Review of Within Our Gates (1920) by Byron B — 07 Dec 2016

Oscar Micheaux is a pioneering African American filmmaker. He was also a novelist. This is his second silent feature, but earliest surviving film. He wrote, directed, and produced this contemporary tale of the African American experience just after World War I.

Sylvia (Evelyn Preer) is our heroine. She is betrayed romantically by her cousin in the North, returns home to learn of school funding problems for the children of the mostly illiterate sharecroppers of the South, returns to the North to collect donations for this cause where she is briefly injured after meeting a new romantic interest, and eventually secures money from a kindly white woman.

Micheaux is not interested in one-dimensional characters; we see some characters act in certain ways that were acceptable to white people in power, but then we get a glimpse of their true feelings when the white character has gone, so racial prejudice is not ignored.

With few opportunities available to them black men are caught up in gambling, the ministry, or servile work. Micheaux avoids obvious stereotypes even though certain character types that would be recognized from literature help in the shorthand of silent storytelling.

In this era a white cop is not a sadistic villain, and while one rich racist society lady tries to sway Mrs. Elena Warwick, the sympathetic philanthropist, away from her intention to fund the black school, Micheaux wishes to show that with Sylvia ad Mrs.

Warwick working together progress can be made in society. I saw a low resolution copy on YouTube although I'm aware that a better quality transfer from surviving film has been released on DVD. The original title cards have been lost, so others have been substituted and they are quite clunky.

Within Our Gates offers a unique perspective of an often ignored segment of America's population.