Birthright (1939 film)

Birthright is a 1939 film directed, coproduced and cowritten by Oscar Micheaux, a talkie remake of his 1924 silent film Birthright adapted from Thomas S. Stribling's 1922 novel of the same title. Micheaux's 1924 film was met with criticism for its graphic depiction of racism.[1]

Carman Newsome stars in the 1939 film as a black Harvard graduate facing racism, a role played by J. Homer Tutt in the 1924 film.[2]

Production

The Birthright remake was first scheduled for release in 1937, but in January 1938 it was reported that filming was still taking place in Ridgefield, New Jersey with an estimated 15 crew members.

Release

The exact date of the film's theatrical release is unclear, though it most likely occurred at some point in 1938. By mid-March 1939, the film was playing in theaters in Oakland, California, but black patrons of Oakland's Lincoln Theatre threatened to boycott all black films after having seen Birthright and Micheaux's 1935 film Temptation, accusing the films of stereotyping blacks in the same manner as did mainstream Hollywood productions.[1]

Legacy

Although Micheaux's 1924 version of Birthright is considered a lost film, the 1939 version has been preserved in the AFI Collection at the Library of Congress.

References
  1. "AFI|Catalog". catalog.afi.com. Retrieved 2022-02-27.
  2. Larry Langman, David Ebner Hollywood's Image of the South: A Century of Southern Films - 2001 Page 95 0313318867 "Birthright (1939), Micheaux. Dir. Oscar Micheaux; Sc. Oscar Micheaux; Cast includes: Carman Newsome, Alec Lovejoy, Ethel Moses. Advertised as "A story of the Negro and the South," Oscar Micheaux's drama is based on the novel by T. S. Stribling"


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