This article examines the representation of Black journalists in early 20th-century silent film, focusing on a small but significant group of race films produced by African American filmmakers. While white-owned silent films often perpetuated harmful stereotypes of Blackness through caricatures and Blackface, race films such as Within Our Gates (1920), As the World Rolls On (1921), The Dungeon (1922), The Flaming Crisis (1924) and Eleven P.M. (1928) offered radically different portrayals of Black professionals, including journalists. Using Critical Race Theory—particularly the concept of counter-storytelling—this study explores how Black filmmakers used journalism as a narrative tool to challenge dominant racial ideologies and to assert Black intellect, resilience, and civic agency.
A thorough examination of the two remaining films, Eleven P.M. and Within Our Gates, demonstrates how race film directors utilized journalists and press discourse to unveil racial injustice, reshape Black identity, and critique the complicity of the white press in systems of violence. These portrayals contest mainstream cinematic marginalization by positioning Black journalists not as comic side characters or criminals, but as pivotal figures of truth, struggle, and aspiration.
Ultimately, this essay contends that portrayals of Black journalists in silent-era race films served not only as corrective narratives but also as preliminary affirmations of Black cinematic authorship. These films continue to be vital artifacts for comprehending the intersections of race, media, and historical memory—and for tracing the enduring legacy of Black storytelling as both cultural resistance and creative reclamation.

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