Oscar Micheaux: The Great and Only: The Life of America's First Great Black Filmmaker

At a time when Hollywood was so white that “conditions would have had to be improved one hundredfold before it could even qualify as Jim Crow,” Micheaux (1884–1951) was forced to pursue his creative ambitions as an independent filmmaker in the “race picture” market. McGilligan, the author of several acclaimed biographies of film directors (George Cukor: A Double Life), returns again and again to the image of Micheaux as a “lone wolf,” churning out two or three pictures a year at his peak while barely managing to stay ahead of creditors. And it wasn't just the all-black casts that put his films outside the mainstream; the stories often ran afoul of censors and critics for their uncompromising portrayals of contemporary African-American society. McGilligan sketches a crucial portrait of his subject's life before motion pictures, including an attempt to work a South Dakota homestead and a failed marriage that would provide the impulse for much of his creative output. The story isn't always as detailed as readers might like, but that's due to the limited available historical record. McGilligan does a fine job of reaffirming Micheaux's significance beyond the appreciation of cineastes. (June)