The article “The great migration and the rise of an urban ‘race film’ culture” by Davarian L. Baldwin looks to the unique cultural context of Chicago to analyze how the establishment of a race film culture interacted with, and was influenced by, the phenomena of migration and urban commercial amusement. Drawing from numerous sources–such as newspaper articles, cartoons, advertisements, films, and other entertainment events–from the turn of the 20th century, Baldwin argues that debates about how to regulate public behavior and concepts of black “public sentiment” were taking place within the space of the movie theatre and can be traced within the production, exhibition, and consumption practices that constitute the race film culture. Baldwin employs a methodology that considers the whole film viewing experience, thus including the film text itself as well as the social context in which the film was screened; the racial segregation, variety show acts and pit orchestras that accompanied films, and the migration occurring within the black community all contribute to the development of the race film culture in Chicago.<\/p>\n
First establishing the demographic transformation of the black community in Chicago following what is know as The Great Migration and presenting a portrait of the financial and social challenges in this community called the “Black Belt, Baldwin describes the budding black commercial and amusement district, called “the Stroll” which was the center of the urban race film culture. In response to the racist representations of blacks in mainstream cinema, the race film industry produced films that sought to cast black actors in more diverse roles which, according to Baldwin, served as instructions for appropriate urban behavior–including issues of dress, interactions between genders, and behavior during the film. In addition, the movie theatre was the only available site of “fantasy and adventure” and social interaction as a group for the black community.<\/p>\n
Moving to historical analysis of the development of the race film industry, the study then demonstrates the influence of films produced by the Lincoln Motion Picture Company and the spread of the film production industry to Chicago. By the early 1920s, Chicago’s Royal Gardens Motion Picture Company was widely recognized as an important contributor to the larger race film industry. Oscar Micheaux, a black filmmaker, presented the black migration experience–and the racism, reform, and hope that came with it–in his films The Homesteader, Within Our Gates, and Body and Soul. These films, and the broader social context in which they were exhibited, demonstrate the ways that migration and urban race film culture in Chicago shaped commercial filmmaking at the time.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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