The Exile: Museum Object and Cultural History

The object in the museum catalogue

A race film with the title The Exile. It consists of three (3) reels of 16mm black-and-white acetate film with optical sound. The film tells the tale of Jean Baptiste (Stanley Morrell), a man living in Chicago, and Edith Duval (Eunice Brooks). Edith, who worked as a servant for a white family, inherits their mansion after they flee their neighborhood because of an influx of African Americans. Jean and Eunice eventually grow at odds with each other because of their different personalities and the two break off their relationship. Jean relocates to South Dakota where he reinvents himself as a rancher and falls in love with Agnes Steward (Nora Newsome), a white woman. Believing that their relationship is doomed because of anti-miscegenation hostility, Jean moves back to Chicago where he reconnects with Edith and the two make plans to get married. One evening, Edith's ex-boyfriend breaks into her room and threatens to kill himself. She challenges him to go through with it, however, he turns the gun and kills her instead. Jean is initially charged with the murder but is eventually acquitted. Meanwhile, Agnes' father confesses that he himself is part black and she travels to Chicago and reunites with Jean.

Materials, dates and provenance

• Date: 1931
• Directed by: Oscar Micheaux, American, 1884 - 1951
• Written by: Oscar Micheaux, American, 1884 - 1951
• Produced by: Oscar Micheaux, American, 1884 - 1951
• Subject of: Eunice Brooks, American
• Subject of: Stanley Morrell
• Subject of: Celeste Cole, American, 1908 - 1984
• Subject of: Kathleen Noisette, American, 1903 - 1935
• Subject of: Charles R. Moore, American, 1893 - 1947
• Type: sound films
• Type: black-and-white films (visual works)
• Type: feature films
• Type: 16mm (photographic film size)
• Medium: acetate film
• Dimensions: Physical extent (film) (a): 1140 ft
• Dimensions: Duration (a): 32 min.
• Dimensions: Physical extent (film) (b): 1000 ft
• Dimensions: Duration (b): 28 min.
• Dimensions: Physical extent (film) (c): 700 ft
• Dimensions: Duration (c): 19 min.
• Place filmed: Greenwich Village, New York City, New York County, New York, United States, North and Central America
• Place depicted: Chicago, Cook County, Illinois, United States, North and Central America
• Place depicted: South Dakota, United States, North and Central America
• Topic: African American
• Topic: American West
• Topic: Film
• Topic: Literature
• Topic: Race films
• Object number: 2012.79.1.30.1abc
• Credit Line: Collection of the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture, Gift of Pearl Bowser
• Data Source: National Museum of African American History and Culture

Sources and reuse

Catalogue descriptions and facts adapted from National Museum of African American History and Culture through the Smithsonian's official Open Access dataset. This record explicitly marks its metadata CC0 1.0; formatting and selection have been changed. The underlying object's rights statement is: Public Domain Proper usage is the responsibility of the user.