Frederick Douglass Film Company Explained

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

• 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]

Notes and References

1. Economics . . 11 . 3 . 115.
2. Web site: Frederick Douglass Film Company . normanstudios.org.
3. Book: Lupack, Barbara Tepa . Literary Adaptations in Black American Cinema: From Micheaux to Toni Morrison . University Rochester Press . 2002 . 9781580461030 . 80 . Google Books.
4. News: The Colored American. (Winning His Suit.) . White . Lucien H. . July 20, 1916 . The New York Age.
5. News: Minister Writes Complete Drama . September 2, 1916 . Indianapolis Recorder.
6. Web site: Majestic Theatre . New Jersey City University.
7. Book: Richards, Larry. African American Films Through 1959: A Comprehensive, Illustrated Filmography. May 27, 2005. McFarland. 9780786422746. Google Books.
8. News: "The Scapegoat" . May 17, 1917 . The New York Age.
9. Web site: The Crisis. William Edward Burghardt Du. Bois. January 27, 1917. Crisis Publishing Company. Google Books.