God's Stepchildren (1938) | Wanting To Be White [CC]
Channel: Screen Prism
Date: 2024-02-14

GOD'S STEP CHILDREN is an American dramatic race film directed by Oscar Micheaux and starring Jacqueline Lewis. The film's script is based on a short treatment titled "Naomi Negress!" written by Alice B. Russell, the wife of director Oscar Micheaux who plays Mrs. Saunders. The American Film Institute's catalog reports that some original material was removed from the film after censors raised objections. Some of the removed footage may still be seen in the film's opening preview trailer.

The movie is about Naomi, who does not want to be considered Negro, is raised by her foster mother and forced to attend a Negro school. Naomi spreads a lie about her teacher and the principle, and a scandal develops. When her lie is discovered, she is placed in a convent for 12 years. Upon her return, she tries to shake her feeling of wanting to be white by obliging to the wishes of her mother and foster brother to marry a Negro man. Unhappy with her marriage and being considered Negro, she leaves her baby with her foster mother and "runs away from the Negro race." When her true race is discovered, she runs home disgraced, but she is unable to face her foster family, thus dying of suicide. 

Oscar Devereaux Micheaux was an author, film writer, producer, and director, of more than 40 silent films and sound independent films from 1919—1948. He is regarded as the first major African American feature filmmaker, a prominent producer of race films (a genre of film produced in the U.S. between about 1915 and the early 1950s, consisting of films produced for black audiences and featuring black casts), and the most successful African American filmmaker of the first half of the 20th century. Unfortunately, less than half of Micheaux's films survive to this day.

Films such as this one, that used an all African-American cast and were shown specifically to African-American audiences, were known as "race films." Happy Black History Month!

This film is in the public domain meaning it has been identified as being free of known restrictions under copyright law, including all related and neighboring rights. You can copy, modify, distribute and perform the work, even for commercial purposes, all without asking permission. Corporations lobbied Congress to get U.S. copyright laws extended by 20 years, twice! Because of that, it allows published works to be under copyright for almost a century and corporations to squeeze every last ounce of profit from them even long after the profitability has past. It keeps people from enjoying art, which is the purpose of art.

#OscarMicheaux #BlackCinema #BlackMovies #BlackFilms  #publicdomainfilms