Race Filmography

The following films are meant to be a listing – as complete as possible with information currently available – of all Black cast films targeted primarily to Black audiences from 1916-1949.  The listing does not include films produced by Hollywood studios, but by small independent filmmakers, both Black and White.  All titles are feature-length films and as such this list does not include films designated as short, documentary or newsreel.  This databank was compiled using information from the following sources:  Turner Classic Movies; the Internet Movie Database; G. William Jones’ Black Cinema Treasures Lost and Found (University of Texas Press, 1991); and John Kisch and Edward Mapp’s A Separate Cinema Fifty Years of Black Cast Posters (The Noonday Press, 1992).

ABSENT (1928)
AM I GUILTY? (1940)
AS THE WORLD ROLLS ON (1921)
BARGAIN WITH BULLETS (1937)
BEALE STREET MAMA (1947)
BETRAYAL, THE (1948)
BEWARE (1946)
BIRTHRIGHT (1924)
BIRTHRIGHT (1939)
BLACK GOLD (1928)
BLACK KING, THE (1932)
BLACK THUNDERBOLT (1922)
BLOOD OF JESUS, THE (1941)
BOARDINGHOUSE BLUES (1948)
BODY AND SOUL (1925)
BOY! WHAT A GIRL! (1947)
BROKEN STRINGS (1940)
BROKEN VIOLIN, THE (1927)
BRONZE BUCKAROO, THE (1939)
BRUTE, THE (1920)
BULL-DOGGER, THE (1923)
BURDEN OF RACE, THE (1921)
BY RIGHT OF BIRTH (1921)
CALL OF HIS PEOPLE, THE (1922)
CHILDREN OF FATE (1929)
COLORED AMERICAN WINNING HIS SUIT, THE (1916)
CONJURE WOMAN, THE (1926)
CRIMSON SKULL, THE (1922)
DARK MANHATTAN (1937)
DAUGHTER OF THE CONGO, A (1930)
DECEIT (1923)
DEVIL’S DAUGHTER, THE (1939)
DEVIL’S DISCIPLE, THE (1926)
DIRTY GERTIE FROM HARLEM USA (1946)
DOUBLE DEAL (1939)
DREAMER, THE (1948)
DRUMS O’ VOODOO (1934)
DUKE IS TOPS, THE (1938)
DUNGEON, THE (1922)
EASY MONEY (1922)
EASY STREET (1930)
ELEVEN P.M. (1928)
EXILE, THE (1931)
FIGHT NEVER ENDS, THE (1949)
FIGHT THAT GHOST (1946)
FLAMES OF WRATH, THE (1923)
FLAMING CRISIS, THE (1924)
FLYING ACE, THE (1926)
FOR HIS MOTHER’S SAKE (1922)
FOUR SHALL DIE (1941)
GANG SMASHERS (1938)
GANG WAR (1940)
GEORGIA ROSE (1930)
GIANT OF HIS RACE, A (1921)
GIRL FROM CHICAGO, THE (1932)
GIRL IN ROOM 20, THE (1946)
GO DOWN, DEATH! (1944)
GOD’S STEPCHILDREN (1938)
GOING TO GLORY, COME TO JESUS (1946)
GONE HARLEM (1938)
GREEN-EYED MONSTER, THE (1921)
GUNSAULUS MYSTERY, THE (1921)
HARLEM AFTER MIDNIGHT (1934)
HARLEM FOLLIES (1949)
HARLEM IS HEAVEN (1932)
HARLEM ON THE PRAIRIE (1937)
HARLEM RIDES THE RANGE (1939)
HEARTS OF THE WOODS (1921)
HI-DE-HO (1947)
HIS GREAT CHANCE (1923)
HOMESTEADER, THE (1919)
HOUSE BEHIND THE CEDARS, THE (1924)
HOUSE RENT PARTY (1946)
IN THE DEPTHS OF OUR HEARTS (1920)
IT HAPPENED IN HARLEM (1945)
JASPER LANDRY’S WILL (1922)
JOINT IS JUMPING, THE (1948)
JUKE JOINT (1947)
JUNCTION 88 (1948)
KEEP PUNCHING (1939)
KILLER DILLER (1947)
LIFE GOES ON (1938)
LOOK OUT SISTER (1949)
LUCKY GHOST (1941)
LURE OF A WOMAN, THE (1921)
LYING LIPS (1939)
MAN’S DUTY, A (1919)
MANTAN MESSES UP (1946)
MANTAN RUNS FOR MAYOR (1946)
MIDNIGHT ACE, THE (1928)
MIDNIGHT MENACE (1946)
MIDNIGHT SHADOW (1939)
MILLIONAIRE, THE (1927)
MIRACLE IN HARLEM (1948)
MISTAKEN IDENTITY (1941)
MODERN CAIN, A (1921)
MOON OVER HARLEM (1939)
MR. WASHINGTON GOES TO TOWN (1940)
MURDER IN HARLEM (1935)
MURDER ON LENOX AVENUE (1941)
MYSTERY IN SWING (1940)
NO TIME FOR ROMANCE (1948)
NOBODY’S CHILDREN (1920)
NOTORIOUS ELINOR LEE, THE (1940)
OF ONE BLOOD (1944)
ONE DARK NIGHT (1939)
PARADISE IN HARLEM (1939)
POLICY MAN (1938)
PRINCE OF HIS RACE, THE (1926)
PROFESSOR CREEPS (1942)
REALIZATION OF A NEGRO’S AMBITION, THE (1916)
RECKLESS MONEY (1926)
REET, PETITE AND GONE (1947)
REFORM SCHOOL (1939)
REFORMATION (1919)
REGENERATION (1923)
RETURN OF MANDY’S HUSBAND, THE (1948)
RHYTHM IN A RIFF (1947)
SCANDAL (1933)
SCAR OF SHAME (1927)
SCHEMERS, THE (1922)
SECRET SORROW, THE (1921)
SEPIA CINDERELLA (1947)
SHE’S TOO MEAN FOR ME (1948)
SHOT IN THE NIGHT, A (1923)
SIMP, THE (1921)
SON OF INGAGI (1940)
SON OF SATAN (1924)
SOULS OF SIN (1949)
SPIDER’S WEB, THE (1927)
SPIRIT OF YOUTH (1938)
SPITFIRE (1922)
SPORT OF THE GODS, THE (1921)
SQUARE JOE (1921)
STRAIGHT TO HEAVEN (1939)
SUGAR HILL BABY (1938)
SUN TAN RANCH (1948)
SUNDAY SINNERS (1940)
SWANEE SHOWBOAT (1940)
SWING! (1938)
SYMBOL OF THE UNCONQUERED, THE (1920)
TAKE MY LIFE (1942)
TEMPTATION (1935)
TEN MINUTES TO LIVE (1932)
TEN NIGHTS IN A BARROOM (1926)
TEN THOUSAND DOLLAR TRAIL, THE (1921)
THAT MAN OF MINE (1947)
THIRTY YEARS LATER (1928)
TWO-GUN MAN FROM HARLEM (1939)
UNDERWORLD (1937)
UP JUMPED THE DEVIL (1941)
VEILED ARISTOCRATS (1932)
VIRGIN OF THE SEMINOLE, THE (1923)
WAGES OF SIN, THE (1929)
WHAT A GUY! (1948)
WHEN MEN BETRAY (1929)
WHILE THOUSANDS CHEER (1940)
WITCHING EYES, THE (1929)
WITHIN OUR GATES (1920)