This story originally aired on the March 1, 2026 episode of Inside Appalachia.
One of America’s pioneering filmmakers had nothing to do with Hollywood but nevertheless left his mark on the emerging industry.
Oscar Micheaux was a homesteader, who then turned his attention to making movies in the early 1900s. He was a Black man, who made movies for Black audiences at a time when they weren’t allowed into mainstream, white-only theaters. And for several pivotal years in the 1920s, he operated out of Roanoke, Virginia…