THE ROOTS OF BLACK CINEMA

"Only when you attempt the impossible do you test the resources of God."

Did you know the first all black cast film was made in 1919 (“The Homesteader”) by filmmaker great Oscar Micheaux?  Micheaux was the first man to produce a full-length, eight-reel, all-Black film, and the first Black to write and publish a best-selling novel--with a circulation of over 55,000.  Micheaux stated:

I'm tired of reading about the Negro in an inferior position in society. I want to see them in dignified roles...Also, I want to see the white man and the white woman as the villains...I want to see the Negro pictured in books just like he lives...

Micheaux is a true African American film and literature pioneer. Did you know Cicely Tyson was the first dark complexion African American actress that became a mainstream reoccurring star which broke barriers for various actresses today (being dark was not one of Hollywood’s standards for a leading role in television and film in the early 1900’s)? Even though Hattie McDaniel won an Oscar for her supporting role in “Gone With The Wind” in 1939 Hollywood still wasn’t ready to embrace dark complexion actors and actresses until much later.  These accomplishments by Blacks were often excluded from history books and classrooms but AACG seeks to educate our youth and adults of all races and creeds about these achievements.