The mission of The Department of Afro-American Research Arts and Culture to identify the global significance of the creative contributions pioneered by an international diaspora of Blackness
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Monday, October 3, 2016

The Gunsaulus Mystery (1921) [Lost Film]



Starring:
Storyline
The body of Myrtle Gunsaulus, a young African-American girl, is discovered in the basement of a New York City factory. Arthur Gilpin, the African-American janitor who discovered the body, is arrested and charged with her murder.

Arthur’s sister Ida May (Evelyn Preer) contacts her former boyfriend, the attorney Sidney Wyeth (Lawrence Chenault), to defend Gilpin in court. During the trial, Wyeth redirects attention for the murder away from Gilpin to Anthony Brisbane, a white man with a history of sexual deviancy. Gilpin is exonerated while Brisbane is revealed as Myrtle Gunsaulus's killer 


Information (wiki)
Oscar Micheaux, the most prolific African-American filmmaker of the race film genre, had previously addressed the issue of violence by whites against blacks in his 1920 feature Within Our Gates, which aroused controversy. That film’s storyline, which included a portrayal of racial lynching and the sexual attack by a white man against a black woman, resulted in censorship rulings in Atlanta and other major cities throughout the U.S.

Micheaux tackled another controversial subject with his 1921 The Gunsaulus Mystery. The plot was based on the 1913 murder of Mary Phagan and the trial of Leo Frank. After an African American was first interrogated, police attention turned to Frank, the Jewish-American manager of the factory. He was prosecuted and convicted of the crime. After appeals had failed, he received commutation of his death sentence, but Frank was kidnapped and lynched on August 17, 1915.

Micheaux shot The Gunsaulus Mystery at the Estee Studios in New York City and distributed the film through his Micheaux Film Corporation. Evelyn Preer, the star of Within Our Gates, also starred in this production.

Micheaux revisited the subject again in 1935 with a sound remake, which was released under the titles Murder in Harlem (a.k.a Lem Hawkins' Confession). Especially in this version, Micheaux used the conventions of the detective story to introduce differing narratives and rework the binary nature of the trial, in which an African-American man and Jewish-American man had testified against each other.

No print of The Gunsaulus Mystery is known to exist in any archive or private collection, and it is considered to be a lost film. Events of the Mary Phagan murder would be covered in detail in the lengthy 1988 four-hour TV miniseries The Murder of Mary Phagan


**This film is considered lost until notified otherwise**
 

The Bull-Dogger (1921) [Lost Film, Fragments Survive]




Starring:
 

Storyline
Directed by Richard E. Norman. "A virile story of the golden west, featuring Bill Pickett, the Black hero of the Mexican bull ring, in death defying feats of courage and skill, such as wild horse racing, roping and tying wild steers. The picture also includes fancy and trick riding by Black cowboys and cowgirls and bull dogging and throwing with their teeth, the wildest steers on the Mexican border. This is the first feature picture of its kind, and proves conclusively that the Black cowboy is capable of doing anything the white cowboy does." - excerpt from the Exhibitor's Herald

Sunday, October 2, 2016

The Flaming Crisis (1924) [Lost Film]





The Pittsburgh Courier (Pittsburgh, Allegheny, Pennsylvania) 
5 Apr 1924, Sat · Page 14

Starring:
Storyline
Robert Mason, an aggressive newspaperman, exposes the methods of Martin Leither, labor leader & political power. As a result, Mason's engagement with Vivian Leither is broken. At the reception at the home of Dr. Walter McWalter, Leither is murdered. Mason is accused and convicted. After several years in prison, he escapes and makes his way into the cattle lands of the southwest where he meets Tex Miller, a daughter of the prairie. He incurs the hatred of Buck Conley, who is also the mysterious 'Night Terror', leader of an outlaw gang and Mason is soon involved in a series of thrilling adventures. After overcoming his enemies, he realized that he is an escaped convict. Then something big and entirely unexpected happens, which brings happiness to the lovers. 

**This film is considered lost until notified otherwise.**

The Crimson Skull (1922) [Lost Film]








Starring:
Storyline
Directed by Richard E. Norman. Filmed on location in the all-black town of Boley, Oklahoma. The peace-loving, all-black city of Boley, Oklahoma, is invaded by "The Skull" and his "Terrors." They have sown mortal fear into the townsfolk and have the sheriff in their power. "The Law and Order League" forces the sheriff's resignation and offers $1,000 reward for the capture of the gang. Lem Nelson is persuaded to take the sheriff's job. Bob, Lem's ranch foreman, volunteers to join the gang with hopes of capturing them. Bob aids some of the hostages of the gang and is accused by the gang of being a traitor. Uncertain of his guilt, he is tried by the test of "The Crimson Skull." One drop of blood decides his fate, if shall live or die.