Race Films and the Black Press: Representation and Resistance

Abstract

Beginning with the release of The Birth of a Nation through the mid-twentieth century, the film industry began featuring African Americans on the silver screen. The emergence of race films—major film productions made by African Americans and featuring Black artists—were frequently reported and reviewed in the Black press. This examination of the coverage of race films in three major Black newspapers, the Chicago Defender, Pittsburgh Courier, and Baltimore Afro-American, traces coverage of race films by the Black press between 1915 and 1950. This study builds on literature from journalism and communication studies, as well as film studies to illustrate how the Black press fulfilled its role as an advocacy press and served its mission of racial uplift through its race film coverage. It argues that Black newspapers achieved this by giving positive coverage to race films, their actors, producers, and crew members, and by unreservedly criticizing Black members of the entertainment industry if the Black press perceived that they were acting in ways detrimental to the greater cause of improving attitudes toward the Black community.

Notes

1 Patrick S. Washburn, The African American Newspaper: Voice of Freedom (Evanston: Northwestern University Press, 2006), 51.

2 Catherine Squires, African Americans and the Media (Malden, MA: Polity, 2009), 15.

3 Jonathan Birnbaum and Clarence Taylor, Civil Rights Since 1787: A Reader on the Black Struggle (New York: NYU Press, 2000), 41.

4 Hayward Farrar, “See what the ‘Afro’ Says: The Baltimore ‘Afro-American,’ 1892-1950,” (PhD diss., The University of Chicago, 1983), 2.

5 Farrar, “See what the ‘Afro’ Says.”

6 Kerri K. Greenidge, Black Radical: The Life and Times of William Monroe Trotter (New York: Liveright Publishing, 2020), xiv.

7 Greenidge, Black Radical.

8 Farrar, “See what the ‘Afro’ Says,” 8.

9 Farrar, “See what the ‘Afro’ Says,” 8.

10 Kim T. Gallon, Pleasure in the News: African American Readership and Sexuality in the Black Press (Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 2020), 16.

11 Charles A. Simmons, The African American Press: A History of News Coverage During National Crises, with Special Reference to Four Black Newspapers, 1827-1965 (Jefferson, NC: McFarland, 2006): 25-42.

12 Simmons, The African American Press, 45.

13 Andrew Bunie, Robert L. Vann of the Pittsburgh Courier: Politics and Black Journalism, (Pittsburgh, PA: University of Pittsburgh Press, 1974).

14 Simmons, The African American Press, 46.

15 Donald Bogle, Bright Boulevards, Bold Dreams: The Story of Black Hollywood (New York: One World Random House, 2005), 19.

16 Bogle, Bright Boulevards, Bold Dreams.

17 Carrie Teresa, Looking at the Stars: Black Celebrity Journalism in Jim Crow America (Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 2019), 6.

18 Barbara T. Lupack, “Introduction,” in Early Race Filmmaking in America (New York: Routledge, 2016), 9.

19 Robert Jackson, “The Secret Life of Oscar Mischeaux: Race Films, Contested Histories, and Modern American Culture,” in Beyond Blackface: African Americans and the Creation of American Popular Culture, 1890-1930 (Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 2011), 218.

20 Jackson, “The Secret Life of Oscar Mischeaux”; Donald Bogle, Toms, Coons, Mulattoes, Mammies, and Bucks: An Interpretive History of Blacks in American Films (London: Burns & Oates, 2016).

21 Bogle, Bright Boulevards, Bold Dreams.

22 Bogle, Toms, Coons, Mulattoes, Mammies, and Bucks, 90.

23 Jackson, “The Secret Life of Oscar Mischeaux,” 218.

24 Squires, African Americans and the Media, 91.

25 Squires, African Americans and the Media, 91.

26 W. F. Brundage, “Working in the ‘Kingdom of Culture’ African Americans and American Popular Culture, 1890–1930,” in Beyond Blackface: African Americans and the Creation of American Popular Culture, 1890-1930 (Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 2011), 2.

27 Squires, African Americans and the Media, 104.

28 Bogle, Toms, Coons, Mulattoes, Mammies, and Bucks, 89.

29 Charlene Regester, “Stepin Fetchit: The Man, the Image, and the African American Press,” Film History 6, no. 4 (Winter 1994): 502-521.

30 Regester, “Stepin Fetchit.”

31 Gallon, Pleasure in the News, 18.

32 Gallon, Pleasure in the News.

33 Elfriede Fürsich, “In Defense of Textual Analysis,” Journalism Studies 10, no. 2 (2009): 240.

34 Fürsich, “In Defense of Textual Analysis,” 241.

35 Lloyd E. Ambrosius, “Woodrow Wilson and The Birth of a Nation: American Democracy and International Relations.” Diplomacy & Statecraft 18, no. 4 (December 2007): 690;

Melvyn Stokes. D.W. Griffith’s the Birth of a Nation: A History of the Most Controversial Motion Picture of All Time (New York: Oxford University Press, 2007).

36 Thomas Cripps, Slow Fade to Black: The Negro in American Film, 1900-1942 (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1993), 43.

37 Nickie Fleener, “Answering Film with Film: The Hampton Epilogue, a Positive Alternative to the Negative Black Stereotypes Presented in the Birth of a Nation,” Journal of Popular Film and Television 7, no. 4 (1980).

38 Fleener, “Answering Film with Film,” 400.

39 “Mayor Mitchell Hears Protest: Prominent White and Colored New York,” Afro-American (Baltimore, MD), April 3, 1915, 1.

40 “Birth of Nation Barred by Atlantic City Mayor,” Afro-American (Baltimore, MD), February 22, 1918, 1.

41 “Race Defy Film,” Chicago Defender, March 18, 1916, 1.

42 “Bars Part of Birth of the Nation,” Afro-American (Baltimore, MD), April 24, 1915, 1.

43 “Bars Part of Birth of the Nation,” 1.

44 “Percey Hammond Denounces ‘Birth of a Nation’: Police Beat and Arrest,” Chicago Defender, June 19, 1915, 1.

45 Ellen C. Scott, “Black ‘Censor,’ White Liberties: Civil Rights and Illinois’s 1917 Film Law,” American Quarterly 64, no. 2 (2012): 222; “Birth of a Nation Opposed,” Chicago Defender, February 12, 1916, 1

46 “Birth of a Nation Opposed,” 1; Cripps, Slow Fade to Black, 43.

47 Fleener, “Answering Film with Film,” 400.

48 “N.A.A.C.P. To War on Films That Stir up Race Prejudice,” Afro-American (Baltimore, MD), October 18, 1918, 8.

49 Scott, “Black ‘Censor,’ White Liberties,” 221-222.

50 Scott, “Black ‘Censor,’ White Liberties,” 223.

51 “History Making Week for African Americans,” Chicago Defender May 22, 1915, 1.

52 Edward Frazier, “Birth of a Nation Shown in Denmark: Baltimore Boy Studying Abroad,” Afro-American (Baltimore, MD), October 14, 1921, 7.

53 J. A. Rogers, “Rogers Finds The Infamous Movie Film ‘Birth Of A Nation’ In Milan,” Afro- American (Baltimore, MD), July 16, 1927, 17.

54 Fleener, “Answering Film with Film.”

55 “Greatest Picture in the World,” Chicago Defender, September 20, 1919), section 2.

56 “‘Birth of a Race,’” Chicago Defender, October 4, 1919.

57 Barbara T. Lupack, Richard E. Norman and Race Filmmaking (Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 2013).

58 Cripps, Slow Fade to Black, 70.

59 “Race Films Score,” Chicago Defender, October 27, 1917, 3.

60 William Ready, “Colored Films Show up Well: ‘By Right of Birth’ and ‘For His Mother’s,’” Afro-American (Baltimore, MD), February 10, 1922, 11.

61 “Great Race Film at the Carey: ‘Man Who Would Be White,’” Afro-American (Baltimore, MD), May 16, 1924, A4.

62 “To Produce Race Films,” Chicago Defender, July 17, 1926, 8.

63 “Theatrical Section: De Milles Colored,” Afro-American (Baltimore, MD), April 24, 1926, A5.

64 “To Produce Race Films,” 8.

65 “Race Actors Film Cohen Stories,” Pittsburgh Courier, March 12, 1927, A2.

66 Jessica Taylor, “‘Speaking Shadows’: A History of the Voice in the Transition from Silent to Sound Film in the United States,” Journal of Linguistic Anthropology 19, no. 1 (2009): 8.

67 “‘Hearts in Dixie;’ on Regent Bill,” Afro-American (Baltimore, MD), May 25, 1929, 10.

68 “‘Hearts in Dixie’ at Regent Theatre All Next Week,” Afro-American (Baltimore, MD), June 8, 1929, 10.

69 “Film Magnates On Edge About ‘Hearts In Dixie,’” Afro-American (Baltimore, MD), April 6, 1929, 28.

70 “‘Hearts In Dixie’ is The Newest All Race ‘Talkie,’” Afro-American (Baltimore, MD), March 9, 1929, 8.

71 Jessica H. Howard, “Hallelujah!: Transformation in Film,” African American Review 30, no. 3 (1996): 442.

72 “Vidor has Personnel for ‘Hallelujah’ Race Film,” Afro-American (Baltimore, MD), October 20, 1928, 9.

73 “Lots Of Bunk In King Vidor's Film ‘Hallelujah,’” Afro-American (Baltimore, MD), December 15, 1928, 5.

74 “Critics Praise, Blame New Race Film,” Afro-American (Baltimore, MD), August 31, 1929, A8.

75 Eva Jessye, “Musical Director For Newest Sound Film,” Afro-American (Baltimore, MD), February 16, 1929, 7.

76 Verna Arvey, “Actors, Willing to Barter Race Dignity, Perpetuate Uncle Tom: Columbia Films Doing Part to Allay Insults,” Afro-American (Baltimore, MD), February 19, 1944).

77 “Actor Too Proud to Work in Films with Own Race,” Chicago Defender, December 29, 1928.

78 Harry Levette, “No More All-Colored Films in Sight: Dixie Prejudice Narrows Market for Negro-Starring Plays. Were Too Ritzy Actors Themselves Also Helped Kill Demand by Actions,” Afro-American (Baltimore, MD), September 27, 1930.

79 Cripps, Slow Fade to Black, 82.

80 “Oscar Micheaux In,” Chicago Defender, September 24, 1927, 7.

81 “Oscar Micheaux In,” 7.

82 “Oscar Micheaux In,” 7.

83 Cara Caddoo, Envisioning Freedom: Cinema and the Building of Modern Black Life (Cambridge, Massachusetts: Harvard University Press, 2014): 196.

84 Michael C. Nielsen, “Labor Power and Organization in the Early U.S. Motion Picture Industry,” Film History 2, no. 2 (1988): 129-130.

85 Earl J. Morris, “Actors Want Race Films Shown When They Measure Up: Negro Actors,” Pittsburgh Courier, November 9, 1940, 2.

86 Morris, “Actors Want Race Films Shown,” 2.

87 Lawrence Lamar, “Coast Citizens Fight Ban On Race In Films,” Chicago Defender, November 9, 1940, 21.

88 Earl J. Morris, “Claim Theatre Magnates Boycott Race Films,” Pittsburgh Courier, February 24, 1940; 20.

89 “Claim Theatre Magnates,” 20.

90 “Hollywood Worried over Movie Problem,” Chicago Defender, October 10, 1931, 5.

91 “Puzzled Hollywood Asks ‘What Type Film Do Colored Want?’” Afro-American (Baltimore, MD), May 1, 1943, 8.

92 Verna Arvey, “Actors, Willing to Barter Race Dignity, Perpetuate Uncle Tom,” Afro-American (Baltimore, MD), February 19, 1944, 8.

93 Arvey, “Actors Willing to Barter,” 8.

94 Lupack, Richard E. Norman and Race Filmmaking.

95 Larry Muhammad, “The Black Press: Past and Present,” Nieman Reports, last modified September 23, 2020, https://niemanreports.org/articles/the-black-press-past-and-present/.

96 Fred Carroll, Race News: Black Journalists and the Fight for Racial Justice in the Twentieth Century (Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 2017), 151.

97 Caddoo, Envisioning Freedom, 173.

98 Regester, “Stepin Fetchit,” 503.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Carolina Velloso

Carolina Velloso is a doctoral candidate at the Philip Merrill College of Journalism at the University of Maryland, where she also previously earned her master’s degree. She researches at the intersection of gender, race, and identity in journalism, with a particular interest in the professional experiences of women and minority journalists. Her scholarship has been published in several leading journals and has won numerous awards, including the AEJMC History Division’s top student paper award and Diversity in Journalism History Research Award, the Mary Ann Yodelis Smith Award for Feminist Scholarship from the Commission on the Status of Women, and the Media Ethics Division’s Professional Relevance Award.