The Conquest: The Story of a Negro Pioneer (1913) is a novel by Oscar Micheaux. Before he became the first Black movie mogul in American history, Micheaux was a homesteader-turned novelist whose passion for storytelling and business acumen were born from a youth of hard work and struggle. The son of a former slave, Micheaux dedicated his life to countering the dominant narratives of American history while inspiring and empowering Black people around the world. “The heavy rains washed the loam from the hills and deposited it on these bottoms. Years ago, when the rolling lands were cleared, and before the excessive rainfall had washed away the loose surface, the highlands were considered most valuable for agricultural purposes, equally as valuable as the bottoms now are.” A Black homesteader named Oscar Devereaux reflects on a life of perseverance. Raised alongside twelve siblings in rural Illinois, he leaves home and family behind to seek a life of fortune and independence. Never one to set limits, Devereaux discovers that no dream is beyond his reach. Dedicated to educator and orator Booker T. Washington, The Conquest was described by its author as the “true story of a negro who was discontented and [of] the circumstances that were the outcome of that discontent.” This edition of Oscar Micheaux’s The Conquest: The Story of a Negro Pioneer is a classic of African American literature reimagined for modern readers.
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Oscar Micheaux (1884-1951) was an African American film director and author. Born on a farm in Metropolis, Illinois, Micheaux was raised in a family of thirteen children. His father, born in Kentucky, was a former slave. At seventeen, he moved to Chicago with his older brother and took jobs at the local stockyards and steel mills. After opening a shoeshine stand and finding a good job as a Pullman porter, he moved to South Dakota to work the land as a homesteader, an experience that would inspire several of his works in literature and film. Left by his first wife, whose family took his money and property from him while he was away on business, Micheaux was forced to reinvent himself once again. His first major publication as a writer was The Conquest: The Story of a Negro Pioneer (1913), a semi-autobiographical novel. When a production deal for his novel The Homesteader (1917) failed to work out, Micheaux started his own company and produced the film himself. The Homesteader (1919), now lost, was a pioneering silent film that launched Micheaux’s storied career. He would go on to produce over forty films, entertaining audiences both at home and abroad while paving the way for other Black filmmakers and storytellers to follow in his footsteps. Despite his success and reputation, Micheaux was largely ignored by white audiences and critics and only received recognition for his lofty achievement several decades after his death.
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