Page "Oscar Micheaux" Paragraph 12

Micheaux ’ s second silent film was Within Our Gates, produced in 1920.

Although sometimes considered Micheaux ’ s response to the film Birth of a Nation, Micheaux said that he created it independently as a response to the widespread social instability following World War I.

Within Our Gates revolved around the main character, Sylvia Landry, a mixed-race school teacher.

In a flashback, Sylvia is shown growing up as the adopted daughter of a sharecropper.

When Sylvia ’ s father confronts their white landlord over money, a fight ensues.

The landlord is shot by another white man, but Sylvia's adoptive father is accused and lynched, along with her adoptive mother.