Directed by Harry A. Gant • 1921 • United States
Starring Clarence Brooks, Anita Thompson, Webb King
This precious four-minute clip represents the only surviving work of the Lincoln Motion Picture Company (founded in 1916 by brothers Noble and George Johnson). BY RIGHT OF BIRTH was the final production of the short-lived enterprise, believed to be the first black-owned independent film company. Noble Johnson went on to enjoy a long career as a Hollywood character actor, with more than one hundred screen appearances in such films as KING KONG (1933) and John Ford's SHE WORE A YELLOW RIBBON (1949).
Up Next in Part 2: Shorts and rarities
-
Regeneration
Directed by Richard E. Norman • 1923 • United States
Only a single reel of Richard Norman’s seafaring thriller REGENERATION survives, and that reel is almost completely consumed with nitrate decomposition. But watching the decayed images pulse and swirl, the viewer cannot help but contemplate th...
-
Rev. S. S. Jones Home Movies
Directed by Reverend Solomon Sir Jones • 1924–1928 • United States
Amateur photographer Reverend Solomon Sir Jones used his 16 mm camera to capture candid glimpses of life in the African American communities of rural Oklahoma.
-
Verdict: Not Guilty
Directed by James Gist and Eloyce Gist • 1933 • United States
In this surreal filmed pageant—presided over by a horrific skull-faced jailer in a nun’s habit—a woman faces the throne of judgment and must account her iniquities to earn God’s mercy.
