Charles W. Chesnutt to Swan E. Micheaux, 27 July 1921
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July 27, 1921.
Micheaux Film Corporation,1
538 South Dearborn Street,
Chicago, Ill.
Attention Mr. Swan E. Micheaux.
Gentlemen:
I have been a little concerned about your long silence but ascribed it to the cause which you mentioned in your letter of several weeks since, the business depression throughout the country. It seems to have affected every line of business.
I note what you say about a contract which will include the right to publish "The House Behind the Cedars"2 serially in a colored newspaper, which of course I would have no objection to see done. In the same mail with your letter came one from the Chicago Defender,3 asking what arrangement they could make for the right to publish "The House Behind the Cedars" serially.4 You do not mention what newspaper you have in mind and it is quite possible that it might be to my advantage to make separate contracts for the two things, the motion picture rights and the serial publication.5
However, I shall be in Chicago next Thursday, August 4th, all day on my way West6 and shall try and get in communication with you. If I do not find you, we can take up the matter by correspondence.
I had not answered your letter sooner, because I have been very busy and assumed moreover that there was no great rush about it, but I hope we can get together.
Yours very truly,Correspondent: Swan Emerson Micheaux (1896–1975) was Oscar Micheaux's younger brother and served as secretary, treasurer, and booking manager of the Micheaux Film Corporation from 1920 to 1927. He was suspected of financial mismanagement and forced to resign in 1928.
1. The Micheaux Film Corporation began in 1919 as the Micheaux Book and Film Company. Founded by Black novelist, film director, and film producer Oscar Micheaux (1884–1951), it was based in Chicago, with offices in New York City and Roanoke, Virginia, and became the most successful Black-owned film company of the 20th century. In the 1920s and '30s, Micheaux produced at least three dozen films featuring Black actors and themes he believed to be of particular interest to Black audiences, three of them based loosely on Chesnutt's work. In 1928, the company voluntarily filed for bankruptcy, reorganized, and survived until 1940. Most of the films are lost. [back]
2. The House Behind the Cedars (Houghton Mifflin, 1900) was Chesnutt's first published novel. House evolved over more than a decade from a short story, "Rena Walden," first drafted in the late 1880s. It was the only novel by Chesnutt to be serialized, once in 1900-1901 in the monthly Self Culture and again in 1921-1922 in the Black weekly Chicago Defender. House was also his only novel to be adapted to film (1924 and 1932). [back]
3. The Chicago Defender, a Black weekly newspaper, was founded in 1905 by Robert S. Abbott (1870–1940), who was its publisher and editor until his death. From early on, the paper had an anti-segregation, anti-lynching platform, encouraged Blacks to move North, and reached a broad national audience. Chesnutt's The House Behind the Cedars was serialized in the paper in 1921–1922. [back]
4. While possibly prompted by discussions about a combined serialization and movie-rights contract involving Micheaux Film Corporation and the Chicago Defender in the summer of 1921, Chesnutt ultimately decided on a separate contract with the Defender for the serialization rights of The House Behind the Cedars for $125.00, of which $31.25 (25%) went to Houghton Mifflin. The novel was serialized in 19 weekly parts from October 29, 1921, to March 4, 1922 (part 1 on pages 1 and 8; parts 2–11 on page 8 only; and parts 12–19 on page 2 of the weekly paper's new "Feature Section"). [back]
5. Between January and September 1921, Oscar Micheaux negotiated with Chesnutt to pay $500 in five installments for the film rights to Chesnutt's novel The House Behind the Cedars. This was a low sum for movie rights to a novel, but Chesnutt likely took into account that Black-produced films had low budgets. Ultimately, 25% (rather than the originally suggested 33%) of the money received went to Chesnutt's publisher, Houghton Mifflin Company. Several of the payments were delayed, and Chesnutt never received the final installment. Micheaux's film adaptation was released in December 1924. [back]
6. In August 1921, Chesnutt and his daughter Helen used Chicago as their starting and end point for a road trip, making a large loop through Yellowstone to the West coast, going north and back east through Canada via Victoria, British Columbia, Lake Louise and Banff, Alberta, and Winnipeg, Manitoba, while Chesnutt's wife Susan and their son Edwin were vacationing in Idlewild, Michigan. [back]
