To Micheaux

Mr. Micheaux,

In depicting the plight of the African-American woman in each of America’s spheres post-civil war, you reveal the many facets of black women’s lives and the continuities that existed regardless of region, as Sylvia lives out her life in both the North and the South. I am curious about why high socioeconomic class was a factor in the making of your movie, and if you favored light skinned actors for roles to better convey Sylvia's status or because of the nature of the industry in general. Did you wish to communicate a message that both elevated Sylvia as a determined, active, self-sufficient African -American woman? Or were you making a point to depict the sexual, emotional, and physical violence she is subjected to through men regardless of what part of America she is in?

Esther