...
s. Mabley and Markham did not appear in mainstream entertainment until the late 1960s, when both were featured on Laugh-In on American television.
Many black singers and bands appeared in lead or supporting roles in race films; Louis Jordan
Louis Jordan
Louis Thomas Jordan was a pioneering American jazz, blues and rhythm & blues musician, songwriter and bandleader who enjoyed his greatest popularity from the late 1930s to the early 1950s. Known as "The King of the Jukebox", Jordan was highly popular with both black and white audiences in the...
, for example, made three films.
Historical significance
Race movies are of great interest to students of African American cinema. They have historical significance, but also showcased the talents of actors who were relegated to stereotypical supporting roles in mainstream studio films. Hattie McDanielHattie McDaniel
Hattie McDaniel was the first African-American actress to win an Academy Award. She won the award for Best Supporting Actress for her role of Mammy in Gone with the Wind ....
and Clarence Muse
Clarence Muse
Clarence Muse was an actor, screenwriter, director, composer, and lawyer. He was inducted in the Black Filmmakers Hall of Fame in 1973. Muse was the first African American to "star" in a film. He acted for more than sixty years, and appeared in more than 150 movies.-Life and career:Born in...
are two of the most striking examples of talented performers who generally were given minor roles in mainstream movies. A few stars from race films were able to cross over to relative stardom in mainstream works – for example, Paul Robeson
Paul Robeson
Paul Leroy Robeson was an American concert singer , recording artist, actor, athlete, scholar who was an advocate for the Civil Rights Movement in the first half of the twentieth century...
and Evelyn Preer
Evelyn Preer
Evelyn Preer, born Evelyn Jarvis , was a pioneering African-American stage and screen actress and blues singer of the 1910s through the early 1930s. Evelyn was known within the black community as "The First Lady of the Screen."She was the first black actress to earn celebrity and popularity...
. Hollywood studios often used race movies as a recruiting source of black talent.
Notable race movies
- The HomesteaderThe HomesteaderThe Homesteader is a black-and-white silent film by African American author and filmmaker Oscar Micheaux.-Production:The film was produced, co-directed and written for the screen by Micheaux, based on his book of the same name. It is believed to be the first feature-length film made with a black...
(19191919 in filmThe year 1919 in film involved some significant events.-Events:*February 5 - Charlie Chaplin, Mary Pickford, Douglas Fairbanks and D.W. Griffith launch United Artists...
), Micheaux's first film - Within Our GatesWithin Our GatesWithin Our Gates is a silent race film that dramatically expresses the racial situation in America during the violent years of Jim Crow, the Ku Klux Klan, the Great Migration, and the emergence of the "New Negro".-Production background:...
(19191919 in filmThe year 1919 in film involved some significant events.-Events:*February 5 - Charlie Chaplin, Mary Pickford, Douglas Fairbanks and D.W. Griffith launch United Artists...
), inspired by Leo FrankLeo FrankLeo Max Frank was a Jewish-American factory superintendent whose hanging in 1915 by a lynch mob of prominent citizens in Marietta, Georgia drew attention to antisemitism in the United States....
trial - Body and SoulBody and Soul (1924 film)Body and Soul is a 1925 race film produced, written, directed, and distributed by Oscar Micheaux and starring Paul Robeson in his motion picture debut.-Plot:...
(19241924 in film-Events:* Entertainment entrepreneur Marcus Loew gained control of Metro Pictures, Goldwyn Pictures Corporation and Louis B. Mayer Pictures to create Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer...
), Paul Robeson's cinematic debut - The Scar of ShameThe Scar of ShameThe Scar of Shame is a silent film, which was filmed in 1926 and released in 1927.It was produced by the Colored Players Film Corporation of Philadelphia, in one of the earliest examples of "race movies", in which an entirely black cast performed a feature film specifically for a black audience...
(19271927 in film-Events:*January 10 - Fritz Lang's science-fiction fantasy Metropolis premieres in Germany.*April 7 - Abel Gance's Napoleon often considered his best known and greatest masterpiece, premiers at the Paris Opéra and would demonstrate techniques and equipment that would not be used for years to...
) - The ExileThe Exile (1931 film)The Exile was a 1931 American film by Oscar Micheaux. A drama–romance of the race film genre, it was Micheaux's first feature-length talkie, and the first African American talkie...
(19311931 in film-Top grossing films:-Academy Awards:*Best Picture: Cimarron - MGM*Best Actor: Lionel Barrymore - A Free Soul*Best Actor: Wallace Beery - The Champ*Best Actor: Fredric March - Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde...
) - Harlem on the PrairieHarlem on the Prairie (film)Harlem on the Prairie is a race movie, billed as the first "all-colored" western musical. The movie reminded audiences that there were black cowboys and corrected a popular Hollywood image of an all-white Old West....
(19371937 in filmThe year 1937 in film involved some significant events, including the Walt Disney production of the first full-length animated film, Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs.- Events :*April 16 - Way Out West premieres in the US....
), Herb Jeffries in the first singing cowboySinging cowboyA singing cowboy was a subtype of the archetypal cowboy hero of early Western films, popularized by many of the B-movies of the 1930s and 1940s...
Western race movie - Lying LipsLying LipsLying Lips is a 1939, melodrama, race movie by Oscar Micheaux, starring Edna Mae Harris, and Robert Earl Jones .Lying Lips was the thirty-seventh film of Micheaux.-Plot:...
(19391939 in filmThe year 1939 in motion pictures can be justified as being called the most outstanding one ever, when it comes to the high quality and high attendance at the large set of the best films that premiered in the year .- Events :Motion picture historians and film often rate...
) - The Blood of JesusThe Blood of JesusThe Blood of Jesus is a 1941 American race film written, directed, and starring Spencer Williams. It was also released under the alternate title of The Glory Road.-Plot:...
(19411941 in filmThe year 1941 in film involved some significant events.-Events:Citizen Kane, consistently rated as one of the greatest films of all time, was released in 1941.-Top grossing films :-Academy Awards:...
), the first race film added to the U.S. National Film RegistryNational Film RegistryThe National Film Registry is the United States National Film Preservation Board's selection of films for preservation in the Library of Congress. The Board, established by the National Film Preservation Act of 1988, was reauthorized by acts of Congress in 1992, 1996, 2005, and again in October 2008...
, in 19911991 in filmThe year 1991 in film involved some significant events.-Events:*April 28 - Bonnie Raitt marries actor Michael O'Keefe in New York* Terminator 2: Judgment Day, became one of the landmarks for science fiction action films with its groundbreaking visual effects from Industrial Light & Magic.*November...
Print references
- Diawara, Manthia. Black American Cinema. Routledge, 1993. ISBN 0-415-90397-1
- Gaines, Jane M. Fire and Desire: Mixed-Race Movies in the Silent Era. University Of Chicago Press, 2001. ISBN 0-226-27875-1