Welcome to the podcast! Today, we're talking about Oscar Micheaux, the true start of Black movie-making. He was the first big African-American director to make a long movie.

Micheaux (born 1884) didn't like the bad ways Black people were shown in movies made by white people. He was a writer who became a director so he could tell honest stories about how complex Black life really was.

His most important movie, "The Homesteader" (1919), is seen as the first long movie written and directed by a Black person. This started the "race film" business, making movies just for Black audiences in segregated theaters.

Micheaux's work was bold. He fought stereotypes, talked about tough subjects like lynching, and was a great businessman, making over 40 films (like Body and Soul and Within Our Gat ...