by David F Walker | May 9, 2026 | News & Updates
Born in 1881, actor and filmmaker Noble Johnson appeared in his first movie in 1915. His career would span five decades, include 144 films, and incredibly, he seldom played an African-American character (although he did play many jungle savages—including the tribal leader in King Kong, and the character Friday in 1922’s The Adventures of Robinson Crusoe). Johnson was a contemporary and friend of legendary actor Lon Chaney, Sr., and like Chaney, Johnson was a man of a thousand faces. During his career, Johnson played mostly Native Americans, an occasional Chinese, a Russian, and various monsters (he was helped by his 6’2” frame). Along with his brother George, Johnson founded The Lincoln Motion Picture Company in 1916, a film production company started to create movies with positive images of Blacks. Their first production was The Realization of the Negro’s Ambition (1916), which the Johnson brothers made in direct response to D.W. Griffith’s racist Birth of a Nation. The Lincoln Motion Picture Company soon folded in 1921, but Johnson enjoyed a long and prolific career, retired from film in 1950, and passed away in 1978 at the age of 96.
To learn more about filmmakers like Noble and George Johnson, and much more, check out my new book Black Film: A History of Black Representation and Participation in the Movies will be released by Ten Speed Press on March 24, 2026. You can pre-order the book here.
by David F Walker | May 9, 2026 | News & Updates
Contrary to what many people may think, a “RACE FILM” it is not a movie like F1, Ford v Ferrari, or Talladega Nights. In fact, race films have nothing to do with racing. RACE FILM was a term popularized 1916 and used to describe and categorize movies produced for Black audiences, starring all-Black casts. To be clear, there were films with Black characters and even all-Black cast movies before 1916; but it was after the 1915 release of D.W. Griffith’s The Birth of a Nation, that an entire industry was born in response to what was a monumentally racist cinematic love letter to the Ku Klux Klan.
Dozens of independent film production companies formed at a time when much of the country was still segregated, and the film industry was doing little to cater to Black audiences or show Black characters in roles that weren’t demeaning. Keep in mind that the Black characters that appeared in early silent films were most often racist stereotypes, and many were portrayed by white actors in blackface. One of the first production companies to form in 1916 was The Lincoln Motion Picture Company, founded by brothers George and Noble Johnson. Lincoln produced such notable race films as By Right of Birth, The Realization of the Negro’s Ambition, and The Trooper of Troop K, which starred Noble Johnson.
To learn more about race movies, check out my new book Black Film: A History of Black Representation and Participation in the Movies, which will be released by Ten Speed Press on March 24, 2026.
You can pre-order the book here.
by David F Walker | May 9, 2026 | News & Updates
Rather than writing something, I tried my hand at making a video. Please check it out (because it took forever to put this together).
by David F Walker | May 9, 2026 | News & Updates
I’m currently lettering The Monster of Blackenstyne (not to be confused with Blackenstein), and I wanted to share a brief glimpse of what’s in store. I’ll be posting more updates soon.
by David F Walker | May 9, 2026 | News & Updates
For a whole bunch of reasons, I haven’t been posting as much the last few weeks — I’m back to teaching at Portland State University, I working on finishing up The Monster of Blackenstyne (not to be confused with Blackenstein), and I’m prepping for the release of my new book, Black Film: A History of Black Representation and Participation in the Movies (coming March 24, 2026 from Ten Speed Press). But none of these are reason enough for me to be slacking on my posts, and starting next week you’ll start seeing more frequent nonsense and insanity from me. I appreciate all of you for supporting my Patreon, and over the next few months you’ll be seeing some really cool stuff…hopefully.
