This year marks a full century since Roanoke ceased to be “the Black Hollywood.”
If you never knew that Roanoke once held that title, then we have a lot of catching up to do before we get to why Roanoke’s status is back in the news, at least indirectly.
For four years, from 1922 to 1925, Roanoke was the home of Oscar Micheaux, who is regarded as America’s first Black filmmaker — even though he wasn’t, but that’s just one of many things about his life that weren’t quite so. He was, however, undoubtedly, the first major Black filmmaker — one who operated completely outside the Hollywood studio system of the time (and sometimes outside the law). The films he made were not necessarily great art, but the fact that he was able to make them at all is a testament to his hustle and his fortitude at a time when both racism and censorship (not to mention a lack of funds) constrained his work…