The Symbol of the Unconquered
About The Symbol of the Unconquered
Eve Mason, a light-skinned Black woman played by Iris Hall, inherits land and goes to Oristown in the Northwest. Jefferson Driscoll, played by Lawrence Chenault, is passing as white and puts her out when he suspects her. She stays near Black neighbors and meets the prospector Hugh Van Allen, played by Walker Thompson, who thinks she is white and will not say he loves her. Driscoll and his partners want the oil under Van Allen's land and bring in the Ku Klux Klan. The town stops them. Two years later Van Allen is an oil man. Eve brings a letter that says she is Black, and they say they love each other.
Cast & crew
More about The Symbol of the Unconquered
Oscar Micheaux wrote, produced, and directed it. Also known as The Wilderness Trail. Released by Micheaux on 29 November 1920. Listed at 54 minutes. Silent Era has counted 8 reels and IMDb 5; another note says 7. Shot at Fort Lee. Mattie Wilkes plays Driscoll's mother. Louis Dean is August Barr. Leigh Whipper is Tugi. E. G. Tatum is Abraham. George Catlin is Dick Mason. Edward Fraction is Peter Kaden. The story is set in the Northwest; Wikidata also files the narrative location as Alabama.
Themes
Background
The film opened in 1920, when Micheaux was making features for Black audiences and answering the Klan imagery of The Birth of a Nation by putting the Klan on the side that loses.
Making
Micheaux shot the frontier town at Fort Lee and cast the Klan ride as the villains' tool for taking oil land.
Preservation
A print is at the Museum of Modern Art. A copy is on Wikimedia Commons.
Notes
- Micheaux advertised the picture against the Ku Klux Klan a few years after The Birth of a Nation.
- It is his fourth feature. With Within Our Gates it is one of the early Micheaux films that still exists.
- Driscoll rejects his own mother. Eve befriends her.
- A print is at the Museum of Modern Art.
Scenes
- Driscoll turns Eve out of the house once he thinks she is Black.
- The Klan rides on Van Allen's land and the town turns them back.
- Eve's letter tells Van Allen she is Black, and he stops holding back.
Also available
- Wikimedia Commons (Oscar Micheaux - The Symbol of the Unconquered (1920).webm)
