Oscar Micheaux is legendary in the filmmaking community for three reasons: He is the first independent Black director to produce a feature length film. Secondly, he is one of the first independent black directors to successfully transition to "talkies" after many independents were forced out by Hollywood, which began buying up theaters in the south. And, thirdly, he is instrumental because of his distribution model. In 1918, Oscar Micheaux produced his first feature length film by going door to door to his neighbors on his homestead in South Dakota, encouraging them to invest in his Book and Film Company. In Chicago, where he served for many years as a Pullman porter, he went door to door to theater owners, encouraging them to screen his controversial films about lynching, miscegenation, and passing. Oscar Micheaux's life was not without contradictions. His films were protested by both blacks and whites because they feared his films would incite more race riots. He was constantly ...