🥷Who was This Black Ninja ?
Oscar Micheaux: His Personal Life
Oscar Micheaux was born on January 2, 1884, in Metropolis, Illinois, to former slaves Calvin and Belle Micheaux. He was one of 13 children in a hardworking, rural family. In search of independence and opportunity, he left home as a teenager to work various jobs, eventually settling in Chicago, where he worked as a Pullman porter. This job exposed him to new ideas, people, and experiences that deeply influenced his worldview and writing.
In the early 1900s, Micheaux moved to South Dakota to become a homesteader, purchasing land and farming among white settlers. During this time, he married a woman named Orlean, but the marriage was short-lived and strained, partly due to cultural and financial pressures. His experiences on the prairie, including the collapse of his marriage, became the basis for his semi-autobiographical novel The Homesteader.
Micheaux was intensely private, and much of his later personal life remains unclear. He devoted most of his energy to his work, often traveling across the country to promote his films directly to segregated Black audiences. He lived much of his life as an independent, self-made man who overcame racism and financial hardship to follow his creative vision.
Oscar Micheaux died on March 25, 1951, in Charlotte, North Carolina, while on a promotional tour. He was buried in Great Bend, Kansas. His tombstone fittingly reads: “A man ahead of his time. B.Israel 🥷
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