Noble Johnson, an established actor of the silent era, and his brother, George, founded the Lincoln Motion Picture Company on this day in 1915. As the first studio owned and operated by African Americans, the company’s purpose, as Noble put it, was to present the African American “in his everyday life, a human being with human inclination and one of talent and intellect.” Having only a handful of employees and only finding booking opportunities in churches, schools and “Colored Only” theaters, Lincoln Motion Pictures failed to achieve any level of notoriety. Though the studio heroically struggled, it would close after five years, being credited with only six films. By Right of Birth was the studio’s last effort and the only one to accept white investors. The release proved unprofitable and ultimately the death blow to the venture. Still, these films served as a necessary response to disturbingly racist films like D. W. Griffith’s The Birth of a Nation (1915) and an example for African American moviemakers throughout cinema.
Factoid: George Johnson hired 10 of the prettiest girls he could find to sell tickets to the two-day premiere of By Right of Birth and succeeded in selling out the event. Unfortunately, this marketing strategy did not have the legs to capture the public’s interest.
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