In the early days of African American cinema, filmmakers were on a mission to distance themselves from white perspectives on what it meant to be black (Stewart 225). Often, we saw black actors portrayed in scenes as antagonists who commit crimes, as was the case in DW Griffith's Birth of a Nation. Soon after Griffith released the film, director Oscar Micheaux changed American independent cinema forever with his “response” film Within Our Gates, which helped usher in the advent of race films (NAACP 1). Some of the most notable racing films were: The Homesteader, Body and Soul and The Blood of Jesus. Such films were produced for all-black audiences that included black casts. But that didn't necessarily mean they were directed and written by black artists, an example being Michael Roemer's Nothing But a Man. Although Roemer's film was different from, say, Spencer William's The Blood of Jesus, in some ways they are very similar, particularly in their approach to the religious aspect. However, before we can analyze any arguments about these two films, we must first briefly discuss the plot and characters of the film to provide context for the thesis. Chronologically, the Blood of Jesus came first, so that's where we'll start. The film's setting is set in a small Southern town, where a religious woman, Martha, is accidentally killed by her non-devout husband, Ras. After being shot, due to the limited medical advances of the time, there wasn't much that could be done for Martha. In other words, everyone in town knew she was going to die. Yet, when she is in her comatose state of sleep, she met an angel, who gives her wisdom on how to avoid the devil and finally reside in Zion or Heaven. Now, even if… half the paper… . a cultural and racial uplifting component of this kind (Seward 2). Many blacks and whites identified with going to church, because historically that was the typical Sunday family event. Since the production values ​​of racial films were generally low, the use of religion was one of many ways to attract black audiences to see these films. Works Cited Alexander, Lisa Doris. "Revisited." Journal of Popular Film and Television 41.3 (2013): 136-44. Print."NAACP History: Oscar Micheaux." NAACP. Np, nd Web. April 22, 2014.Seward, Adrienne Lanier. "Spencer Williams." Black Camera 4.1 (1989): 3-4. JSTOR. Network. April 22, 2014. .Stewart, Jacqueline Najuma. Migration to the Cinema: Cinema and Black Urban Modernity. Berkeley: University of California, 2005. Print.