Oscar Micheaux

Oscar Devereaux Micheaux was an AfricanAmerican author, film director and independent producer of more than 44 films. Although the shortlived Micheaux Book amp Film Company produced some films, he is regarded as the first major AfricanAmerican feature filmmaker, the most successful AfricanAmerican filmmaker of the first half of the twentieth century and the most prominent producer of race films. He produced both silent films and talkies after the industry changed to incorporate speaking actors.

Micheaux was born on a farm in Metropolis, Illinois on January 2, 1884. He was the fifth child born to Calvin S. and Belle Micheaux, who had a total of thirteen children. In his later years, Micheaux added an e to his last name. His father was born a slave in Kentucky. Because of its surname, his fathers family appears to have been associated with Frenchdescended settlers. French Huguenot refugees had settled in Virginia in 1700 their descendants took slaves west when they migrated into Kentucky after the American Revolutionary War.

Source: Wikipedia