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Within Our Gates: American Cinema Project

Within Our Gates

The film, Within Our Gates, was written, directed and produced by Oscar Micheaux. When Micheaux first submitted the film in 1919 to the Board of Censors in Chicago, it was denied by the board. The film was finally released two months later on January 12, 1920. The board as well as other critics feared the film would ignite racial tensions resulting in violence due to the graphic subject matter presented in the film such as rape and lynching. Various cities denied the showing of the film and some wanted for those graphic scenes to be edited out as well scenes representing white people in a negative manner. The newspaper, The Defender, stated, “Those who reasoned with the spectacle of last July in Chicago ever before them, declared the showing pre-eminently dangerous; while those who reasoned with the knowledge of existing conditions, the injustices of the times, the lynchings and handicaps of ignorance, determined that the time is ripe to bring the lesson to the front. “The fact that the main characters of the film were black and the storyline was not comedic, it was hard to find a right audience intelligent enough to cherish and support a film like this for both whites and blacks. The film was found favorable to some Blacks due to the real depiction of the current situation of Black people during this period and the cringing nightmares they faced daily such as lynching. But, some black people were upset as well because the film brought out how some blacks had sold out their people just to conform to white society. Many blacks had done their best to assimilate with whites socially by “whitewashing” themselves so that they could move up in society and this film brought out how shameful this was and this was embarrassing to higher status blacks. The film outraged whites due to highlighting black oppression done by whites and the evil of white supremacy. Micheaux goal in his films was to educate the masses regarding current issues rather than to simply entertain Due to the controversy of the film, the film failed to be very popular and the film was lost until 1990 when it was found in Madrid, Spain by the Spanish Film Archive. Presently, the film is the oldest known surviving film made by an African American filmmaker. Currently, the Library of Congress has preserved a copy of this film in the National Film Registry due to its cultural significance to the country’s history.

This film reveals the racist hierarchy in American culture. The murder and abuse of Blacks around the nation was often ignored both socially and politically throughout American history. The film emphasizes the terrible conditions of Blacks during this time with hope to reform the system. Race relations were very bad at this time due to unprovoked murder towards Blacks as well as the lack of rights and abuse Blacks experienced daily.

The main character of the film, Sylvia Landry, lives in the deep South, but goes to the North to visit her cousin in hopes to find a less racist society. Though racism in the North is significantly subtler, lynchings were still common. Sylvia is a school teacher so she is naturally portrayed as smart. Sylvia is betrayed by her own cousin, Alma, when she steals Sylvia’s fiancé by making a devious plot against her. Jealousy between women is a common plot in real life and films like this continually highlight this negative stereotype towards women’s betraying nature to each other simply for the love of a man. The stereotype of a jealous woman may seem harmful in films because our society has become desensitized to this negative depiction of gender because it is constantly repeated. It rare to see storylines during this time depicting women’s unity.

The school that Sylvia teaches at does not have enough money to stay open, due to the school being for “Negro” children, the state gives very little money. Each day parents are bringing their children to the school because their kids want an education. This situation in the movie highlights black children’s want for education, but the prejudice government working against black education’s by giving such little funding compared to white schools. The parent shown in the film asks for his children’s enrollment even though he is a poor farmer. The father relates to the principal that his children felt they would not be able to amount to anything unless they got an education. This scenario highlighted Blacks want to end the cycle of poverty and realized through education a brighter future was possible. But, by the government poorly funding the school to be open marks a precedent for the current situation in America. Still today school’s that are predominantly Black and poor are still underfunded despite children’s want for education. This want for education contradicted the stereotypical views of Blacks at this time, who were typically portrayed as stupid, silly, and lazy in films, often highlighted in Minstrel shows that were popular throughout the early 19th century. The American Dream had always been sold to the white citizens of America, “that anyone with drive and determination could improve themselves enough to become middle class.” (Sternheimer, 2014) Due to the reality Black people were facing at this time, drive and determination were not simply enough to get out of poverty better opportunities and resources were necessary.

After Sylvia and her fiancé’s relationship ends, she is very sad, but after finding out about the news of her school failing, the commentary states, “She could think of nothing but the eternal struggle of her race and of how she could uplift it.” This statement painted Sylvia as a strong Black woman who realized how important her school was to the Black community and adopted an activist role in search for the money to keep the school open. Her confident attitude depicts her as resilient, but it also reveals the reality of how a black woman at this time had to be strong to handle and resist against the prejudice at this time. Being a woman was already a handicap in a traditionally patriarchal American society. But, being Black on top of being a woman made the burden so much heavier and a fearless and intelligent attitude became a necessity to combat the prejudices at this time. This film forced society to wake up to a deep-rooted problem, “The government has neglected these problems far too long and it almost seems that the negligence was intentional to further bring down the state of places in poverty.” (Grote, 2015) It is films like this that reveal the injustices towards Blacks and how Blacks who choose to whitewash themselves for social and economic reasons have failed black people, in order for the system to be great for one Black person it must be for all Black people and the government can no longer ignore wrongs done to Black lives, action must be taken.

Director: Oscar Micheaux

Writer: Oscar Micheaux

Producer: Oscar Micheaux

Released Date: January 12, 1920

Cast:

Evelyn Preer- Sylvia Landry

Flo Clements- Alma Prichard

James D. Ruffin- Conrad Drebert - Sylvia's Fiancé

Jack Chenault- Larry Prichard - Alma's Stepbrother

William Smith- Philip Gentry - A Detective

Charles D. Lucas- Dr. v. Vivian

Bernice Ladd- Mrs. Geraldine Stratton

Mrs. Evelyn- Mrs. Elena Warwick

William Starks- Jasper Landry

Mattie Edwards- Jasper’s wife

Ralph Johnson- Philip Gridlestone

E.G. Tatum- Efram- Gridlestone’s servant

Grant Edwards- Emil Landry

Grant Gorman- Armand Gridletone

Link to the Film:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A7BxZBph_ys

Blog Post on The History 110 Blog:

https://hackintohistory.org/2015/05/11/macro-essay-2/

References:

"Fighting Racism: Oscar Micheaux and “Within Our Gates”." Blacks in Cinema. N.p., 18 Feb. 2015. Web. 22 July 2017.

Grote, Elijah. "Macro Essay." Https://hackintohistory.org. N.p., 11 May 2015. Web. 21 July 2017.

Sternheimer, Karen. Celebrity culture and the American dream stardom and mobility. 2nd ed. New York, NY: Routledge, 2014. Print.

"Within Our Gates (1920)." IMDb. IMDb.com, n.d. Web. 22 July 2017.

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