Horror Noire: Blacks in American Horror Films from 1890's to Present

A look at the history of black horror films and the role of African Americans in the film genre from the very beginning.

"A laughable picture, showing four [colored men] burying their faces in basins filled with flour, in a search for coins."

"A file of Spanish soldiers line up the Cubans against a blank wall and fire a volley. The flash of rifles and drifting smoke make a very striking picture." - from the Edison Catalog

"This is probably the only moving picture that was ever made of a genuine hanging scene. It was taken in the court yard of the Jacksonville jail, and shows the execution of a man. The man is seen mounting the platform accompanied by several clergymen. The executioner adjusts the black cap and the noose about the prisoner's neck. The trap is touched and the body is seen to shoot through the air, and hang quivering at the end of the rope. A very ghastly, but very interesting subject."

Clowns ride in on a wagon drawn by a skeletal horse. The clowns proceed to transform from blackface performers to white costumed clowns, and back again, as they perform zany antics.

This is a clever comedy production in several scenes. In the opening scene the hired man is complaining to Farmer Jones that the woodpile is being depleted by thieves. Farmer Jones decides to adopt drastic measures and loads one of the sticks with dynamite. In the next scene a colored deacon, one of the shining lights in the African Church, is seen making away with the wood. The next scene shows the home of the deacon, where he is taking his comfort at the kitchen fire, while his wife is busy with the washing. The loaded stick is, of course, put into the fire, and there is a terrific explosion and the building is ruined. Farmer Jones and his man appear at the critical moment and the colored thieves are given a punishment they will not soon forget.

Mary Randall, who has just lost her job, is taking care of her widowed mother. Mary learns that her late uncle has left her part of his estate. She and her mother move to Florida to live on the Twisted Oaks Plantation. Mary meets her neighbor, Jack Carleton, and the two fall in love. The workers on the plantation believe in voodoo. The Voodoo Priest incites the superstitious workers. Mary orders him off the plantation, and he vows revenge. After Mary and Jack become engaged, an old mammy tells them the legend of the Ghost of Twisted Oaks: Miss Madeline was loved by all the slaves on the plantation, and was engaged to Master Billy. Justin, his rival, vied for Madeline, and fought a duel. Madeline was killed by a stray bullet. Ever since then, her ghost has haunted the plantation. Now, the voodoo followers decide to make a sacrifice out of Mary. The ghost appears to Jack and leads him to the sacrificial altar, where he saves Mary. The Voodoo Priest is killed when he accidentally sticks his hand in a snake's cage. The voodoo followers are driven from the plantation, and Madeline's spirit can finally rest.

Mattie Cook, the undertaker's daughter, loves John Scott, who has no job. Her father wants her to marry Sime Sloan, who has a job, and it takes all of Mattie's persuasive power to overcome Dad's objections, but she is equal to the occasion. She gets rid of John's two rivals, Sime and Bime, by promising to marry them it they will prove their love for her. To prove it one must sleep in one of her father's coffins and the other sit by it all night. Unknown to one another they come to fulfill their promise. After some hesitancy they settle down to the task. It really looks as if she would have to marry one or both, when she thinks that a little noise would help some. With the aid of John, she manages to get rid of both. In their fright they run through the meeting house presided over by Dad, who gets a couple of spills. He finally decides that John is the most sensible and thinks he can help in the undertaking business.

The Stoneman family finds its friendship with the Camerons affected by the Civil War, both fighting in opposite armies. The development of the war in their lives plays through to Lincoln's assassination and the birth of the Ku Klux Klan.

Mrs. Jackson endures the cruelty of her husband, Henry, for the sake of her son, Little Billy. They are visited in their Florida home by Mrs. Lenning, an adventuress who has convinced Henry that his wife is monopolizing Billy's affections. Although Henry intends to leave his wife for Mrs. Lenning, he will not consider a divorce without the custody of his son. While in Florida, Mrs. Jackson meets Richard Darcier, who sympathizes with her plight. Henry accuses his wife of being unfaithful, then sues for divorce and wins custody of Billy. Meanwhile, Jake, an African American voodoo worshiper in Richard's employ, has been warned by a priestess that he must provide their group with a sacrificial victim or die himself. Crazed by the threat, Jake chooses Billy. Mrs. Jackson finds the sacrificial cave and offers her life in exchange for that of her son's. At that moment, Mr. Jackson arrives with a rescue party, saves both their lives, and returns Billy to his mother after witnessing the strength of her mother love. Mrs. Jackson then marries Richard and the reconstituted family begins life anew.

A professor of Egyptology seeks a mummy for experimentation. A young man devises a scheme to give the professor his desire in hopes of winning the hand in marriage of the teacher's daughter.

On her deathbed, an aged woman recluse promises to repay young siblings Dorothy and Bobbie Carleton for their friendship. During the Galveston tidal wave of 1900, the children are separated. Bobbie is adopted by a surgeon, Dr. Richard Stanton, while Dorothy, suffering from amnesia, is adopted by Captain Smith. Two years later, Bobbie, now called Robert, visits the country and rescues Dorothy, now called Blanche, from an attacker. Six months later, while taking food to needy people, Dorothy is attacked by tramps in a deserted shack. An unseen spirit tips the candle lighting the room, and Dorothy escapes. Robert, nearby, feels an urge to go to his window. Seeing Dorothy running, he thrashes her pursuers. Later, in New York, Dorothy's clothes catch fire as she decorates a jack-o'-lantern for Halloween. Robert, now Stanton's partner, saves her. They fall in love and plan to marry, but as he is about to sign the marriage contract, Robert, because of a spiritual force, is moved to write that Dorothy is his sister. He examines a scar on her leg to confirm this, and the catastrophe is averted.

After numerous failed attempts to commit suicide, our hero (Lloyd) runs into a lawyer who is looking for a stooge to stand in as a groom in order to secure an inheritance for his client (Davis). The inheritance is a house, which her scheming uncle "haunts" so that he can scare them off and claim the property.

Abandoned by her fiancé, an educated black woman with a shocking past dedicates herself to helping a near bankrupt school for impoverished black youths.

To rid the range of a gang of outlaws that are rustling cattle and robbing the banks and stagecoaches, cowhand Bob Calem, working on the gang-leader's superstitions, dons a skeleton-costume to strike fear into the gang.

The misadventures of a man who accepted a bet to spend a night in a haunted house.

A black musician marries a woman facing abuse from her stepfather to rescue her. After the marriage, he refuses to introduce her to his mother, fearing his mother's disapproval of her lower socioeconomic status.

An expedition enters an area of the Congo jungle to investigate reports of a gorilla-worshipping tribe. After many dangerous adventures, they come upon the tribe they sought, only to watch as a virgin is sacrificed to a huge gorilla, who takes her away. The expedition follows the gorilla in an attempt to save the woman.

If you listen to jazz, you will go to Hell, where the scorching fires of torment are mighty and endless.