Charles W. Chesnutt to Swan Emerson Micheaux, 19 November 1921
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November 19, 1921.
Micheaux Film Corporation,1
538 South Dearborn Street,
Chicago, Ill.
Attention Mr. S. E. Micheaux.
Gentlemen:
I deposited with my bank November 1st for collection your check for $100.00 in payment of your note to me, due October 15th, and the check seems to have gone through all right, as I have heard nothing to the contrary, so I therefore return to you herewith the note.2
I have a letter from Mr. Oscar Micheaux,3 dated Danville, Virginia,4 November 13, 1921, in which he states that the payments on the notes will be made direct from him henceforth, and since he finds the middle of the month somewhat inconvenient, requests me to accept the payments the first of each month.5 This is entirely satisfactory to me, and I will look for a check from him on the first of the month, and will return the note upon receipt of the money.
Mr. Oscar Micheaux states further that your financial circumstances are greatly improved, so that I need not worry about the money. I am glad to hear this, since it is not convenient for me at present to take any of your gold notes, especially since I have to divide with my publishers, under their royalty contract, what I get from you for the "House Behind the Cedars."6
Wishing you continued success in your enterprise, I remain
Yours very truly, CWC/FLCorrespondent: 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. 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]
3. Oscar Micheaux (1884–1951) was a Black American writer and film director known for his films about race and racism. Originally from Illinois, he began his career as a novelist and later founded the Micheaux Film and Book Company (ultimately renamed Micheaux Film Corporation) in 1919. He first adapted his early novel The Homesteader to film, and directed and produced over three dozen films in the 1920s and 30s, typically writing the scripts as well as overseeing the low-budget production and distribution of the films. Several of his films were loosely based on the works of Black authors, including Chesnutt. After the demise of his company in 1940, Micheaux founded a publishing business and wrote several more novels. [back]
4. Danville, Virginia, is a city on the southern border of Virginia, about 75 miles from Roanoke, Virginia, where the Micheaux Film Corporation had a branch office at this time. It is not known why Oscar Micheaux was in Danville in November of 1921. [back]
5. See Oscar Micheaux's letter of November 13, 1921. [back]
6. 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]
