Within Our Gates

As in many of Oscar Micheaux's ‘race films’, Evelyn Preer also plays the main character here. As dedicated teacher Sylvia Landry, she moves from the industrial north to the more rural south to work at an underfunded school for black children. In an environment characterised by racist violence, she does everything she can to save the school from closure. Preer is considered the most famous African-American actress of the 1920s and fought with Micheaux against stereotypical portrayals in order to confront white supremacy in front of and behind the camera. However, WITHIN OUR GATES was censored several times and disappeared for decades shortly after its release - in stark contrast to D. W. Griffith's well-received, racist epic THE BIRTH OF A NATION. (Bianca Jasmina Rauch)