It all began with an Oscar.

Oscar Micheaux (1884 – 1951) is regarded as the first and most successful African-American filmmaker of the first half of the twentieth century. In 1917 he was approached by an African American film company for movie rights to his self-published book The Homesteader. He refused the offer but liked the idea and made his own film version, thus launching his career as an independent filmmaker. Learn more about ‘The First Black Indie Filmmaker’ via Black History in Two Minutes.