page_title: Virginia State Board of Censors
section_title: Oscar Micheaux
hierarchical_section_title: Virginia State Board of Censors / Controversies / Oscar Micheaux
caption_attribution_description: Oscar Micheaux (1884-1951), american film director
context_page_description: The Virginia State Board of Censors was a government agency formed on August 1, 1922 for the purpose of reviewing and licensing films for approval to be screened in the state of Virginia. During the agency's existence its members examined over 52,000 films, over 2,000 of which required edits before approval was given; and another 157 films were rejected entirely, of which only 38 won subsequent approval. The board disbanded in 1968 following a series of U.S. Supreme Court rulings which overturned censorship statutes across the country.
context_section_description: One filmmaker who constantly pushed the limits of Virginia's Board of Censers was Oscar Micheaux. Micheaux was one of several black filmmakers between the 1910s and 1950s who sought to provide black audiences with films made from a black perspective,  and he is considered the foremost African American filmmaker of the era.
  The Virginia Board of Censors would specifically make sure only stereotypical African American images, such as maids, butlers, and criminals would be portrayed in movies. However, Micheaux's intention with his films was to accurately depict the conditions in which black men lived in the United States. Throughout Micheaux's career the board consistently voiced their distaste for his films. Evan Chesterman wrote in a 1925 report that Micheaux's production company was, "a negro corporation, whose output is designed solely for colored houses, and whose actors, almost without exception, are colored people, has been severely disciplined on account of its infelicitous, not to say dangerous, treatment of the race question." The board's response to Micheaux's films provides a glimpse of their larger administrative agenda of managing race relations under a code of white paternalism and a strict racial etiquette.
  Micheaux and the Virginia Board of Censors first came at odds over his 1924 film, Birthright. The film first screened in Virginia even though Micheaux never gained approval from the board. Chesterman investigated how this could happen and it turns out Birthright had been screening with a Virginia Board of Censors seal of approval, and he concluded Micheaux must have committed a "deliberate violation of the censorship act" by editing in the seal from a previously approved film. Micheaux never responded to letters from the board, and in response the board fined Micheaux and never reviewed Birthright nor allowed its screening in the state.
  In July 1924, Micheaux did submit his film, A Son of Satan, to the Virginia Board of Censors for review, which was subsequently rejected. When the filmmaker requested an appeal, the board denied his request citing the way Micheaux failed to respond to the objections of Birthright earlier in the year. The board's specific objections to A Son of Satan stemmed from images of miscegenation and race riots, as well as scenes which caused "blurring of racial lines in public spaces such as dance halls." After paying a fine, making some cuts, and a great deal of confrontation with the members of the board, namely Chesterman, Micheaux's film was eventually licensed to be shown in Virginia.
  In March 1927, Micheaux's newest film, The House Behind the Cedars, generated controversy among the Board of Censors just as the filmmaker's previous two efforts had, however their ruling on this film sparked debate on the white allegiance to the Racial Integrity Act. The board's report concluded films were not the proper medium for handling sensitive topics involving race, and that The House Behind the Cedars had the potential to incite crime through race riots. Micheaux objected saying the film had been adapted from a book, which had been in circulation for thirty years, and the film had screened across the country without incident. Micheaux once again agreed to make cuts to his film, and the board licensed The House behind the Cedars, but Micheaux only screened the film in Virginia's black theaters.
caption: Oscar Micheaux
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