The Early African-American Cinema Series at the home of one of America’s first film critics concludes Saturday, March 3 at 2 p.m. with a showing of the 1927 film The Scar of Shame.
The Vachel Lindsay Home State Historic Site at 603 S. Fifth Street in Springfield is hosting the final film in the “Early African-American Cinema Series: Silent and Sound” in honor of Women’s History Month. Since seating is limited, free reservations must be made by calling (217) 524-0901.
The Scar of Shame (1927) is a crime drama from the Colored Players Film Corporation and uses the conventions of the genre to teach a moral lesson as an orphaned heroine searches for love and meaning in her life. The story by David Starkman, as directed by Frank Perugini, is melodramatic yet effective. The “all colored” cast is led by Harry Henderson, Lucia Lynn Moses, Norman Johnstone and Lawrence Chenault. The film runs 79 minutes.
A discussion following the screening will be led by Dr. Angela Winand, assistant professor of African-American Studies at the University of Illinois at Springfield, where she teaches courses on black women in film history, African American women's biography and autobiography, the Harlem Renaissance, the Civil Rights Movement, and on African Americans and Afro-Creoles in New Orleans history and culture.
If the March 3 screening is cancelled due to inclement weather, it will be presented on March 24.
Independent companies, both black-owned and white-owned, competed with mainstream Hollywood productions to serve new black movie-going audiences in urban areas during the decade of the 1920s, making acting careers possible for African American entertainers. Black audiences wanted to see their lives and experiences reflected on screen truthfully and meaningfully, without exaggerated stereotypes of minstrelsy and vaudeville. These films give us a glimpse of the kinds of stories told with the new technology of moving pictures. The Art of the Moving Picture (1915), arguably the first study of film as an art form, earned Vachel Lindsay the respect of film theorists and filmmakers. The Illinois Historic Preservation Agency, which administers the Vachel Lindsay Home, is providing guests with the opportunity to view and discuss these significant early films in the historic home of one of our nation's first film critics.
The Vachel Lindsay Home State Historic Site is the birthplace and longtime residence of poet, author and artist Nicholas Vachel Lindsay, 1879 – 1931. It is open Tuesday through Saturday from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. for free public tours.