ESPECIALLY: Brenda Mizell of the Metropolis Public Library patiently responded to my endless questions, and guided me to people and places when I visited Micheaux’s hometown. Finally, I couldn’t have written this book without the resources and services of my home library at Marquette University. I would especially like to acknowledge the repeated assistance of the John P. Raynor Library Information Desk and Joan Sommer and her Interlibrary Loan staff.
It may seem a formality to thank my agent and editor, but Gloria Loomis has been representing me, staunchly, for as long as Calvert Morgan Jr. has been guiding and improving my books—going on twenty years.
And my family—my wife Tina, and three sons, Clancy, Bowie, and Sky—they are staunch, improving guides too.
CHAPTER NOTES
My sources were numerous, and often they were itty-bitty items from this or that local library (or George P. Johnson’s files). My itemization is selective. The emphasis is on primary sources, especially quotations from Micheaux or his correspondence. I haven’t notated all the many snippets from film reviews or columns (Charlene B. Regester’s book keeps track of entertainment-related items in four leading African-American newspapers), and scholars in general are cited from their listed articles or books.
The following published works and produced films were indispensable. Whether or not they are mentioned in the text, I referred to them again and again. The authors of these books and other listed articles pioneered the research, influenced my thinking, and inspired my task. I recommend these books for anyone interested in deeply studying Micheaux’s films.
BOOKS: Donald Bogle, Toms, Coons, Mulattoes, Mammies and Bucks (Viking, 1973); Pearl Bowser and Louise Spence, Writing Himself Into History: Oscar Micheaux, His Silent Films, and His Audiences (Rutgers University Press, 2000); Pearl Bowser, Jane Gaines, and Charles Musser, eds., Oscar Micheaux & His Circle (Indiana University Press, 2001); Thomas Cripps, Slow Fade to Black: The Negro in American Film, 1900–1942 (Oxford University Press, 1977); Jane Gaines, Fire and Desire: Mixed-Race Movies in the Silent Era (University of Chicago Press, 2001); J. Ronald Green, Straight Lick: The Cinema of Oscar Micheaux (Indiana University Press, 2000); J. Ronald Green, With a Crooked Stick—The Films of Oscar Micheaux (Indiana University Press, 2004); Bernard L. Peterson, Jr., Profiles of African-American Stage Performers and Theatre People, 1816–1960 (Greenwood Press, 2001); Mark Reid, Redefining Black Film (University of California Press, 1993); Charlene B. Regester, Black Entertainers in African-American Newspaper Articles, Volume 1 (McFarland, 2002); Henry T. Sampson, Blacks in Black and White: A Source Book on Black Films (Scarecrow Press, 1995); Betti Carol VanEpps-Taylor, Oscar Micheaux…Dakota Homesteader, Author, Pioneer Film Maker (Dakota West, 1999); Earl James Young Jr., The Life and Work of Oscar Micheaux (KMT Publications, 2002).
DOCUMENTARY FILMS: In Black & White (writers, Russ Karel, Gordon Parks; director, Russ Karel, 1992); Midnight Ramble (writer, Clyde Taylor; directors, Bestor Cram and Pearl Bowser, 1994); Oscar Micheaux: Film Pioneer (Carol Munday Lawrence, writer and producer; director Robert N. Zagone, 1981).
CHAPTER ONE: 1884–1900
My portrait of Oscar Micheaux (OM) and his early life, up through chapter 8, relies heavily on his quasi-autobiographical novels: especially The Conquest: The Story of a Negro Pioneer, but also The Forged Note, The Homesteader, and The Wind From Nowhere. This may be an arguable approach, but again and again, cross-referencing the novels with my own research to compare and overlap his story with history and events (right down to incidental detail mentioned in passing), I found that his fictional versions conformed to the known facts.
Karen P. Neuforth of Great Bend, Kansas, is the acknowledged expert on OM’s geneaology. I drew on her article “GENERATIONS: The Family and Ancestry of Oscar Micheaux,” available on the excellent Micheaux website www.shorock.com—maintained by Don Shorock—and on findings that she is constantly updating. Right up to the end of my work she was correcting errors and assumptions and providing new detail. Her recent exhumation of OM’s World War I draft registration records, for example, supplied not only another document to affirm the existence of “Sarah Micheaux,” but also pinpointed the color of OM’s eyes (brown).
It should be noted that an official birth certificate for OM has never been located, which is curious, considering that the births of other Micheaux children are registered on the county level in Illinois. I turned the pages of musty record books in the Massac County courthouse without finding his name in any variant spelling. (Remembering that OM was born the day after the New Year, perhaps his mother was visiting relatives in Kentucky over the Christmas holidays when she gave birth.) Indeed, his year of birth varies in early records. His WWI draft registration, for example, states that he was thirty-eight in 1918, suggesting that he was born in 1880, not 1884. Some sources give his middle name as “Devereaux,” but, to the best of my knowledge, that name does not appear on any known legal, government, or employment record.
“Could quote profusely from [Booker T.] Washington…” is Carlton Moss (CM) from “Remembering Oscar Micheaux,” Souvenir Program, the 13th Black Annual Filmmakers Hall of Fame Oscar Micheaux Awards, 1986. Moss is quoted principally from this essay and Pearl Bowser’s oral history, though he was also interviewed for Earl James Young Jr.’s book.
“Chocolate-colored” is from “Hollywood in the Bronx,” Time (January 29, 1940).
“His tongue was so red…” is Agnes Becker from the Institute of American Indian Studies, the South Dakota Oral History Project (June 18, 1973, interview by Steve Plummer). “A Negro…unmistable [sic: unmistakably] so” is George P. Johnson (GPJ) from one of the undated “Oscar Mitcheux” synopses among his voluminous papers.
Other articles and books: T. V. Glass, Metropolis City Directory and Business Advertiser for Southern Illinois for 1870, With a Brief History of Metropolis City (Robert Clarke & Co., 1870); George W. May, Historical Papers on Massac County, Illinois (Turner, 1990); George W. May, Massac Biographies (Bookmasters, 1998); Robert L. McCaul, The Black Struggle for Public Schooling in Nineteenth-Century Illinois (Southern Illinois University Press, 1987); Claude F. Oubre, Forty Acres and a Mule: The Freedmen’s Bureau and Black Land Ownership (Louisana State University Press, 1978); O. J. Page, History of Massac County, Illinois, With Life Sketches and Portraits (Journal-Republican, 1900); O. J. Page, Superintendent, “Read, Reflect, Preserve. Metropolis High School Course of Study, 1896–97” (Journal-Republican, 1896); Edgar F. Raines, “The Ku Klux Klan in Illinois, 1867–1875,” Illinois Historical Journal (Vol. 78, No. 1, 1985); Joshua M. Reynolds, County Superintendent, “1899 Annual Report of the Condition of the Common Schools in the County of Massac.”
CHAPTER TWO: 1900–1904
The Pullman Company archives are on deposit at the Newberry Library in Chicago. The librarians seemed faintly amused at my hope that I might stumble upon OM’s ancient personnel records—the proverbial needle in a haystack of microfilm—but luck was with me. I am grateful to Martha Briggs of the library for helping to interpret the sometimes obscure company notations.
Other articles and books: Robin F. Bachin, Building the South Side: Urban Space and Civic Culture in Chicago, 1890–1919 (University of Chicago Press, 2004); St. Clair Drake, Black Metropolis (Harcourt, 1945); Glen E. Holt and Dominic A. Pacyga, Chicago: A Historical Guide to the Neighborhoods (Chicago Historical Society, 1979); Jack Santino, Miles of Smiles, Years of Struggle (University of Illinois Press, 1989).
CHAPTER THREE: 1904–1906
Much of the hard grind of perusing vintage Gregory and Tripp counties newspapers and microfilm, pinpointing mention of OM, and correlating his homesteading experiences with local events and citizens was done for earlier papers, articles, or books by South Dakota historians and Micheaux scholars, including (among others) Lee Arlie Barry, Leathern Dorsey, Chester J. Fontenot Jr., Richard Papousek, Betti Carol VanEpps-Taylor, and Joseph Young.
VanEpps-Taylor’s exceptional 1991 biography of the race-picture pione
er, which concentrates on the prefilm years and especially on the South Dakota period of OM’s life, broke all kinds of ground in terms of sources and background. As for groundbreaking, literally, I would know very little about different kinds of soil, blades, plows, or horses, without the benefit of her book. I also drew from her supplemental paper “A View from the Catbird Seat: Oscar Micheaux and the Opening of the Rosebud,” delivered at the Oscar Micheaux Film Fesitval in 2004, where I had the pleasure of meeting VanEpps-Taylor. We kept in touch, and she was gracious enough to read drafts of early chapters of this book, offering pointers.
All land data and description of OM’s South Dakota holdings comes from Department of the Interior records held by the National Archives and Records Administration.
“The soil of these plains…” is Lewis and Clark as quoted in Doane Robinson’s informative A Brief History of South Dakota (American Book Company, 1905).
As far as I know, there is no book on the Jackson patriarch—onetime Iowa governor Frank D. Jackson—or his three sons. But the Jackson brothers turn up in many South Dakota chronicles, including the ones listed here; my account of the Jacksons, especially Ernest Jackson, as their lives overlapped OM’s, is patched together from the South Dakota histories listed here and scattered newspaper items. I learned about Marvin Hughitt from H. Roger Grant’s article in The Encylopedia of American Business History and Biography (Keith L. Bryant Jr., ed., Facts on File, 1988).
“You can’t find a better metaphor…” is Don Coonen from a letter quoted in Janis Hebert’s excellent “Oscar Micheaux: A Black Pioneer,” South Dakota Review (Winter 1973–74).
Other articles and books: Opie Chambers, “The Early History of Rosebud County,” A Rosebud Review (July 1984); “Dallas, South Dakota: The End of the Line,” which includes “Oscar Micheaux” by Lee Arlie Barry (Dallas Historical Society, 1977); Arlene Elder, “Oscar Micheaux: The Melting Pot on the Plains,” The Old Northwest (September 1976); The Gregory Advocate, “Special 2004 Double Issue: The First Hundred Years,” Number One: 1904–1914, and Number Two: 1915–1924; Adeline S. Gnirk, The Saga of Ponca Land (Gregory County Historical Society, 1979); The History of Tripp County, South Dakota (Pine Hill Press, 1984); Ried Holien, “The Homesteader,” South Dakota Magazine (July/August 1998) F. H. Jackson, “Homesteading on the Rosebud,” A Rosebud Review (July 1984); Gladys Whitehorn Jorgensen, Before Homesteads in Tripp County and The Rosebud (Pine Hill Press, 1974); Paula M. Nelson, After the West Was Won: Homesteaders and Town Buildiers in Western South Dakota, 1900–1917 (University of Iowa Press, 1986); “Tripp County, South Dakota, 1909–1984, Diamond Jubilee” (Pine Hill Press, 1984).
CHAPTER FOUR: 1906–1908
“He’d say ‘Nope’, he wouldn’t…” is Dick Siler from the Institute of American Indian Studies, the South Dakota Oral History Project (July 27, 1973, interview by Steve Pummer). “Eight horses pulling…” is Don Coonen from South Dakota Review.
CHAPTER FIVE: 1908–1909
“Colorful character…etc.,” the anecdotes about OM’s grandmother and sister, are credited in a footnote of VanEpps-Taylor’s biography to an item in the Gregory Times Advocate (January 20, 1910), from a paper presented by Richard Papousek at the 1998 Micheaux Film Festival.
OM’S “WHERE THE NEGRO FAILS…” is on the front page of the Chicago Defender (March 19, 1910). This is the first conspicuous public use of the spelling “Micheaux,” which the entire family also adopted around this time. When the Gregory Times Advocate reported Micheaux’s marriage, just a month later (see chapter 6), it used the new spelling. There are any number of possible explanations: “Micheaux” may have been the correct spelling all along, for example, but simply misspelled by indifferent white record-keepers; or it’s also possible that the family had talked it over and decided to agree on a new spelling, which harked back either to forebears or its slaveholding past. This is one of many mysteries about Micheaux that persists. In any case, it seems clear he added the e, and adopted the new spelling, while a homesteader in 1910.
The Chicago Defender reported the marriage of OM and “Miss Orlean McCracken, daughter of Elder McCracken” on April 23, 1910.
For background on the Chicago Defender and its publisher I referred to Roi Ottley’s The Lonely Warrior: The Life and Times of Robert S. Abbott (Regnery, 1955).
For Lew Dockstader and minstrelsy I consulted John Strausbaugh’s thoughtful Black Like You: Blackface, Whiteface, Insult & Imagination in American Popular Culture (Jeremy P. Tarcher/Penguin, 2006).
CHAPTER SIX: 1909–1912
“A happy journey…” is from the Gregory Times Advocate (April 27, 1910). “MR. OSCAR MICHEAUX IN CITY…” is from the front page of the Chicago Defender (April 29, 1911), and “COLORED AMERICANS TOO SLOW…” is from the front page of the Defender (October 28, 1911).
For background on Dr. U. G. Dailey, I read The Scholar and the Scalpel: The Life Story of Ulysses Grant Dailey by Donald Preston (Afro-Am Publishing, 1966).
CHAPTER SEVEN: 1912–1914
“I personally wrote the Chapter V…etc.,” is from “an original copy of the first printing of The Conquest,” in the possession of Micheaux Film Festival founder Richard Papousek, according to a footnote in With a Crooked Stick—The Films of Oscar Micheaux.
For background on the Woodruff Press I consulted the book compiled by the Nebraska Writers’ Project, Printing Comes to Lincoln (Woodruff Printing, 1940).
“Meeting with great success…” and “Heartily recommend it…” are from the Gregory Times Advocate (April 3, 1913). “A few advance copies…” and “The book has had a wonderful [advance] sale…” are from the Gregory Times Advocate (April 9, 1913). “Oscar, accept our congratulations” is from the Dallas News (December 12, 1912). “The book is entitled The Conquest…” is from the Gregory Times (March 20, 1913).
“My folks knew him and liked him…” is Merrit Hull of Crane, Montana, from a letter to the editor in the October-November 1966 Frontier Times.
“REV. M’CRACKEN SUED FOR $10,000…” is from the front page of the Chicago Defender (August 2, 1913). “Patrons jumped up and shouted…” is from “Foster’s R. R. Porter” in the Chicago Defender (November 22, 1913). “The distribution and sales operation…” is from With a Crooked Stick—The Films of Oscar Micheaux.
Dana F. White graciously shared his paper “Oscar Micheaux’s Atlanta Connections,” written for the Society for Cinema and Media Studios, March 4, 2004, and then answered my follow-up questions about OM’s purported stay in Atlanta. For information and perspective on the “Leo Frank films” (The Gunsaulus Mystery and Lem Hawkins’ Confession) I relied heavily on Matthew Bernstein’s “Oscar Micheaux and Leo Frank: Cinematic Justice Across the Color Line” from Film Quarterly (Summer 2004). Bernstein has updated his research and analysis for his book They Haven’t Forgot: Leo Frank on Screen (University of Georgia Press, 2007). I also cited from “‘Is the Jew a White Man?’: Press Reaction to the Leo Frank Case, 1913–1915” by Eugene Levy in Strangers and Neighbors: Relations Between Blacks and Jews in the United States, Maurianne Adams and John Bracey, eds. (University of Massachusetts Press, 1999). Although I consulted many factual sources on the Leo Frank case, I fell back repeatedly on Steve Oney’s comprehensive And the Dead Shall Rise: The Murder of Mary Phagan and the Lynching of Leo Frank (Pantheon, 2003).
CHAPTER EIGHT: 1914–1918
“We are always caricatured…” is from OM’s article “The Negro and the Photo-Play” in The Half-Century Magazine (May 1919). “Certainly aware” and “Of the repeated calls…” are from J. Ronald Green’s “Micheaux v. Griffith” in Griffithiana (October 1997).
“The injection of the white girl who in the end…” is from OM’s June 25, 1918, letter to the Lincoln Motion Picture Company which, like all his correspondence to the Lincoln company or its representatives (including the Johnson brothers and Clarence Brooks), is part of the George P. Johnson (GPJ) collection. That collection also includes numerous clippings and press material and memor
abilia pertaining to OM, or race films in general, which provided rich background and detail for this book. GPJ himself considered writing a book about OM, and there are synopses for this project among his papers, including differing versions of the one titled “Oscar Mitcheux.”
The death of Orlean McCracken was reported on the front page of the Chicago Defender (August 18, 1917). Circumstances of the deaths of Veatrice and Bell Gough Micheaux were described by Karen P. Neuforth in her “GENERATIONS” genealogy.
“The first Negro postal clerk…” and “As a side issue…showing the Lincoln films…” are from GPJ’s oral history transcript, which is part of the UCLA collection.
“Limited to 3 reels, whereas I am sure…” is from OM’s May 13, 1918, letter to the Lincoln Motion Picture Company. “A perfect set-up for my brother…” is GPJ in “Oscar Mitcheux.” “The incidents seemed most natural to him…,” “The only Ethiopian…,” and “To treat of the inter-marriage…etc.,” are from GPJ’s May 31, 1918, letter to OM. “I agree with you…,” “Assist in general with the direction…,”
“the evil N. Justine McCarthy,” “You might write your brother…” and “To do this, of course, will require time…” are from OM’s June 3, 1918, letter to GPJ and the Lincoln Motion Picture Company. “Most of your plays were written…” is from OM’s June 25, 1918, letter to the Lincoln Motion Picture Company.
“The heart of the Colored population…” is from “The Negro and the Photo-Play.”
“Join forces” and “Into a Negro film…” are from “Oscar Mitcheux.” “Expect to send my wife to her home…” is from OM’s June 9, 1918, letter to GPJ and the Lincoln Motion Picture Company. “Because Micheaux not only had no [film] experience…” and “The film bug” are from “Oscar Mitcheux.” “Saw Johnson kill a dozen…” is from OM’s June 9, 1918, letter to GPJ. “Have you had any word from Noble…” and “I have been soliciting subscriptions to the capital stock…” are from OM’s August 11, 1918 letter to Clarence Brooks (CB). “The hero in this production…,” “I feel I can collect more complete talent…,” and “Although Sioux City is mentioned as the office city…” are from an undated letter from OM to GPJ.
Oscar Micheaux: The Great and Only Page 46