In this Book

  • Oscar Micheaux and His Circle: African-American Filmmaking and Race Cinema of the Silent Era
  • Book
  • Pearl Bowser, Jane Gaines, and Charles Musser, Editors and Curators
  • 2016
  • Published by: Indiana University Press
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summary

Oscar Micheaux—the most prolific African American filmmaker to date and a filmmaking giant of the silent period—has finally found his rightful place in film history. Both artist and showman, Micheaux stirred controversy in his time as he confronted issues such as lynching, miscegenation, peonage and white supremacy, passing, and corruption among black clergymen. In this important collection, prominent scholars examine Micheaux's surviving silent films, his fellow producers of race films who alternately challenged or emulated his methods, and the cultural activities that surrounded and sustained these achievements. The relationship between black film and both the stage (particularly the Lafayette Players) and the black press, issues of underdevelopment, and a genealogy of Micheaux scholarship, as well as extensive and more accurate filmographies, give a richly textured portrait of this era. The essays will fascinate the general public as well as scholars in the fields of film studies, cultural studies, and African American history. This thoroughly readable collection is a superb reference work lavishly illustrated with rare photographs.

Table of Contents

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  1. Cover
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  1. Title Page, Copyright, Dedication
  2. pp. i-vi
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  1. Contents
  2. pp. vii-viii
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  1. The Touring Package: Programs and Credits
  2. pp. ix-xii
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  1. Acknowledgments
  2. pp. xiii-xvi
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  1. Introduction: Oscar Micheaux and Race Movies of the Silent Period
  2. Pearl Bowser, Jane Gaines, Charles Musser
  3. pp. xvii-xxx
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  1. I. Overviews
  1. 1. Black Silence and the Politics of Representation
  2. Clyde R. Taylor
  3. pp. 3-10
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  1. 2. The Notion of Treatment: Black Aesthetics and Film, based on an interview with Peter Hessli and additional discussions with Pearl Bowser
  2. An Interview with Arthur Jafa
  3. pp. 11-18
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  1. 3. From Shadows ’n Shufflin’ to Spotlights and Cinema: The Lafayette Players, 1915–1932
  2. Sister Francesca Thompson
  3. pp. 19-33
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  1. 4. The African-American Press and Race Movies, 1909–1929
  2. Charlene Regester
  3. pp. 34-50
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  1. II. Oscar Micheaux
  1. 5. Oscar Micheaux’s Within Our Gates: The Possibilities for Alternative Visions
  2. Michele Wallace
  3. pp. 53-66
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  1. 6. Within Our Gates: From Race Melodrama to Opportunity Narrative
  2. Jane Gaines
  3. pp. 67-80
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  1. 7. Oscar Micheaux’s The Symbol of the Unconquered: Text and Context
  2. Pearl Bowser, Louise Spence
  3. pp. 81-96
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  1. 8. To Redream the Dreams of White Playwrights: Reappropriation and Resistance in Oscar Micheaux’s Body and Soul
  2. Charles Musser
  3. pp. 97-131
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  1. 9. Black Patriarch on the Prairie: National Identity and Black Manhood in the Early Novels of Oscar Micheaux
  2. Jayna Brown
  3. pp. 132-146
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  1. 10. Telling White Lies: Oscar Micheaux and Charles W. Chesnutt
  2. Corey K. Creekmur
  3. pp. 147-158
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  1. III. Micheaux's Contemporaries
  1. 11. Planes, Trains, and Automobiles: The Flying Ace, the Norman Company, and the Micheaux Connection
  2. Phyllis R. Klotman
  3. pp. 161-177
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  1. 12. Colored Players Film Corporation: An Alternative to Micheaux
  2. Charles Musser
  3. pp. 178-187
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  1. Lost, Then Found: The Wedding Scene from The Scar of Shame (1929)
  2. Pearl Bowser
  3. pp. 188-190
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  1. 13. Richard D. Maurice and the Maurice Film Company
  2. Pearl Bowser and Charles Musser
  3. pp. 191-194
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  1. 14. Cinematic Foremothers: Zora Neale Hurston and Eloyce King Patrick Gist
  2. Gloria J. Gibson
  3. pp. 195-210
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  1. APPENDIX A. The Reemergence of Oscar Micheaux: A Timeline and Bibliographic Essay
  2. J. Ronald Green
  3. pp. 211-227
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  1. APPENDIX B. An Oscar Micheaux Filmography: From the Silents through His Transition to Sound, 1919–1931
  2. Charles Musser, Corey K. Creekmur, Pearl Bowser, J. Ronald Green, Charlene Regester, Louise Spence
  3. pp. 228-277
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  1. APPENDIX C. A Colored Players Film Corporation Filmography
  2. Charles Musser
  3. pp. 278-285
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  1. APPENDIX D. Norman Film Manufacturing Company: Production and Theatrical Release Dates for All-Black-Cast Films
  2. Phyllis R. Klotman
  3. pp. 286-288
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  1. Notes
  2. pp. 289-328
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  1. Bibliography
  2. Kristen Barnes, Jane Gaines, Fred Neumann, Hank Okazaki
  3. pp. 329-340
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  1. About the Contributors
  2. pp. 341-344
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  1. Photo Credits
  2. pp. 345-346
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  1. Index
  2. pp. 347-353
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