Pioneers of African-American Cinema

Épisode 1 - Hell-Bound Train

26 juillet 2016

In this parable, sinners of all kinds board a hell-bound train conducted by Satan, while others choose not to board or leave and repent.

Épisode 2 - Hot Biskits / The Blood Of Jesus

26 juillet 2016

A con man uses magnets to help his pal win a golf game. A godless man who accidentally shot his wife fervently prays while she dreams of redemption.

Épisode 3 - Verdict Not Guilty / Heaven-Bound Travelers

26 juillet 2016

At the gates of Heaven, Truth defends an unmarried woman who died in childbirth. People fight despair and Satan's temptations on the way to heaven.

Épisode 4 - The Symbol of the unconquered: A Story of the KKK

26 juillet 2016

A light-skinned black woman falls for a kind black man who thinks she's white. Both become targets of a self-loathing biracial man passing as white

Épisode 5 - Two Knights of Vaudeville / Mercy the Mummy Mumbled

26 juillet 2016

Two men thrown out of a big vaudeville show put on their own show back home. To win his sweetheart, a man "helps" her scientist dad reanimate a mummy.

Épisode 6 - Birthright

26 juillet 2016

A Harvard-educated black man goes back to his Southern hometown to start a school, but racism and love for a local girl throw obstacles in his path.

Épisode 7 - Veiled Aristocrats

26 juillet 2016

When a young black man who passed for white in college returns to his hometown, he finds his light-skinned sister has fallen for a darker-skinned man.

Épisode 8 - Within Our Gates

26 juillet 2016

A woman victimized by a cousin who secretly loved her fiancé tries to save a school for black children, but her past and society work against her.

Épisode 9 - The Girl from Chicago

26 juillet 2016

After a federal agent falls for a Mississippi teacher and saves her from a crime kingpin, the pair escapes to Harlem, where safety still eludes them.

Épisode 10 - Ten Nights in a Bar Room

26 juillet 2016

After a mill owner loses everything to an incorrigible vice lord, he becomes a drunkard -- until fate intervenes.

Épisode 11 - The Darktown Revue

26 juillet 2016

Donald Heywood's Choir performs several songs. Tim Moore and other comedians appear in sketches between songs.

Épisode 12 - The Flying Ace

26 juillet 2016

A former World War I flying ace becomes a railroad detective to go after a romantic rival and fellow aviator who pulls off a large payroll robbery.

Épisode 13 - Eleven P.M.

26 juillet 2016

A writer who believes man's psyche can take refuge in lower animal forms falls asleep while working on a story and has a bizarre dream.

Épisode 14 - Dirty Gertie from Harlem USA

26 juillet 2016

A famous and very flirtatious Harlem stripper visits a tropical island, where her past and her conscience catch up with her.

Épisode 15 - A Reckless Rover

26 juillet 2016

A policeman tries to arrest a sleeping man in a boardinghouse, but he escapes, runs through the neighborhood, then hides in a Chinese laundry.

Épisode 16 - Body and Soul

26 juillet 2016

An escaped criminal hides in a small town, posing as a pastor to steal from his congregation, work as a bootlegger and conceal his own depravity.

Épisode 17 - The Scar of Shame

26 juillet 2016

A young composer marries a poor girl to save her from her stepfather's advances, but society's failure to help women like her continues to haunt them.

Épisode 18 - The Bronze Buckaroo

26 juillet 2016

When cowboy Bob Blake learns that his friend Joe needs help, he rides to Joe's ranch but discovers he's been missing for weeks.

Épisode 19 - The Exile

26 juillet 2016

A black man leaves Chicago and becomes a successful farmer, but after falling for a white woman, he returns and gets entangled with an old flame.

Épisode 20 - Ten Minutes to Live

26 juillet 2016

At a Harlem nightclub, a woman receives a note saying she has only 10 minutes to live. The reason is connected to a murder from years before.

Épisode 21 - Screen Snapshots

The following sequence was derived from a behind-the-scenes Hollywood newsreel. Although the action is clearly staged, the brief clip is the only known footage of Oscar Micheaux on the set of one of his films, most likely The Brute (1920).

Épisode 22 - Zora Neale Hurston Fieldwork Footage

Excerpt: Logging Community near Loughman, Florida

Épisode 23 - Commandment Keeper Church, Beaufort South Carolina, May 1940

The following excerpts are derived from 42 minutes of raw footage filmed by Zora Neale Hurston in the Sea Islands community of Beaufort, South Carolina. Audio was taken from field recordings in the Hurston Collection at the Library of Congress. The sound is not intended to synchronize with the image, and is provided here to suggest the atmosphere in which the footage was shot.

Épisode 24 - Pioneers of African-American Cinema: An Introduction

Pioneers of African-American Cinema: An Introduction

Épisode 25 - The Films of Oscar Micheaux

The Films of Oscar Micheaux

Épisode 26 - Excerpts for the National Museum of African American History & Culture

Excerpts for the National Museum of African American History & Culture

Épisode 27 - The Color Line

The Color Line

Épisode 28 - Ten Nights in a Bar Room: An Introduction

Ten Nights in a Bar Room: An Introduction

Épisode 29 - About the Restoration

About the Restoration

Épisode 30 - Religion in Early African-American Cinema

Religion in Early African-American Cinema

Épisode 31 - Eleven P.M. An Introduction

Eleven P.M. An Introduction

Épisode 32 - S. Torriano Berry Discusses the Works of James & Eloyce Gist

S. Torriano Berry Discusses the Works of James & Eloyce Gist

Épisode 33 - The Veil Aristocrats Promo

The Veil Aristocrats Promo

Épisode 34 - Birthright Promo

Birthright Promo

Épisode 35 - The Tyler Texas Black Film Collection The Missing Link in Black Cinema

The Tyler Texas Black Film Collection The Missing Link in Black Cinema

Épisode 36 - The Films of Zora Neale Hurston

The Films of Zora Neale Hurston

Épisode 37 - The Films of Spencer Williams

The Films of Spencer Williams

Épisode 38 - The End of an Era

The End of an Era

Épisode 39 - Surviving Fragments of By Right of Birth

The following sequence comprises all the surviving fragments of the 1921 film By Right of Birth. It was produced by the Lincoln Motion Picture Company, the first production company owned and operated by African-Americans