Frederick Douglass Film Company
The Frederick Douglass Film Company was an early American film production company in Jersey City, New Jersey.[1][2] It was established in 1916, soon after the pioneering Lincoln Motion Picture Company,[3] by prominent African-American business and professional men from New Jersey.[4] The intent of the founders was to counter anti-African-American films such as The Birth of a Nation (1915) and to improve race relations.[3] It was named after the African-American abolitionist Frederick Douglass.[5]
Its first film, The Colored American Winning His Suit, debuted at the Majestic Theatre in Jersey City on July 14, 1916, to an "interracial audience of over 800."[6] The film is a love story about a lawyer[7] and was hailed by The New York Age as "the first five-reel Film Drama written, directed, acted and produced by Negroes."[4]
It only produced two more films, in 1917 and 1919.[3]
Filmography[edit]
- The Colored American Winning His Suit (1916), written by Reverend Dr. W. S. Smith
- The Scapegoat (1917), based on the short story "The Scapegoat" by Paul Laurence Dunbar[3][8]
- Heroic Negro Soldiers of the World War (1919),[2] directed by William S. Smith[9]
References[edit]
- ^ "Economics". The Crisis. Vol. 11, no. 3. p. 115.
- ^ a b "Frederick Douglass Film Company". normanstudios.org.
- ^ a b c d Lupack, Barbara Tepa (2002). Literary Adaptations in Black American Cinema: From Micheaux to Toni Morrison. University Rochester Press. p. 80. ISBN 9781580461030 – via Google Books.
- ^ a b White, Lucien H. (July 20, 1916). "The Colored American. (Winning His Suit.)". The New York Age.
- ^ "Minister Writes Complete Drama". Indianapolis Recorder. September 2, 1916.
- ^ "Majestic Theatre". New Jersey City University.
- ^ Richards, Larry (May 27, 2005). African American Films Through 1959: A Comprehensive, Illustrated Filmography. McFarland. ISBN 9780786422746 – via Google Books.
- ^ ""The Scapegoat"". The New York Age. May 17, 1917.
- ^ Bois, William Edward Burghardt Du (January 27, 1917). "The Crisis". Crisis Publishing Company – via Google Books.