Pearl Bowser

Pearl Bowser (born 1931) is an award-winning author, television director, film director, producer, and film archivist.[1][2] She is the author of a book on the first ten years of the career of Oscar Micheaux, an African-American who directed 40 "race pictures" between 1918 and 1940.[3] She is thus credited for having helped rediscover some of Oscar Micheaux's rare surviving films.[4] She is the founder of African Diaspora Images, a collection of visual and oral histories that documents the history of African-American filmmaking.[5] Part of her journey includes teaching young people film in the 1960s and 1970s.[6]

Though Bowser initially set out to research the role of Black women in early African-American filmmaking, she eventually studied both genders because too few Black women were among the earliest African-American filmmakers.[7]

Early life

In 1931, Pearl Bowser was born in Harlem as the youngest of seven children. She frequented the movie theaters of Harlem along 125th street watching "Hollywood Westerns, B-movies and whatever black films were out at the time."[2]

Career

Bowser stumbled upon her career in film when a friend, documentary filmmaker Ricky Leacock, asked her to work in his office where she helped out with billing and ordering equipment.[8] Bowser started teaching seminars and workshops on African-American and African film at universities, libraries and museums in 1971.[5] She was the director of the Theater Project at Third World Newsreel, the largest distributor of independent film by people of color in the United States, from 1978 to 1987.[5]

Filmography

Publications
  • Writing Himself Into History: Oscar Micheaux, His Silent Films, and His Audiences, 2000, Rutgers University Press [3]
  • The History of Black Film, article in Black Film Review.[5]
  • Oscar Micheaux and His Circle (Catalog)[5]

References
  1. "Pearl Bowser - Filmography".
  2. "Reel Sisters do Real Things: Pearl Bowser | Patch". Bed-Stuy, NY Patch. Retrieved 2015-12-13.
  3. Bowser, Pearl; Spence, Louise (2000-01-01). Writing Himself Into History: Oscar Micheaux, His Silent Films, and His Audiences. Rutgers University Press. ISBN 9780813528038.
  4. Lupack, Barbara Tepa (2002-01-01). Literary Adaptations in Black American Cinema: From Micheaux to Toni Morrison. University Rochester Press. ISBN 9781580461030.
  5. Women of Vision: Histories in Feminist Film and Video. U of Minnesota Press. 2001-01-01. p. 48. ISBN 9781452904252.
  6. Women of Vision: Histories in Feminist Film and Video. U of Minnesota Press. 2001-01-01. p. 42. ISBN 9781452904252.
  7. Women of Vision: Histories in Feminist Film and Video. U of Minnesota Press. 2001-01-01. p. 14. ISBN 9781452904252.
  8. Women of Vision: Histories in Feminist Film and Video. U of Minnesota Press. 2001-01-01. p. 49. ISBN 9781452904252.
  9. "Pearl Bowser". IMDb. Retrieved 2015-12-16.
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