Charles W. Chesnutt to Swan E. Micheaux, 26 October 1921
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October 26, 1921.
Micheaux Film Corporation,1
538 So. Dearborn Street,
Chicago, Ill.
Attention Mr. S. E. Micheaux
Dear Mr. Micheaux:-
I received your letter of October 12th,2 requesting that I defer the collection of your note due October 15th, and enclosing me check dated November 1st for $101.25, being the amount of the note with interest to that date. The proposition was agreeable to me, and I did not send the note forward, but will deposit the check on November 1st and return you the October 15th note.3
Very truly yours,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. Swan E. Micheaux's letter from October 12, 1921, has not been located. [back]
3. Chesnutt came to an arrangement regarding the movie-rights contract for his novel The House Behind the Cedars with Micheaux Film Corporation, which produced a series of five $100.00 promissory ("cognovit") notes, each due on the 15th of the month (September to January). These were paid with delays and incurred additional interest and penalties: the September note was paid on October 1; the October note around November 13; November's on December 4; and December's not until May 1922. The last note was not paid at all. Chesnutt declined several offers of stocks or bonds in the company in trade for the notes, and passed 25% of each payment on to Houghton Mifflin Company. [back]
