Lawrence Chenault

The role of African Americans in the recovery years of the Great Depression is the subject of this informational short, which offers an idealized depiction of life in a segregated society. The highlight, by far, is rare footage of Orson Welles’s “Voodoo Macbeth,” produced in 1935 for the New York Negro Unit of the WPA’s Federal Theatre Project.

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Gangsters in Harlem make plans to commit a kidnapping.

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A movie producer offers a nightclub singer a role in his latest film, but all he really wants to do is bed her. She knows, but accepts anyway. Meanwhile, a patron at the club gets a note saying that she'll soon get another note, and that she will be killed ten minutes after that.

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A young woman plans to marry, but her mother and brother--a lawyer--don't like her prospective husband and scheme to prevent the marriage.

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An educated, upscale young black musician marries a woman from a lower socioeconomic class to get her out of the clutches of her stepfather.

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Rena is a young woman of mixed race. Although she is romantically pursued by an upwardly mobile African American named Frank, Rena does not decide in his favor. Her appearance allows her to pass for white, as she is of majority European ancestry, although she has grown up in the black community. She meets and falls in love with George Tryon, a young white aristocrat. But as their relationship deepens, Rena believes she has to acknowledge her African ancestry. Considered a lost film.

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A man pursues the vice lord who killed his daughter, but his journey leads to self-discovery and the desire for a better life.

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Screenplay adapted from Charles Chestnutt's novel.

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A convict escapes to a Southern town and passes himself off as a reverend, giving him the perfect cover to swindle the townspeople and corrupt an innocent young woman.

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Aileen Kennibrew, a charming and beautiful girl calls on one Richard Ellis, a motion picture producer, who is impressed by her modesty, refined personality and striking carriage and is persuaded to "try" her out in the movies. She makes good, and altho' elevated after a few pictures to stardom, becomes obsessed with an overwhelming desire to go on the stage. Finally securing a part with a dramatic stock company, she fall in love with a character man, who, unknown to her, is of degenerate character. Giving him all her love, however, she sets out to reform him with the usual result—but that's the story!

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A Son of Satan is a 1924 silent race film directed, written, produced and distributed by Oscar Micheaux. The film follows the misadventures of a man who accepted a bet to spend a night in a haunted house. Micheaux shot the film in The Bronx, New York, and Roanoke, Virginia. A Son of Satan ran into distribution problems when state censorship boards rejected the film based on its contents. New York censors objected to the film’s depiction of violence, particularly against women and animals (a cat is killed onscreen in one scene, a Ku Klux Klan leader is slain and a man chokes his wife to death), while Virginia censors complained the film’s references to miscegenation would "prove offensive to Southern ladies". In at least one state the film was banned for its title alone No print of the film is known to exist and it is presumed to be a lost film.

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A young black Harvard graduate fights against a variety of obstacles, including racist opposition, in order to build a school for black children. Considered a lost film.

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A research chemist with a drug company, is close to success in his attempt to develop a chemical substitute for gasoline. Juan Bronson, who is the private secretary of, the president of the company, conspires with to steal Paul's formula.

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To rid the range of a gang of outlaws that are rustling cattle and robbing the banks and stagecoaches, cowhand Bob Calem, working on the gang-leader's superstitions, dons a skeleton-costume to strike fear into the gang.

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A recent young widow Anne Morgan is thrust into terrible poverty. Unable to care for both of her children, she persuades a prominent black doctor to adopt one of the boys.

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Nelson Holmes, a black man posing as a white man, had advanced from office boy to general manager.

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A young college educated black man meets a girl of Asian descent and falls in love with her. Their love story was caught up with events burdened up by a racial animosity.

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The story deals with a man whose fidelity and loyalty are rewarded by his being thrown into prison for the crime of another.

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When Arthur Gilpin, a black night watchman, finds young Myrtle Gunsaulus mysteriously murdered in the basement of a factory, he is charged with the crime. The film is now believed to be lost.

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Eve Mason, a white-passing black woman, moves to a remote cottage she inherited from her late father. She makes the acquaintance of her neighbor, a dashing black settler named Hugh Van Allen, and quickly falls for him. Trouble brews as the local cadre of racist hucksters want the valuable land Van Allen lives on, and will do anything to take it from him.

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The brute is a gambler, boxing manager and underworld boss who mistreats a young woman. She is forced into marriage with him for money after her original fiance is thought dead. When that man returns, he attempts to rescue her.

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Follows a son of a well-known Black publisher, who has written a novel entitled The Uplift but is told by his publisher that it lacks the aura of reality because he has not lived among the lowly folk about whom he attempts to write.

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The story deals with a young man who is sent to prison on the evidence of one whom he thought was his friend. The hero is ostracized by the townfolk after his release from prison. This forces him to leave town and incidentally leads him towards success.

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